Rush to Judgment

Commentary by Robin G. Jordan

The recent alleged comments of Nigerian Bishop Isaac Orama provided a golden opportunity for the opponents of Biblical Anglicanism and orthodox Christianity to spew their venom at conservative Episcopalians and Anglicans and to bludgeon those whom they greatly despise. They rose to the occasion. Bishop Orama subsequently denied making the comments and the reporter who wrote the story has verbally promised to write a retraction. Will those who lashed out at conservatives apologize for their remarks and retract what they wrote? I am not holding my breath. The Old Testament teachings especially those against lying, deceiving others, spreading slander among the people, hating one’s brother in one’s heart and seeking revenge or bearing a grudge against another, which our Lord summarized in words of Leviticus 19:18, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” are not heeded in their camp. They do not understand or care to understand the meaning of repentance; of turning away from the evil they have done with a broken and contrite heart. In their ideology it does not matter if one sins against another because God winks at sin or nods indulgently when one sins. I expect to hear mutterings that the writer of the article was pressured to retract it.

Conservative Episcopalians and Anglicans are often unfairly accused of focusing upon a single issue – human sexuality. However, liberals and gay activists see everything in the black and white of who supports the aspirations of gays and lesbians and therefore is a friend and a ally and who does not support these aspirations and is the enemy. It is perfectly acceptable to show spite towards the enemy, to regard them with open contempt and to portray them as persons of abnormal malignity. They themselves dehumanize and demonize conservatives and see no wrong in doing it. Yet they are the first to raise a hue and cry at what they perceive as the dehumanization and demonization of gays and lesbians.

Liberal Episcopalian bloggers have been having a field day with Bishop Orama’s alleged comments. They will gleefully post on the Internet anything that will discomfit the conservative global South Anglican leaders and their allies in the Episcopal Church. They particularly welcome anything that can be exploited to smear Bishop Bob Duncan and the conservative global South Anglican leaders’ allies in The Episcopal Church or to drive a wedge between conservative Episcopalians and the conservative global South Anglican provinces. A few weeks back they were circulating allegations that Bishop Mims was the ghostwriter for a recent statement by Archbishop Akinola. The Falls Church News, which is not friendly to the cause of conservative Episcopalians and Anglicans, in a recent article tried to keep these allegations alive.

A well-known propaganda principle is to use your opponent’s words against him. Those who are seeking to unravel Biblical Anglicanism and orthodox Christianity and put something of their own making in its place are eager to pounce upon any remark that they can distort, twist, or otherwise misuse for their purposes. They have exploited the words of Archbishop Peter Akinola and other Nigerian bishops to impugn their character, to bring disrepute on them, to portray these conservative global South Anglican leaders in the worst possible light, to damage their credibility, and to deny a hearing to them.

Liberal Episcopalian bloggers have been exploiting Bishop Orama’s alleged statements to the fullest. They had gone as far as accusing conservative Episcopalians and Anglicans of entertaining the same malice or evil intent toward the GLBT community that they allege that the Church of Nigeria harbors toward gays and lesbians, claiming that conservative Episcopalians and Anglicans are guilty of the same alleged ill-will and the desire to do harm as the Nigerians because they associate with the Nigerians.

Liberal Episcopalian bloggers are fond of accusing conservatives of being extremists and espousing extreme views . To this end they will misrepresent the views of conservatives and identify all conservatives with those who hold the most extreme views. At the same time they will try to pass themselves off as moderates. They have also voiced Western prejudices against citizens of developing third world countries and have sought to exploit these prejudices.

Gay activists in Nigeria and around the world have their ears and eyes open for anything that they can exploit to point an accusing finger at the Church of Nigeria. Gay activists have, for a long time, viewed the Bible and the Christian Church as a major obstacles to their aspirations. They are particularly antagonistic to the Church of Nigeria due to the role the Nigerian Church has played in hindering efforts to normalize homosexuality in Nigeria. Here is how Davis Mac-Iyalla, Director of Changing Attitude Nigeria exploited Bishop Orama’s alleged statements:

“As the time draws close for the Nigerian bishops to vote whether or not they will attend the Lambeth Conference, Archbishop Peter Akinola is at work lobbying the bishops of Nigeria to support his personal ideas about the future of the Anglican Communion. Even if bishop Orama needs to reward Akinola and the other bishops who lobbied for him to become a bishop himself, he doesn’t need to step on the head of innocent Gay and Lesbian people. “Changing Attitude Nigeria is surprised that a bishop like Orama uses such language about homosexuality and calls people created in the likeness and image of God satanic. Bishop Orama is from the Niger Delta and knows very well that homosexuality existed in Nigeria even before the advent of western missionaries.“Changing Attitude Nigeria challenges his authority to use those words about us. We ask, as LGBT Anglicans in Nigeria, whether this is his contribution to the Listening Process to which the Communion is committed in the Windsor Report.“Bishop Orama has once more focussed the attention of church and society against an innocent and vulnerable minority of people in a hostile country like Nigeria.“Changing Attitude Nigeria calls on the facilitator for the listening process, Canon Phil Groves, to take note of Bishop Orama’s comments. The Church of Nigeria has been denying our existence and is now using every means and tactic to silence us.”

Mr. Mac-Iyalla further exploited Bishop Orama’s alleged comments to make allegations of cronyism against Archbishop Akinola.

Earlier in the year Mac-Iyalla had made unsubstantiated allegations that the Church of Nigeria was behind threats that he claimed had been made against him. I was surprised how many liberal Episcopalians were willing to believe Mac-Iyalla’s allegations because the Church of Nigeria supported this legislation. They were ready to think ill of the Nigerian Church and speak ill of that church. However, Mac-Iyalla never produced any real proof of a connection between the alleged threats and the Nigerian Church.

One German gay-activist group trotted out the allegation that the Church of Nigeria is seeking to incite a pogrom against gays and lesbians in Nigeria:

“The Anglican Bishop of Uyo, Nigeria, Isaac Orama, has publicly assaulted the ‘activities of homosexuals and Lesbians,, and described those engaged in them as ‘insane people'’. In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) given on 2 September 2007 he said: ‘Homosexuality and lesbianism are inhuman. Those who practice them are insane, satanic and are not fit to live because they are rebels to God's purpose for man.’ The statement revealed the criminal nature of the policy of Church of Nigeria to dehumanize and demonize Gay people and instigate hatred and violence against them.”

Earlier in the year a German gay-activist group had sought to equate the Church of Nigeria’s support of legislation that would have banned the exposition and sale of homosexual pornography, the organization of gay-activist groups and the promotion of same sex marriage in Nigeria with support for a policy of “genocide” against gays and lesbians in Nigeria.

The furor over Bishop Orama’s alleged statements occurred against the background of the Churches of Kenya and Uganda’s consecration of three new bishops for their American congregations. The Church of Rwanda had announced plans to consecrate three new bishops of its own for the Anglican Mission in America. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the Primates’ Standing Committee are about to meet with The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops in a few days.

My own initial reaction was one of dismay and suspicion. The publication of the article came at a very bad time – right before the meeting of Archbishop Williams and the Primates’ Standing Committee with the House of Bishops. Bishop Orama’s alleged comments were to say the least ill chosen. We live in a time in which what is said in Abuja is heard around the world. We have become a global community. Its timing suggested that the release of the article was an attempt to influence Archbishop Williams and the House of Bishops and to embarrass the conservative global South Anglican leaders, especially those on the Primates’ Standing Committee.

In following a number of stories on the Internet I had become aware that there is usually more than meets the eye or can be seen at first glance with stories like the Bishop Orama’s alleged statements. This had turned out to be the case in the Bishop Mims ghostwriting story. Consequently, I was reluctant to judge Bishop Orama’s alleged comments on their face value. I questioned how those hostile to the Church of Nigeria and its stand on the Bible and human sexuality sought to interpret them to The Episcopal Church and to the general public. They were reading into his words the worst possible meaning that they could imagine. Even Archbishop Williams presumed that he knew what Bishop Orama had allegedly said when he condemned the remarks. But did he?

One of the difficulties the Nigerian bishops have faced is the translation of their statements from one language into another. Most of them are speaking English as a second-language and their fluency in English may vary. If they give an interview or make public statements in their native tongue and someone else translates the interview or public statements into English, the translator may not accurately render what they said into English. The translator may use words that do not quite convey what they intended.

Another difficulty that even ordinary Christians face is explaining a Biblical worldview to someone who does not share that worldview and has little or no knowledge of the Bible and its teachings. This can lead to a great deal of misunderstanding and misinterpretation. A number of the statements that Bishop Orama was alleged to have made were open to more than one interpretation.

Uproars have preceded each major event of recent years – the meetings of the Primates, the meetings of the House of Bishops, the two General Conventions, the consecration of Gene Robinson, and the meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council at which representatives of The Episcopal Church defended its innovations. Tensions grow between liberals and conservatives. They subside for a while after the event until the next major event looms.

The sad truth is that we do not have any control over the events that have overtaken us. How we wish that Archbishop Williams would take a tough stance with the House of Bishops, that the House of Bishops would lead The Episcopal Church back to Biblical Anglicanism and orthodoxy Christianity, and that the liberalism and modernism that dominates so many dioceses, seminaries, and churches would disappear. Yet we know in our hearts that it is not going to happen and we will have hard choices and difficult decisions to make.

The future of conservative Episcopalians and Anglicans in North America lies in an alliance with the conservative global South Anglican provinces. Liberals and gay activists will do all they can to damage and destroy such an alliance. They will seek to create distrust between conservatives in North America and their allies in the global South and to turn one against the other. A North American – global South conservative alliance is a serious threat to their aspirations. They desire to export their ideology to the global South. A North American – global South conservative alliance would force them to divide their energies between several fronts with their home front unsecured. They would be faced with the prospect of the conservatives making gains in North America and other North Atlantic provinces while they are concentrating upon the global South. Conservatives Anglicans in North America and the global South need to work closely together to not only to re-establish and strengthen Biblical Anglicanism and orthodox Christianity in North America but also to keep them strong and vibrant in the global South. Like any working relationship it will have its ups and downs. We need to exercise forbearance and patience with each other in working through any difficulties and rough spots. We should take care to not loose sight of our common goals. A lot is at stake.