Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Bishops braced for a battle

http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Bishops-braced-for--a.4292422.jp

[Scotsman.com] 16 Jul 2008--Ten years ago Richard Holloway was left angry and appalled by the hard-line stance adopted by fellow church leaders against gays.

The 1998 Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops from around the world voted by 526 to 70 to declare homosexual relationships incompatible with the Bible. They also upheld a ban on the ordination of gay priests and the blessing of same-sex marriages.

The then Bishop of Edinburgh said he had been amazed by the "intensity and brutality" of the event. It had felt like "being in the middle of a lynching".

Soon afterwards he announced he was giving up his attempt to become a member of the new Scottish Parliament so he could concentrate on fighting intolerance and fundamentalism in the church.

Bishop Holloway has now retired from church leadership, but the Lambeth Conference, which only meets once a decade, is assembling again and the issue of homosexuality will again be a hot topic.

I am tagging this article as reflecting the views of a special interest group seeking to influence the outcome of the 2008 Lambeth Conference.

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