Nigeria wants a common faith, not a common leader

http://www.churchnewspaper.com/news.php?read=on&number_key=5787&title=Nigeria%20wants%20a%20common%20faith,%20not%20a%20common%20leader

[The Church of England Newspaper] September 22, 2005--A common faith and not a common leader, should define Anglicanism and the Anglican Communion, the Church of Nigeria’s General Synod has declared in what is widely seen as a rebuff to the Archbishop of Canterbury. In a controversial move last week, the 800-strong Synod sent shockwaves around Anglican Communion circles by redefining its relations with the Anglican Communion in confessional terms. The delegates replaced the phrase “communion with the see of Canterbury” with “communion with all Anglican Churches, Dioceses and Provinces that hold and maintain the ‘Historic Faith, Doctrine, Sacrament and Discipline of the one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church’,” in its constitution. While displeasure with the House of Bishops’ July 25 Pastoral Statement on Civil Partnerships partly drove the change, sources told The Church of England Newspaper that the primary motive for placing the locus of unity on Scripture, the 1662 Prayer Book and the Articles of Religion over against the “See of Canterbury” was the Windsor Report’s call for a common Anglican covenant. Professor Stephen Noll, Vice-Chancellor of Uganda Christian University, said that Nigeria “seems to be saying in response to the Windsor Report, ‘You want an Anglican Covenant? Surprise, surprise, it is what it always has been’,” — the 39 Articles and the Prayer Book.