KENYA: Boycotting primate wants Lambeth Conference to continue

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_99815_ENG_HTM.htm

[Episcopal Life Online] 7 Aug 2008--Anglican Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya, who boycotted the 2008 Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops from around the world, has said the archbishop of Canterbury should continue to convene the once-every-10-years gathering but underlined his view that homosexuality needs to be seen as sinful.

The Kenyan archbishop took issue with remarks by Robinson, according to whom leaders such as Nzimbi are calling for the exclusion from the Anglican Communion of those churches that support the greater inclusion of gay and lesbian people.

Nzimbi said the current problem within the Anglican Communion was not based on who should stay or go, but on compliance to the word of God.

"When you obey the Scriptures you repent of your sins. What is ... bringing problems is the interpretation of the Scriptures," he said. "If we all obey the Scriptures, and what they tell us, I know that inner oneness will make us have the outer form of the Anglican Communion that which we want."

Nzimbi also questioned a statement in a document issued at the end of the Lambeth Conference that stated that the way the Anglican Communion has been perceived to handle polygamy has complicated the issue of how it deals with homosexuality. "Polygamy," the document noted, "has been part of the history and of the present of some provinces [member churches] of the communion."

However, stated Nzimbi, "Nobody sanctions polygamy. It should be one man, one woman. When it comes to homosexuality, it is sinful, just as polygamy is."