Michael Nazir-Ali, Church Of England Bishop, Says Gays Should 'Repent'

LONDON — A senior Church of England bishop has angered gay-rights campaigners by saying homosexuals should repent.

Archbishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that the Bible defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman. He said the church welcomed gay people, "but we want them to repent and be changed."

Nazir-Ali is a leading member of the conservative wing of the global Anglican Communion, which is riven by divisions over homosexuality and the ordination of women.

Gay groups condemned the bishop's remarks. Campaigner Peter Tatchell said Nazir-Ali's view "goes against Christ's gospel of love and compassion."

And Derek Munn of gay-rights group Stonewall accused the bishop of promoting inequality and intolerance.

The 77 million-member Anglican Communion has been splintering since 2003, when the Episcopal Church _ the Anglican body in the U.S. _ consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has tried to hold the fragile communion together by getting churches to observe a voluntary moratorium on consecrating another openly gay bishop and developing prayers for same-sex unions. But many fear a split is inevitable.

Nazir-Ali's remarks appeared a day before the launch in Britain of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, a coalition of conservative parishes from around the world, which Nazir-Ali supports.

He was quoted as saying that people who depart from traditional Biblical teaching "don't share the same faith."

"We want to hold on to the traditional teaching of the church," he told the newspaper. "We don't want to be rolled over by culture and trends in the church."

Comments

[texasteph12570]

05:24 PM on 07/06/2009

7. even if they ever find those intermediate species the evolutionists are frantically searching the globe for, that does not rule out a creator for he is not the author of confusion and god did not create the earth in 6 days. "in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth". notice the period. "now the earth was void and without form and darkness was over the surface of the deep". that was before the six days. on the first day he did not create light, he said "let there be light".
8. first there was nothing and then it exploded? whatever.
9. the psalms mirror current years starting with spalm 47 and ending with 113(this is where you will meet god in my humble opinion)
10. why is nasa blocking the google space picture from the southern observatory that might show that same stellar object hurtling toward this planet in a most inconvenient direction. the same object that antiquity described as where these great beings came from.
11. in the egyptian kolburn bible all of the exodus story is relayed and the plagues as well in this book from the perspective of egypt.

[texasteph12570]

05:24 PM on 07/06/2009

3. the angels that fell took the daughters of men and their children were called nephilim, men of mythical being. they were 14 foot tall and these were the ones that the isrealites were to kill when they possesed the promised land. ever heard of goliath? well his ancestor og was 13 feet tall. 4. god wrote his gospel in the stars with the zodiac, starting with virgo the virgin with child, and ending with the lion coming in glory. ever heard of the riddle of the sphinx? the head of a woman the body of a lion. the pyramids? read a book called the witness of the stars by e.w. bullinger
5.just this year nasa has found that around 700 b.c. a stellar object came through our system and slowed the earths rotation for a day and changed our year cycle from 360 days to 365. this story is in the bible and referred to in joshua 10.
6. the combined works of plato are based on 9 seperate scripts found in differing places and accepted as factual. the basic text of the bible has been found in over 40,000 scripts and people doubt its validity.

[Balancement]

12:03 PM on 07/06/2009

The sooner the world gets over this Invisible-Sky-Thingy-In-Charge group of oppressive myths, the better off the world will be.

[Mr. Cobb]

09:15 AM on 07/06/2009

He's right. It's high time I REPENT for the sin of being so dang good lookin'.

[Scriobhaim]

09:21 AM on 07/06/2009

As the punch line of a well-known joke goes: There's a difference between sin and delusion.

[Scriobhaim]

08:53 AM on 07/06/2009

How dare that bishop express what he believes. This can't be tolerated. This has got to be stopped, no matter what it takes. We've got to have love and openness and tolerance and inclusiveness and freedom of conscience and diversity and empowerment and enfranchisement. And fun. And anybody who doesn't agree has got to be silenced or liquidated. Up with the Enlightenment, no matter the cost. Down with all beliefs that offend us. Take the churches away from all those whose beliefs contradict the NY Times editorial page!!!

[createrian]

09:00 AM on 07/06/2009

lol. . .so true

[jonjon358]

09:30 AM on 07/06/2009

Oh, please. Yeah, he has the right to be an abject, backwards troglodyte. That doesn't mean we need to lionize him for it. I "tolerate" his right to his opinion. Like I said below, whatever the imaginary rules of whatever child's game he chooses to play, it's no skin off my back. But it's still our equal right to criticize his small-mindedness.

[Scriobhaim]

10:24 AM on 07/06/2009

Gosh, I had no idea you were even THINKING of "lionizing" him for his ideas. Yeah, this page if FULL of people "lionizing" him, isn't it. Gosh golly gee, what was I THINKING, even HINTING that ANYONE was being less than LAUDATORY of the bishop. Just IMAGINE. Indeed, jonjon, your observation was incredibly incisive. And just remember, as soon as you're tempted to start lionizing the man, bite your knuckles and resist the temptation.

[Bude]

08:52 AM on 07/06/2009

I'll get right on that, Padre.

[frantaylor]

08:51 AM on 07/06/2009

Next he is going to ask all of the left-handers to repent, and then we can start in on those weirdos with different colored eyes.

[mommadona]

08:48 AM on 07/06/2009

Don't these dudes realize they have lost all credibility in the real world?

Don't they realize they are a laughing stock with their 'do as I say, not as I do'?

Truly 'relics'.

OLD 'relics'

[GomezAdams]

08:48 AM on 07/06/2009

The Anglican Church should let these bigots go instead of trying to find compromise with them. Defrock the hate mongers and take the property.

[dutch163]

08:04 AM on 07/06/2009

may God forgive you, Michael

[jonjon358]

08:00 AM on 07/06/2009

Oh, who cares. Of course he's gonna say that. As a gay guy, this is not the kind of thing I get my jock strap in a bunch over. The religious people have this little kid's game they play, in which they make the imaginary rules as to who's "it" and who's "safe," etc, and good for them. I just don't play. Anyway, the earth revolves around the sun for all the Bible has to say about it.

[scottowego]

08:22 AM on 07/06/2009

Right on!!!

[boswick]

07:54 AM on 07/06/2009

Living with a 4th centuriy mentality in the 21st century must be very difficult for Bishop Nazir-Ali. No wonder he's so confused. And he is citing the philosophy of 4th century BC Hebrew tribesmen! Wow,
and people are really listening to him?

[lastpost]

07:41 AM on 07/06/2009

Michael: What purpose is served by holding a belief?
Is it that, having a belief appears preferable to not having a belief?
If so, then any belief will do.

Alternatively, is the purpose of holding a belief because it is believed to be true?
If so, then such a belief must be continually questioned. In order to confirm that it is true. For what purpose would be served by holding a belief that was not true?

[scottowego]

08:23 AM on 07/06/2009

It's all about power and control. I can sort of understand the BS about gays but women???? What a bunch a jerks.

[SBrooksB]

09:12 AM on 07/06/2009

@lastpost........You've hit on my #1 rant in life. Since the dawn of time, we've pit this belief against that belief without stopping to ask why belief of ANY kind is necessary.

[craphappens]

07:28 AM on 07/06/2009

I bet he gets a lot more straight Christians who need to repent. I am sure God thinks so too.

[elthelight]

07:14 AM on 07/06/2009

Read the Bible.

[Balancement]

08:47 AM on 07/06/2009

I did. The Harry Potter books are much more interesting.

And moral.