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

[41LC]

If humanity manages to evolve beyond the the primitive, sexist and racist thinking ingrained in us by the Church over thousands of years, we will look back in horror at how we tolerated and enshrined into law the abuse of Gays and Women and racial intolerance.

[slc1950]

No they don't have to repent. No they don't have to change. No. They. Don't.

You're 100% WRONG,

[jweider]

The Church of England has a great history for causing change in the world. For example when their stifling bass-ackwards ways chased the Puritans out of England and caused the birth of the United States.
Keep up the good work Church of England. Who knows what great unintended consequences you'll cause next.

[BCLance]

Well, in that case, it was the Puritans who were the conservatives aghast at the liberalism of the church...

[RGoetz]

Jesus was crystal clear about divorce but the good bishop is silent on that topic....divorce (because it involved heteros and to competely forbid it would really affect church membership) is now almost a sacrament.

[S1m0n]

The bible doesn't define marriage at all.

[chaya]

I want Michael Nazir-Ali to "repent and be changed," for using his position of power to promote Godless policies such as discrimination against other human beings for the sole reason that he doesn't like the way God created them.

[greenleaflink]

I thought in England religion was on the down, do they not have other work to do?

[MSNichols]

Gays to Church of England: you need to repent of your archaic and hateful rhetoric.

[wndrwrthg]

The bible is not law. Those who believe in the mythology of said book, should keep it to themselves and not seek to inflict their fairy tales on others.

[windup]

The Bishop should repent.

[apoyo]

He should repent for castigating God's children.

Jesus accepted everyone without preconditions.

[helonias]

What about idolaters and adulterers?
Shouldn't they come first.

There's nothing in the 10 suggestions about being gay.

2 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness (of any thing) that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

7 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

[Whinger]

Not withstanding.......

"You shall not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination."

Leviticus 18, 22

[BunnyFooFoo]

I know that gay people can defend themselves but I am tired, tired, tired of people regarding them as some kind of toxic matter. Why is this still such an obsession for so many? Is it because men can't control hetero women anymore so they have to keep a stranglehold on the homosexual community?
Why don't you just let all knowing and all loving God do the judging if there is to be any.

[Whinger]

I think the Bible advises that sinners should repent.


Trust a mortal man to be selective!

[sheputstheLinPAIN]

These tax evaders ony have the power we give them.