The Anglican Primate of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, Archbishop Deng Bul, is a bigot. Let's stop mincing words. He joins the ranks of other infamous Anglican bigots such as Archbishop Peter Jasper Akinola, the Anglican Primate of the Church of Nigeria and Henry Luke Orombi, the Archbishop of the (Anglican) Church of Uganda.
The Archbishop of the Sudan had this to say on July 22, 2008 at Lambeth. "Gene Robinson (bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire and native Kentuckian) has to be away from the Anglican world and be a normal Christian,” said Deng. "If he is, as he always says, a Christian, he should resign for the sake of the church." Neither will the Archbishop be taking part in the Anglican Communion's Listening Process. Archbishop Deng went on to say that homosexuality is condemned by the Bible and "is not part of my culture, I cannot talk about it." Deng said "there are no gay or lesbian people in Sudan."
Oh. Really? There are no gay people in Iran either. The Iranian solution is to hang them from the neck until dead. The Sudan handles it this way:
"5.72 Under the 1991 Criminal Act, homosexual activity is illegal in Sudan. A first time offence of buggery carries a penalty of up to five years imprisonment and fifty lashes; the same again for a second offence and for a third offence the death penalty or a sentence of life imprisonment is applied. There are no specific penalties that apply to lesbians. Homosexual activity is known to go on in Sudanese society but not openly. According to information obtained from the British Embassy in Khartoum in 2001, there have been no reports to indicate that the security forces persecute known homosexuals [25b]." http://www.ecoi.net/190169::sudan/328802.326010.9590...mr/sexual-orientation.htm .
50 lashes? Death? Oh yeah. That's all modern and up to date. No human rights violations there.
Why do we care? First, Bishop Robinson is a Kentuckian who happens to be gay. Second, the Episcopalians of New Hampshire get to choose their bishop and their choice is not subject to the review of Archbishop Bul or any of the other invader dioceses. The Episcopal Church didn't withhold consent and that's the end of it. Third, I was, at one time, Episcopalian. Bishop Gulick accepted me into the church on Holy Saturday and the very next week a group of radical fundamentalist blowhards put Bishop Walter Righter on trail for heresy because he ordained Barry Stopfel to the priesthood. Stopfel was an out gay man. Clearly, the Episcopal Church played the same kind of bait and switch-condemn and castrate-Biblical literalism is OK with us-shenanigans enjoyed by Baptists and Catholics worldwide. I decided that a sign had been given and enough was enough. The technical term is apostasy but I prefer renunciation. Christianity is broken and cannot be fixed. So I consulted my Bible and off I went.
"If no one welcomes you or listens to your words, as you leave that house or town, shake its dust off your feet. I tell you with certainty; it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town!" Matthew 10:14-15 NSV.
More info at Integrity (Gay Episcopalians)
Episcopal Life Online or
Preludium by the Rev. Mark Harris or
TheGenePool.
