Africa's Anglican Communion and Gay Controversy.
For a long while, I have followed with great interest the gay controversy within the world-wide Anglican Communion that had so much threatened the unity of the Church. There is no doubt that, in modern times, there has been a growing proclivity towards sexual immorality, not only in African countries like Nigeria but the world over.
The Primate of Nigeria's Anglican Communion, the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, and indeed most of the other Archbishops and bishops in Africa see the practice of lesbianism and gay relationships as great evils which must not be condoned. In fact, going by their conviction, these twin evils must not be allowed to exist in the African society.
Okoh insists that same-sex relationship was not the original plan of God. He has also been quoted as saying that when God created man, he (man) was in the midst of animals and he did not find a companion among them. For that reason, God created a woman as a help-mate for him. In other words, it was God himself who arranged man and woman to co-habit. The Scriptures say so too.
On a particular occasion, Okoh drew attention to what he contended was becoming acceptable in some quarters and which he said Nigerian Anglican Communion must not accept. He explained that what is now known as gay relationship or homosexuality is contrary to God's plan for human sexuality and procreation. According to him, it is against the will of God. Nobody should encourage it, and those who do would earn for themselves the damnation of the Almighty.
On another occasion, the archbishop made it clear that God did not invent marriage between two same-sex persons as is the case in homosexuality and lesbianism and admonished those practising it to repent and come out of it because it is evil. He argued that if God considered that yet another man was what Adam needed as companion and help-mate in the Garden of Eden, He would have created another man, not a woman for Adam. He emphasized that God did not do that but rather created a unique person in the form of a woman different from the man. He created Eve (not Steve) to be Adam's companion.
Obviously, Okoh is unhappy that moral decadence is circumventing the labyrinth of society in such a way that 'despicable acts' like lesbianism and homosexuality are gradually but steadily being decorated with public appeal and are receiving attention and even applause in today's society. He notes that men have fashioned out different forms of marriages for themselves called trial marriages, where couples decide to live together for a specific period of time to monitor whether or not they are compatible and explains that marriage is an act of faith, and that it should be left the way God designed it.
It won't be the first time an African prelate is fighting this war against same-sex relationships. The war against gay relationships was strongly waged by Okoh's predecessor, His Grace, Peter Akinola, retired Prelate of Nigeria's Anglican Communion. Akinola led other Anglican Bishops in East and West Africa to oppose the practice which had taken root in parts of Britain and the United States of America, even at a time the church was contemplating ordaining gay priests.
Akinola and Okoh are not alone. Many well-meaning people across the globe share their opinion. It must also be recalled that the 13th Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops passed a resolution in 1998 which categorically stated that homosexual acts are "incompatible with the Scripture".
Yet, despite the position nearly two thirds of the world-wide Anglican Communion took against gay relationships, the Diocese of New Westminster in the Anglican Church of Canada, permitted the blessing of same-sex unions in 2002. Their action provoked a massive protest across the globe. Gay crisis within the world-wide Anglican Communion deepened further in 2003 when the names of two openly gay priests in England and the United States came up as candidates for the post of bishop.
In the Church of England, Jeffrey John eventually gave way to pressure. He withdrew his candidacy as Bishop of Reading from being considered. But it was not the same in the Episcopal Church in the USA. Here, Gene Robinson was elected and consecrated Bishop of New Hampshire. He became the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican Communion. It is history now that his enthronement inflamed the church at the time. The fear was that the practice could gain grounds in parts of Africa including Nigeria.
It was this fear that led to the boycott of the 2008 Lambeth Conference. The body of protesting Bishops rather than go to Lambeth chose to attend the Global Anglican Futures Conference in Jerusalem. Akinola led other African priests to boycott the Lambeth conference. And ever since then, he has sustained the campaign against what he insists is 'illegitimate marriage' both in the church and in the society.
The gay community which had probably established centres in Lagos and other cities in Nigeria has never ceased to condemn the stance of the Anglican Church, insisting that gay people in Nigeria are not being given any opportunity to tell their own side of their stories. This could have been true, until recently when the National Assembly passed a law making gay relationships an offence punishable with a 14-year jail term.
Be that as it may, it must be made clear from the very start that no one is holding brief for gay people or in any way trying to teach African Church leaders how to deal with their problems. Mine is a humble submission that is based on observation. As a London-based journalist and a Knight of St. Christopher, I feel concerned about the development.
Much as we all agree that gay relationships are evil, unscriptural and unacceptable in a decent society, we need to get to the root of it by asking ourselves some pertinent questions. First is: how and why do people get into the practice? Second is: what would Jesus have done? If Jesus could dine with men known to be evil in their society, prostitutes, tax collectors and people of generally very low social esteem, who are we to question his example?
I am told that there has been some effort by Nollywood actors (led by Geneveve Nnaji, I understand) to depict culturally in one of her films how people could be inadvertently lured into gay relationships. But perhaps many African Church leaders have not bothered to look deeply into what that film was out to achieve.
But let's set out a scenario that is likely to bring the predicament of gay people closer to our general understanding.
Even today, as it was in years gone by, there are 'pious' parents who admonish their teenage daughters: “if I ever see you with a man before you are married, I'm going to kill you. Men are beasts. You can't trust them. If you ever get into a relationship with them, they will only use and dump you....You must never indulge in sex before marriage, because if you do, you'll get pregnant. I don't want you to bring shame to this family.” Stuff like that. Good advice from a loving, caring mother, given with the best of intentions to protect her daughter and the good name of their family.
And because African children are known to be obedient to their parents, the child begins to abhor men, especially during her first few years in the secondary school. But during those teenage years, she naturally begins to develop feelings. For a while, she is waged in a moral war – do I obey or disobey my mother? Remembering that mothers have a way of finding out, and afraid of the punishment that may follow, she begins to seek for “completeness” in her feelings in the arms of another girl-mate, most often a senior student of the school. By the time you know it, the seed of lesbianism has been planted in the young girls. The same goes for boys.
The Holy Book tells us: teach a child the way to go and when he is grown, he will never depart from it. In a scenario like this, it is obvious that the resentment for the opposite sex inculcated in the young minds has gone a long way to damage their personality. And then, in an attempt to stay “on top of the problem”, they begin to seek for social recognition. And all hell is let loose!
What we are saying is that apart from those who do it because others are doing it or because they believe it is fashionable, most gay relationships can be traced back to the anxiety of parents to maintain the good name of the family, the good character of their child and so on. Then it backfires. And if that is the case, as it is in most Christian families whose members are involved, whether openly or secretly, what should the church do? Throw them out? Reject them? Avoid them? Discriminate against them?
I think the Anglican Communion and the Nigerian government should begin to look at this issue more deeply and with the eyes of maturity. While we know that the practice is evil, what can the church do to protect those parents and children who inadvertently became victims of the circumstances of their own good intentions? I believe that Church authorities in Africa and the various African governments can revisit this development in view of new revelations. Perhaps they may soften and become more compassionate in finding a solution to the problem. Because it is a problem and it is spreading like wild fire.
* Asinugo is a London-based journalist.