‘Political Developments’ Influenced Church’s Decision to Support Gay Marriage: Senior Anglican Minister – The Epoch Times
A senior Australian Anglican minister has said the Anglican church’s stance in the same sex marriage debate has been influenced by global political trends rather than the authority of the Bible.
The comment comes after Australia’s General Synod in May saw the majority of bishops refuse to affirm man-woman marriage, with progressive bishops saying it excludes the LGBT community.
Zachary Veron, senior minister of Bayside Anglican Church in Sydney, told The Epoch Times that the traditional concept that marriage is between a man and a woman “ought not to be controversial” because it has been “the case for thousands of year.”
Veron argued that while those adhering to such a concept are being criticised as discriminatory, people who “wish to dismiss the clear teaching of the Bible are the ones causing the tension [within the church].”
“It would be unthinkable but here we are; that some sections of the Anglican church wish to bless that the Bible calls sin,” Veron said.
As progressivism sweeps through the church and various agencies, the Anglican minister believes that those who propose progressive trends to reform their understandings from the teachings of the Bible usually “make themselves the victim to win over undecided public opinion.”
“That’s consistent with political developments around the world,” he noted.
“Social ethics around the Western world are folding over all sorts of matters, from equality to abortion, to marriage to education. The rate of social change is quite breathtaking.”
“And it appears that some sections of some churches, not just the Anglican Church but other denominations as well, are being influenced by those developments.”
Australia legalised same-sex marriage in 2017, which saw some individual dioceses move to bless same-sex couples. The move has divided Anglicans, some of whom established a new diocese in August in response to what they called the rejection of marriage ethics and the “watering down of standards of behaviour” by clergies and church workers.
Debate Over Faithfulness
Tasmania’s Anglican Bishop Richard Condie, chair of the new Diocese of the Southern Cross, described the diocese in a press release on Aug. 15 as a “new structure for Anglicans in Australia who can no longer sit under the authority of their bishop.”
However, Charles Sturt University Theologian Matthew Anstey argued that progressive Anglicans believe they are “being entirely faithful to scripture and to God, and that our faith is genuine and authentic.”
“We also reject the claim that you are able to make a judgment about our faith,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Aug. 17.
Previously, Anstey wrote in a commentary on June. 1 that “for us, the progressive vision is one of a broad, comprehensive, open-hearted Anglican church, a community where diversity is welcome and embraced—in theology, liturgy, and importantly, human sexuality.
“And we contend that the conservative vision is narrow, exclusive, hegemonic.”
Meanwhile, Anglican Minister Veron believes the main reason behind the conflict over the matter of human sexuality can be boiled down to how people perceive the role of religious teaching in their life.
“Not many Anglicans in Australia will say that it (the Bible) is our primary source of authority and how we should live and think and coordinate and live with other people. They would say that it is one of many authorities and not necessarily the primary or foreign.”
“[However] those who see the Bible as the primary authority over matters of faith [think] this is a line we cannot cross,” he said.
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Nina Nguyen is a reporter based in Sydney. She covers Australian news with a focus on social, cultural, and identity issues. She is fluent in Vietnamese. Contact her at nina.nguyen@epochtimes.com.au.