When Gene Robinson was elevated to become the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church in 2003, he made history and almost caused a schism between the Episcopal Church in the US and the global Anglican Church.
Shortly thereafter, the May 2004 blessing of Rev. Malcolm Boyd and Mark Thompson by Bishop Jon Bruno at the Episcopal Dioceses of Los Angeles caused as much anguish within the church. At Boyd’s recent funeral, Bruno said his longtime gay friend Malcolm Boyd pushed him into the social justice cause of marriage equality—and a subsequent lawsuit against the Diocese.
But Nigerian Anglican bishops were furious and threatened the 80 million-members of the worldwide Anglican Communion with a schism over the US Church’s acceptance of LGBT people and marriage equality. “The Nigerian Anglican Communion has about 17.5 million members.
“We claim we are Bible-loving Christians. We cannot be seen to be doing things clearly outside the boundaries allowable in the Bible. This is only the beginning. We would sever relationships with anybody, anywhere… anyone who strays over the boundaries we are out with them. It is as simple as that,” Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola said at the time.
Ten yeas later, Nigeria and Uganda plotted to create and pass what became known as “Kill the Gays” bills. But even before that, in 2007, Josh Indiana, a lay minister in the Episcopal Church, organized a protest of Akinola’s visit to the US. “Peter Akinola scapeoats Gay people so Nigerians won’t notice the government and the “Anglican” Church steals Nigeria’s oil money and blames all the country’s ills on Gay people,” Indiana wrote on his blog.
It is therefore a weird and terrible irony that during the same Holy Week when Republican governors sign anti-LGBT “Religious Freedom and Restoration Acts,” the Anglican Communion named anti-gay Nigerian Rev. Dr Josiah Atkins Idowu-Fearon, Bishop of Kaduna in the Church of Nigeria, as the new Secretary General of the Anglican Communion Office.
“It is a privilege to be so honoured and recognised by the Communion for this leadership position. I look forward to serving the Anglican family with my future colleagues at the Anglican Communion Office and the Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.” said Idowu-Fearon, pictured with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby above.
Idowu-Fearon has several degrees and “a global reputation in the Church for his expertise in Christian-Muslim relations,” reports the Anglican Communion News Service.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said, “I warmly welcome the appointment of Bishop Josiah and look forward to working closely with him in the renewal of the Anglican Communion amidst the global challenges facing us today.”
The criteria for getting the post included being “a committed Christian, a person of deep faith and prayer, a visionary ambassador for Christ and his Church, a bridge-builder to effect healing amongst the churches of the Anglican Communion, a creative and imaginative thinker, and an inspirational leader who will help to renew the witness and effectiveness of the Communion, its structures, and its programmes.”
But while Idowu-Fearon might be a “bridge-builder” with people of the Islamic faith, the fastest growing religion in the world, according to a new Pew Research Center report— he has already burned bridges with the LGBT community.
In an interview in 2007, Idowu-Fearon talked to the Dallas Morning News about the abnormality of homosexuality:
“My grandparents had practiced traditional religion before they became Christian. Now, in African traditional religion, if I had an attraction to a male person, that is considered as an abnormal thing, a spiritual problem. …
Now, when my grandparents met the English, who introduced us to the Christian faith, they read the Bible to my grandparents, and said, look, this thing you’re talking about, the Bible agrees that it’s sinful. So for us, the Bible supports our pre-Christian theology. We accepted it. We became Christian. And that is why in Africa, generally, if you have an abnormal sexual orientation, you don’t brag about it….
That’s why we feel we are deceived, we have been cheated by the people the Lord Jesus Christ used to introduce us to the Scriptures, to bring us to a new faith in the Lord Jesus. They are telling us that it’s not wrong after all, that it’s a natural way. But we say: You are wrong; the Bible is right. So it’s not just a question of human sexuality. It’s about the authority of Scripture. For us, Scripture judges every culture. What I hear in the Western world is that culture judges Scripture. That’s the basic difference. It’s not a question of sex or no sex.
Interestingly, in 2008 Idowu-Fearon was demoted from archbishop to bishop by Archbishop of Nigeria Peter Akinola, as noted by John B. Chilton at Episcopal Cafe.
In a March 2014 article “No going back on stand against gay marriage – Anglican Communion,” in the Nigerian newspaper New Telegraph, Idowu- Fearon lauded the government for banning “the ugly practices.” Idowu-Fearon said:
“Our battle today is not against homosexuals, our battle today is against those who say God’s standards are not good enough for us.
The government has criminalised homosexuality which is good, our battle is not against human beings, it is against the devil.” He urged all those already initiated to reestablish the family system that is Anglican oriented.
“You knights should go back and re-establish the family system and that is the Anglican position. Our resolution of 1998 on homosexuality has not changed and will not change by the grace of God.”
The biography Archbishop Justin Welby: The Road to Canterbury notes the friendship between Idowu-Fearon and the leader of the Anglican Union:
And in saying the Bible is the authority on homosexuality, remember what it says:
So the first plank in the bridge-building between the Anglican Communion and the Islamic faith Idowu-Fearon knows from his dealings with Muslims in Nigeria is that killing or imprisoning or “sanitizing” the Anglican Communion of gays, as the New York Times put the “Kill the Gay” campaign in Nigeria.
Idowu-Fearon’s elevation, says Rev. Susan Russell of All Saints in Pasadena, is “another chapter in the sad story of using the lives of LGBT people as bargaining chips in the game of global Anglican politics. Welby is trying to broker a deal that will keep the schismatics at the table — and the price of their inclusion is our criminalization.”
Russell also said there will be a National Faith Call of Prayer on Friday, April 3, starting at 12:00/Noon Eastern/ 9:00am Pacific to discuss the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) laws in Arkansas and Indiana. Dial In Number: 1.626.677.3000 ID Number: 778024.
Says Russell:
“Sadly, this new law is not a sign of Holy Week, but a cause of Holy Unrest. The question that is before is, how will we respond to this injustice that is not only affecting those who live in Indiana but is also having an adverse impact on people throughout our nation.
For Christians, this is the week we remember that ‘Jesus confronts the principalities and powers in Jerusalem to ask that God’s love and mercy be extended to all . . .’ For people of the Jewish faith, ‘this is a time when we remember that we were once slaves in Egypt, lost and forgotten, . . .’ and we must continue to add our voices to call out this current injustice.
For many who observe other spiritual traditions or no particular faith tradition, there is nevertheless a strong sense that, as Martin Luther King said, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.’
Confirmed speakers include: Rev. Elder Dr. Nancy Wilson, Presiding Moderator, Metropolitan Community Churches • Bishop Steven Charleston, Saint Paul School of Theology at Oklahoma City University • Rabbi Denise Eger, President, Central Conference of American Rabbis • Rev. Canon Susan Russell, Senior Associate at All Saints Church Pasadena, CA Rev. • Pat Bumgardner, Executive Director, Global Justice Institute, MCC, NY Rev. Melody Merida, Minister of Congregational Life, Life Journey Church, IN Rev. DeWayne Davis, Senior Minister, All God’s Children MCC, Minneapolis, MN Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins, Senior Minister, Sunshine Cathedral MCC, Fort Lauderdale, FL
The call is being organized by: Liz Welch – Out for Freedom Regional Campaigner [email protected] Rev. Dr. Robert Griffin, Metropolitan Community Churches, Public Policy Team [email protected]