Bishops tackle world debt, euthanasia at Lambeth
The once-a-decade meeting of the world’s Anglican bishops covered a range of subjects
By ChristianWeek staff
CANTERBURY, England–While western media focused on the most controversial issue at the Lambeth Conference–homosexuality–the 760 Anglican bishops from around the world who met for three weeks this summer discussed a wide variety of subjects.
International debt, for example, took centre stage when Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, South Africa, called for the cancellation of the debt of developing countries.
Ndungane urged the bishops, who meet once every 10 years, to follow the gospel injunction to "bring good news to the poor" by supporting the Jubilee 2000 campaign for cancelling $214 billion in debt burdening the developing world. Inspired by the tradition reported in Leviticus of holding a year of jubilee every 50 years, a coalition of churches and social outreach organizations is campaigning for cancellation of the debt of the world’s poorest countries by 2000.
Bishop Nicodemus Engwalas-Okilli of Uganda said, "this small country carries on the head of her citizens an external and unpayable debt of $3.7 billion. Every single man, woman and child owes the World Bank $186. We just cannot pay. And the reason we cannot pay is that we cannot pay."
Depth of suffering
Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, has long been in favor of cancelling debt. "If poverty in Africa is to be turned around there are hard decisions to be made, and great responsibilities" for everyone involved, he said. "What I am convinced of is it can happen and must happen. I believe the depth of suffering which we have seen and which we will continue to see in so many parts of that great continent go far beyond what is tolerable in a civilized world."
The Lambeth Conference also took a strong stand against euthanasia, arguing that it should not be "permitted in civil legislation." The resolution affirmed the basic theological and ethical principle that "life is God-given and has intrinsic sanctity, significance and worth."
Archbishop Peter Hollingworth of Australia, chair of the group that prepared the report, said that, "precisely defined, euthanasia means an act by which one person intentionally causes or assists in causing the death of another who is terminally or seriously ill in order to end the other’s pain and suffering."
"Those who advocate euthanasia show little awareness of the Christian experience that people may be redeemed and transfigured through their suffering," said Hollingworth. He emphasized that the bishops did not mean withdrawal of treatment from a patient in a comatose state.
Among other things, the bishops also:
• Criticized Pakistan’s blasphemy laws;
• Called for increased dialogue with other faiths;
• Heard stories of Christian witness despite intimidation in some countries;
• Granted freedom of conscience on women’s ordination;
• Called the practice of homosexuality incompatible with Scripture.
In a vote on human sexuality, 526 bishops voted against blessing same-sex unions and ordaining homosexuals, while also condemning homophobia as "an irrational fear of homosexuals." The resolution was opposed by 70 bishops, while 45 abstained.
Afterwards, more than 100 bishops, including Archbishop Michael Peers, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, pledged to continue to work for the full inclusion of gay and lesbian Christians in the life and ministry of the church.
–From ACNS reports
