Does Western culture miss the mark a lot of the time? Yes. HOWEVER, rarely a week goes by when I’m not reading about, watching or listening to a report about atrocious practices in Africa and can’t help but wonder why the African church insists on focusing on homosexuality as the greatest evil.

Women are methodically gang-raped in many of the countries; little boys are rounded up and forced into becoming landmine fodder; females have their genitals mutilated. ABC News had a report Friday about nutjobs killing and/or hacking off the limbs of albino Africans for use in witch doctor potions.

Corruption, war, disease, and famine are endemic but these bishops spend an inordinate amount of time on homosexuality. I really don’t understand it. Just as I don’t understand why, in a particularly difficult time for many Americans, TEC is fixated on this issue, too. Can we PLEASE move on to more important matters and use the time and whatever credibility we may have left on bringing Christ into this sorely wounded world?

Because homosexual behavior is as much a sin as the other things you mentioned and it is that sin and not the others that society and the Church is being asked, pressured and forced to accept and bless.

What Br. Michael said.

At our highest legislative level one Province has chosen to bless and affirm something deeply disordered and sinful.  Obviously, none of the other Provinces could then avoid determining what they would do about that.  Some have chosen to cut off relationships with the Province that decided it could do such a thing, particularly when they realized all of the other foundational heresies that led up to supporting such an obviously wrong decision.

And so, we do not have a Communion any longer. 

Really the last several years—and the years to come—will deal with that latter issue.  Now that we no longer have the Anglican Communion how will that play out?  Ultimately what many said back in 2003 will be true on a global basis—one cannot have in one organization leaders who hold two antithetical worldviews and two competing gospels.  Ultimately such organizations either 1) discipline or 2) divide. 

We have chosen that latter decision, and now the fruit of that decision will roll onward through church history.

I just read a report from the Anglican Communion News Service written by Jan Butler which describes the vast array of topics discussed at this conference.  Topics discussed cover all of the concerns TeaTime 2 (#1) spoke of and more.  We can’t stop discussing all of these topics, all topics of sin, but we also need not ignore the fact that some are attempting redefine what is sin.  We all agree, I believe that female mutilation, rape, and child abuse constitute sin.  These are not what divides us.  So we continue to speak on what we disagree.

Br. Michael,
Actually, that is precisely what struck me about this. TEC says we must “embrace” our culture; the African bishops here are saying the same thing. Two sides of the same coin, one which says that we should embrace the culture that celebrates homosexuality and the other that says we should embrace the culture that criminalizes it. In both cases, the society/the culture is praised. This troubles me.

Teatime2,

You fail to mention a key difference between TEC and these African provinces - the African bishops regularly speak out against the problems you mention; whereas TEC actively encourages homosexuality in the priesthood.

That is why the African bishops have acted appropriately - as a group it was necessary to address the open apostasy of TEC and to make clear that this is not sanctioned by the rest of the church.

If a province had openly advocated gang-rape, or recruiting child soldiers or whatever, then it would have been necessary for a public declaration by the other provinces that that province had abandoned an essential teaching of the church. But that hasn’t happened - no province has endorsed gang-rape, child soldiers etc.

It is because TEC openly advocates acceptance of homosexuality among the priesthood that it was necessary for other provinces to publicly discipline TEC.