Australia’s Church Leader’s Views on Sexuality Ignite Controversy

Head of country’s Anglicans calls for blessing of same-sex friendships.

Christianity Today June 1, 2001
As the Anglican Church of Australia prepares for its general synod in July, major divisions have appeared following an archbishop’s request that the church bless lifelong homosexual “friendships.”

The Primate of the Church in Australia, Peter Carnley, has suggested the church should bless such unions and concentrate on the spiritual quality of the friendship without inquiring into intimate physical matters.

In a paper prepared for the synod, Carnley, a liberal theologian who is also Archbishop of Perth, capital of the state of Western Australia, said that friendship was “essential for providing an appropriate and supportive context for working out the details of a life of moral goodness. The church’s calling is to foster such friendships.”

He said that for the church to “specify limits of [physical] touch” would be as inappropriate for a relationship between people of the same gender it would be in heterosexual marriage. “Does the church become involved in this, or is to do so merely an expression of the modern obsession with sex, an example of the voyeurism endemic in the modern world imported into the ecclesiastical environment?” Carnley’s paper asks.

Following publication of an edited excerpt of his paper in The Bulletin, a national news magazine, two senior members of the Sydney diocese, both possible candidates for the position of archbishop of Sydney, Australia’s biggest city, strongly criticized the Primate’s views. Robert Forsyth, Bishop of South Sydney, told The Sydney Morning Herald that “any suggestion that the Anglican Church should bless a sexual relationship that is not fully marriage of a man and a woman is not possible if we are to remain faithful to Lord Jesus Christ and the Scriptures.”

“If it means the Christian faith has nothing to say about what you do in your bedroom—about sexual behavior—he must be kidding. Sexual behavior is a crucial part of human behavior. The Christian faith has crucial things to say about work, how we earn money, how we treat other people and our sex lives.”

Canon Peter Jensen, principal of Moore Theological College and another contender for the position of archbishop of Sydney, said that if Carnley “is suggesting this [blessing a committed homosexual union] is a good thing for us to do, he has gone beyond the border.”

Carnley argued in his paper that the Bible had little or nothing to say about homosexual behavior. The “handful” of injunctions were aimed primarily at promiscuity. “Where the Bible is itself silent, the church may be wise to hesitate to speak,” he said.

At the same time the value of friendship should be nurtured by the church as an expression of love and commitment, he said. The idea of “best friends” was common both to marriage, and to some same-sex relationships.

Archbishop Carnley rejected the term “marriage” for homosexual unions, saying that marriage had as one of its chief purposes procreation and nurture of children. But he argued that the church should support legal recognition and “next of kin” status for homosexual partners, and consider blessing commitments intended to be monogamous and lifelong. Homosexual relationships are not recognized by the Australian government.

Archbishop Carnley mentioned in support of his case the depth of the relationship between David and Jonathan in I Samuel 18:3—”Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.”

Carnley commented: “There is certainly no sense in which this same-gender relationship is denigrated in the biblical text. Indeed it is celebrated. David’s love for Jonathon is said to have been “wonderful, even greater than that of a woman.” Carnley also spoke of the relationship between Ruth and Naomi, recorded in the Book of Ruth, as another “exemplary same-gender relationship.”

His paper is almost certain to lead to heated discussion at the general synod. Although attracting strong criticism from conservatives, it has support from members of the doctrinal panel preparing the discussion papers for the synod.

However, one Roman Catholic source commented on Carnley’s paper, saying that a softer church stance towards same-sex relationships would be at odds with mainstream Christianity.

At the same time the newly installed Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, known as a conservative on doctrinal issues, has prompted national debate with his attitudes to sexuality. Homosexual groups in Sydney, which has Australia’s biggest gay community, have protested at Archbishop Pell’s public appearances, but he has received mass expressions of support from Catholics.

Last week Archbishop Pell conceded on national television that there might be “small pockets” of homosexuality among Catholic priests in Melbourne, where George Pell previously held the post of archbishop. He added that he had spoken to some priests about it.

Asked whether there were homosexual priests in Sydney, Pell said: “Oh please God, no. Please God, no.”

Pell, who in Melbourne ordered that people wearing gay symbols should not be given holy communion in his cathedral, emphasized that he bore homosexual people no ill will. “I wish them God’s peace,” he said, but added that the church’s teachings on sexuality were essential to the support of marriage and families.

Copyright © 2001 ENI.

Related Elsewhere

Carnley’s paper is just one of ten chapters in the Anglican Church of Australia’s Faithfulness in Fellowship: Reflections on Homosexuality and the Church. Anglican Media Sydney has posted two other chapters from a more traditional perspective: Glenn Davies’s Homosexuality in the New Testament and Peter Jensen’s Ordination and the Practice of Homosexuality. Anglican Media Sydney also has a press release about the entire report (which can be ordered here).

Carnley’s site doesn’t have anything on his chapter, nor is The Bulletin excerpt available online.

Other media coverage of Carnley’s statement includes:

Australian Church ‘might bless gays’, says CarnleyChurch Times, London (May 25, 2001)

Will gays again be sacrificed for unity? — Muriel Porter, The Age (May 25, 2001)

Queensland’s One Nation Party expresses outrage over church homosexual stance — Australian Broadcasting Corporation (May 17, 2001)

Bedroom is God’s business, counter clericsThe Sydney Morning Herald (May 17, 2001)

Archbishop stirs up Anglicans with suggestion not to peer into bedrooms | Australian Anglican leader suggests church should bless monogamous same-sex relationships — The Sydney Morning Herald (May 17, 2001)

Anglican chief gives gays hope — The Age, Melbourne (May 16, 2001)

Other Christianity Today articles about Australia include:

Australia’s Churches Call On Nation to Acknowledge ‘Stolen Generations’ | Country’s National Council of Churches demands apology, compensation to Aboriginals. (June 4, 2001)

Australia’s Leading Catholic Conservative Archbishop Gets a Promotion | Appointment of George Pell to archdiocese comes as surprise to parishioners—and to Pell himself. (Apr. 3, 2001)

Olympic Chaplains Not Taken Seriously, Christians Claim | Australian Christians say the Olympic committee views chaplains as just another group of volunteers. (Sept. 18, 2000)

Church Leaders Take a Desert Trek to Bridge Australia’s Divisions | Questions over apology strain reconciliation efforts between aboriginal and white populations. (June 15, 2000)

Australian Archbishops in Public Row over Christ’s Role | Head of church accused of denying significance of resurrection and Christ’s uniqueness (May 1, 2000)

Australian Church Agrees to Run Controversial Room for Injecting Drugs | Uniting Church steps in after Catholics withdraw under Vatican pressure (Dec. 9, 1999)

Australia’s New Anglican Leader Promises to Remain Outspoken | Peter Carnley was first to ordain women priests—before female ordination agreed by General Synod. (Feb. 7, 2000)

Christians Oppose Threats to Welfare (Apr. 26, 1999)

Christians Want Shock Rocker Manson Banned (Jan. 11, 1999)

Party Calls for Immigration Cuts (Oct. 5, 1998)

Racing Fans Can Find Faith at Track (Sept. 7, 1998)

Prostitution Museum Prompts Protests (Apr. 27, 1998)

Aboriginals, Whites Seek Reconciliation (Dec. 8, 1997)

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