Thursday, March 08, 2007

The New York Times weighs in, big time

[updated below]

OK, not so fast, Matt. You're not going on vacation just yet.

The New York Times editorial page assaults the Nigerian gay marriage legislation, and drags the Anglican Communion along with it. If conservative American Anglicans think they can keep ignoring this, they're dangerously mistaken.

Time to speak up. Disassociate yourselves from this immediately, and do so clearly, explicitly, and without rationalization.

From the Times [my emphasis]:
A poisonous piece of legislation is quickly making its way through the Nigerian National Assembly. Billed as an anti-gay-marriage act, it is a far-reaching assault on basic rights of association, assembly and expression. Chillingly, the legislation — proposed last year by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo — has the full and enthusiastic support of the leader of Nigeria’s powerful Anglican church. Unless the international community speaks out quickly and forcefully against the bill, it is almost certain to become law.
It's not long. Read it all.

This all makes me wonder -- are some of the Episcopal leaders who are leaving the Episcopal Church (or who have already left) really thinking hard enough about going under Nigeria's oversight? Are their parishioners?

UPDATE March 8, 10:21. Jim Naughton caught this, too. And well before I did.

1 comment:

Aghaveagh said...

Matt,

I just want to say how impressed I was with your dialogue with the commenters over at TitusOneNine. You stayed focused, dignified, and reasonable, and did something I've almost never seen over there--won the respect of those whose minds are not yet totally closed.

Thank you for your singleness of purpose.