Nigerian Archbishop Rebukes the Windsor Report

In the period of digesting and reflecting on the Windsor Report 2004 released on Monday, the leader of one of the world’s largest Anglican Churches showed his disappointment at the report and blasted the Church for its tolerance to homosexuality within the Church.

In a statement written by Archbishop Peter Akinola, Primate of All Nigeria to the Anglican Communion, he described the report as “patronising”. He criticised the Lambeth Commission, who produced the report for not using proper languages to rebuke those who are promoting sexual sins as holy and acceptable behaviour.

As the leader of the Anglican Church in Nigeria, which has some 17.5 million Anglicans, Archbishop Akinola stands in line with other Primates in the Global South in support of a conservative viewpoint towards homosexuality in the Church. They condemned the ordination of homosexual clergy in the Episcopal Church of the United States of America (ECUSA) as they say it “attacks the Church’s witness to the Gospel and God’s gift of salvation in Jesus Christ”.

Archbishop Akinola calls for an apology from the U.S. diocese for making the openly gay clergy Gene Robinson a bishop. He warned of a further rift of the Anglican Communion in his statement, “In the absence of any signs of repentance and reform from those who have torn the fabric of our Communion, and while there is continuing oppression of those who uphold the Faith...then ‘we should have to begin to learn to walk apart’.”

Archbishop Akinola will bring the issue to the All Africa Bishops Conference running from 26th October to 1st November in Nigeria’s biggest city, Lagos. Some 300 African Anglican church leaders will gather to discuss the continent’s response to the report.

Nigeria has the second highest number of Anglicans in the world, after the church’s birthplace in the UK.