Ruth Gledhill weblog: TEC rejects forces of 'colonialism'
March 21, 2007

The Rev Richard Kirker, pictured here, is an Anglican deacon refused ordination to the priesthood because of his openly gay lifestyle. He was subjected to an impromptu exorcism by an African bishop at the last Lambeth Conference. Yet until now he has shown remarkable Christian restraint in his public pronouncements on Rowan Williams, once considered a friend of his movement. Just how serious things have become with the US rejection of the Primates' demands became clear today. Responding for the UK's Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, Kirker said: 'At last some sanity is breaking into the debate. There is an obvious realisation that the consequences of this pandering to the Puritans means an increasing hostility towards lesbian and gay people so clearly demonstrated by the Archbishop of Nigeria who is fiercely promoting anti-gay legislation in his country contrary to Scripture and all the decisions of Anglicanism over the last 30 years. The Archbishop of Canterbury has much to answer for. His decision to sell us down the river in the short term to buy time has back-fired – the Americans are having none of it and we hope he will now come to see his strategy has failed. If the Americans are expelled from the Anglican Communion this will encourage those already bent on our destruction to persecute lesbian and gay people even more. Forces of the extreme American right are playing a significant role in the decisions of the Anglican Communion at the behest of Dr Williams – we see this as a dangerous sign of things to come.'

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