Call for Gene Robinson to Resign

The Bishop of New Hampshire must resign in order to save the Anglican Communion from chaos, said the Archbishop of Juba and Primate of the Sudan.

“If [Gene Robinson] were a real Christian he would resign,” Archbishop Daniel Deng said on July 22.

In a statement released on the second day of the Lambeth Conference, the Sudanese church called upon the American church to “respect the authority of the Bible,” refrain from ordaining gay priests or bishops, halt gay blessings, and “cease court actions” against traditionalists “with immediate effect.” The American Church’s experiments with gay blessings and bishops had led to the deaths of Sudanese Christians, Dr Daniel Deng said in an impromptu press conference in the Lambeth Conference media room.

Because of the actions of the American church, “we are called infidels in the Islamic world when they hear of the same-sex blessings,” he said. “It will give [Islamist militants] reason to kill” Sudanese Christians he said. Dr Deng’s statement, backed by over 150 bishops from 17 Global South provinces presents a significant blow to Dr. Rowan Williams’ hopes of averting a crisis at the 14th Lambeth Conference. The American church has been on its best behavior at Lambeth, seeking to mollify criticism from the wider Communion and preserve its place in the Church.

However, the Sudanese Archbishop, Dr Daniel Deng said there was “already a breakdown of the Anglican Communion.” To prevent its wholesale collapse, “Gene Robinson should resign.”

The Sudanese statement comes amidst a turbulent second day of the Lambeth Conference. Sources within the conference organizing committee report Lambeth is over £1 million in debt, while the conference press office has refused to release the names of the bishops present, alternately citing concerns over privacy and security.

Source: Global South Anglican

The Archbishop of the Sudan informed the press room that he would come and speak with any interested, since the Anglican Communion News Bureau running the Lambeth Conference, would not schedule a time for him to address the press.

Cherie Wetzel reporting from Canterbury, has written that "The archbishop is young – I would guess that he is in his 40’s. He is very articulate and has an earned Ph.D. By his own admission, he has been an Anglican since he was a very small child."

Ruth Gledhill of the Times of London asked the archbishop who would pay for the Lambeth Conference, reportedly already 2.6 million pounds in debt, and not able to pay for this if the American church was not invited. He replied very gently, “Issues of faith cannot be mixed with materialism.”

The Most Reverend Dr. Daniel Deng Bul went on to say: “This issue of homosexuality in the Anglican Communion has a very serious effect in my country. We are called ‘infidels’ by the Moslems. That means that they will do whatever they can against us to keep us from damaging the people of our country. They challenge our people to convert to Islam and leave the infidel Anglican Church. When our people refuse, sometimes they are killed. These people are very evil and mutilate and harm our people. I am begging the Communion on this issue so no more of my people will be killed.

“My people have been suffering for 21 years of war. Their only hope is in the Church. It is the center of life of my people. No matter what problem we have, no material goods, no health supplies or medicine; no jobs or income; no availability of food. The inflation rate makes our money almost worthless and we have done this for 21 years. The Church is the center of our life together.

“The culture does not change the Bible; the Bible changes the culture. Cultures that do not approve of the Bible are left out of the Church’s life; people who do not believe in the Bible are left out of our churches. The American church is saying that God made a mistake. He made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Adam.

“We will not talk to Gene Robinson or listen to him or his testimony. He has to confess, receive forgiveness and leave. Then we will talk. You cannot bring the listening to gay people to our Communion. People who do not believe in the Bible are left out of our churches, not invited in to tell us why they don’t believe.

Watch Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul speak here on YouTube.