Archbishop of Uganda Responds to Archbishop of Canterbury on Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023
The Archbishop of Uganda has responded to this statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury, released yesterday –
“The Most Rev Dr Stephen Samuel Kaziimba Mugalu, Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, released the following statement in response to the public letter to him from the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Archbishop Justin Welby, the Primate of All England, has every right to form his opinions about matters around the world that he knows little about firsthand, and that is what he has done in his recent statement about the Church of Uganda’s widely held support for the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023. Our support has been made very clear by our earlier statement, so it does not require repeating.
He and many other Western leaders seem to think that the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 criminalizes homosexuality. It does not. Homosexuality was already criminalized; it simply reaffirms what was already in the colonial-era penal code, including a maximum sentence of the death penalty for aggravated homosexuality (which the Church of Uganda opposed).
Even if the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 was not signed into law, homosexuality would remain criminalized in Uganda, as it is in more than one-third of the world’s countries. Even if the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 is overturned by the Supreme Court, homosexuality will remain criminalized in Uganda. What is new is specifically outlawing the promotion of homosexuality and same-sex relationships as a moral alternative to God’s natural design for marriage between one man and one woman.
We wonder if Archbishop Justin Welby has written to encourage the Anglican Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf to publicly advocate for decriminalizing homosexuality in the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East? Why are African countries like Ghana and Uganda singled out for such virtue signaling?
Sadly, as we stated – together with leaders of 85% of the Anglican Communion – in the Kigali Commitment of Gafcon IV in April 2023, we “can no longer recognise the Archbishop of Canterbury as an Instrument of Communion, the ‘first among equals’ of the Primates. The Church of England has chosen to impair her relationship with the orthodox provinces in the Communion.” We do pray for him and other leaders in the Church of England to repent.
The Most Rev. Dr. Stephen Samuel Kaziimba Mugalu
ARCHBISHOP OF CHURCH OF UGANDA.”
Photos: Archbishop of Canterbury and Church of Uganda websites.
Archbishop Akinola thanks GAFCON Theology Resource Team
Members of the Theology Resource Team for GAFCON met in Lagos, Nigeria from January 28-30. They came from Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Australia, Ghana, India, and England.
(They are pictured here with Primate of Nigeria Archbishop Peter Akinola, centre. ACL President Rev. Dr. Mark Thompson is second from the left in the second row.)
At at the conclusion of their meeting, Archbishop Peter Akinola spoke at a press conference. Archbishop Akinola said: Read more
Statement from Lambeth Palace, 21 April 2023
“Responding to ‘The Kigali Commitment’ issued by GAFCON IV today, a spokesperson for Lambeth Palace said:
‘We note that The Kigali Commitment issued by GAFCON IV today makes many of the same points that have previously been made about the structures of the Anglican Communion. As the Archbishop of Canterbury has previously said, those structures are always able to change with the times – and have done so in the past. The Archbishop said at the recent Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Ghana (ACC-18) that no changes to the formal structures of the Anglican Communion can be made unless they are agreed upon by the Instruments of Communion.’ …” (emphasis added)
– Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.
And from the GAFCON IV Kigali Commitment, representing perhaps 85% of global Anglicans:
“Public statements by the Archbishop of Canterbury and other leaders of the Church of England in support of same-sex blessings are a betrayal of their ordination and consecration vows to banish error and to uphold and defend the truth taught in Scripture. …
We have no confidence that the Archbishop of Canterbury nor the other Instruments of Communion led by him (the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates’ Meetings) are able to provide a godly way forward that will be acceptable to those who are committed to the truthfulness, clarity, sufficiency and authority of Scripture. The Instruments of Communion have failed to maintain true communion based on the Word of God and shared faith in Christ.
All four Instruments propose that the way ahead for the Anglican Communion is to learn to walk together in ‘good disagreement’. However we reject the claim that two contradictory positions can both be valid in matters affecting salvation. We cannot ‘walk together’ in good disagreement with those who have deliberately chosen to walk away from the ‘faith once for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude 3). The people of God ’walk in his ways’, ‘walk in the truth’, and ‘walk in the light’, all of which require that we do not walk in Christian fellowship with those in darkness (Deuteronomy 8:6; 2 John 4; 1 John 1:7).
Successive Archbishops of Canterbury have failed to guard the faith by inviting bishops to Lambeth who have embraced or promoted practices contrary to Scripture. This failure of church discipline has been compounded by the current Archbishop of Canterbury who has himself welcomed the provision of liturgical resources to bless these practices contrary to Scripture. This renders his leadership role in the Anglican Communion entirely indefensible. …” (emphasis added)
What next for the Anglican Communion & Church of England – with Dr Peter Jensen
In this week’s The Pastor’s Heart, Dominic Steele speaks with Dr Peter Jensen, former General Secretary of the GAFCON movement and former Archbishop of Sydney.
There is deep sadness over what has happened.
“This has been, and is, the decisive moment,” he says.
Mentioned in the conversation is the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Acra, Ghana. Here are videos of
Welby proposes pulling Canterbury out of Anglican instruments of communion
“The Archbishop of Canterbury will surrender his authority as first among equals among the primates of the Anglican Communion in light of the General Synod of the Church of England’s adoption of gay blessings.
Speaking to the opening ceremony of the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Accra, Ghana on 12 February 2023, the Most Rev. Justin Welby stated ‘I will not cling to place or position as an Instrument of Communion.’
His concession comes the day before 12 of the primates affiliated with the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans meet to offer a united response to last week’s vote in General Synod. The decision to introduce same-sex blessings, without seeking a Scriptural or theological foundation for the decision, or respecting the church’s agreements with other Anglican provinces has prompted the largest provinces: Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya to break fellowship. …”
– Is the Archbishop of Canterbury offering to jump before he is pushed? George Conger has this report at Anglican.ink.
Photo credit: Jaqui J Sze, Archbishop of Canterbury’s office.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…