Thursday, May 7, 2009

Will Anglicans learn the lessons of Jamaica?


The Anglican Consultative Council is currently in the middle of a fortnight-long meeting in Kingston, Jamaica. Made up of representatives from member churches throughout the world, it includes laypeople as well as bishops and other clergy. This gathering will be a test of its ability, amidst organisational politics, to hold on to its ideals and to balance unity with other values. These include justice, mercy and involvement by ordinary Christians as well as senior clergy in making decisions.

Kingston has a rich but troubled history, marked by slavery and colonialism as well as by resistance to these and other forms of oppression. Over 30,000 people filled the newly-built National Stadium in 1962 when independence was declared. There were high hopes of creating a truly independent and just society, but gradually these were blighted and – as in many other ex-colonies – Western economic dominance kept its grip.

Though Kingston was a major cultural centre, high unemployment and poverty remained. Frustration was sometimes violently expressed and gays and lesbians became a convenient target.

Violent homophobia in Jamaica has destroyed people emotionally and sometimes physically and has taught others to hate their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered neighbours. During a prison riot in Kingston in 1997, warders failed to protect supposedly gay prisoners, several of whom were stabbed or burnt to death. Horrific violence continues, sometimes justified on supposedly religious grounds .

More here-

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/9407

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