THE PROPOSED conference of Anglican traditionalists in Israel this summer is a sign of ‘renewed certainty in defiance of a liberal Communion,’ the Primate of Nigeria has claimed. Although a group of 20 evangelical bishops in England last week urged the members of the ‘global south’ to attend this summer’s Lambeth Conference, the Most Rev Peter Akinola dismissed their appeal.
He said the official ten-yearly meeting called by the Archbishop of Canterbury will simply ‘sweep these issues under the carpet.’ He was making his comments at a press conference following a meeting of the theological resource team assembled ahead of the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon). He continued: “We are a movement that will move away from the ‘maybe — maybe not’.”
But the Archbishop added that the meeting planned for Israel will also look at issues including Aids, poverty, corruption and political governance. “The conference is called by those members of the Anglican Family who see themselves as orthodox Anglicans, who are upholding the authority of scripture, and believe that the time has come to come together to fashion the future of our Anglican family.”
He added: “This has to be done within a theological framework.” Later, he explained his reasons for rejecting an invitation to the Lambeth Conference:
“There might be a view, for whatever it is worth, that they want to be there [Lambeth] to observe what is going on.
“But Uganda, Rwanda, Sydney, Nigeria: we are not going to the Lambeth Conference. What is the use of the Lambeth Conference for a three weeks’ jamboree which will sweep these issues under the carpet?”
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