Anglican Church in WI says ‘no’ to same sex marriages

The Anglican Church in the West Indies has declared that same sex marriages are totally unacceptable and has called on the leaders and people of the region to resist any attempt compromise cultural and religious principles regarding these matters.{{more}}

The statement, released on April 25 by the House of Bishops and Standing Committee of the Church in the Province of the West Indies meeting at Bamford House in Barbados, said that they have taken note of international trends in which “matters related to human sexuality have been elevated to the level of human rights and are being promulgated as positions which must be accepted globally”.

The Bishops said while they acknowledge that there is a diversity of family patterns within our Caribbean region, these have been understood by our people to be between a man and a woman.

“We reaffirm marriage as ‘a creation ordinance, a gift of God in creation and a means of His grace. Marriage, defined as a faithful, committed, permanent and legally sanctioned relationship between a man and a woman, is central to the stability and health of human society. It continues to provide the best context for the raising of children.

“Characteristic of our patterns of cohabitation and family life is the notion that such unions are based on a relationship between a man and a woman. The idea of such unions being constituted by persons of the same sex is, therefore, totally unacceptable on theological and cultural grounds,” the statement said.

The Bishops said they are conscious that political leaders within our Caribbean region are being “subjected to pressures from nations and institutions from outside of our region.

“Frequently they are pressured to conform to the changes being undertaken in their redefinition of human sexuality and same-sex unions, under threat of economic sanctions and the loss of humanitarian aid.”

The Bishops urged the leaders and people of the region to “resist any attempt to compromise our cultural and religious principles regarding these matters.

“The threat and use of economic sanctions are not new experiences for us, neither is the claim to a superior morality convincing for peoples who have known the experience of chattel slavery in our past. While claiming to invoke human rights as the basis for such imposition, we submit that the same principle must allow us the right to affirm our cultural and religious convictions regarding our definitions of that most basic of social institutions, marriage,” the statement said.

The Anglican Church in the Province of the West Indies comprises eight dioceses: Antigua, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, the Bahamas, the North-Eastern Caribbean and Aruba, Trinidad and Tobago and the Windward Islands. The Archbishop and Primate of the West Indies is the Most Reverend John Holder.