Word: akinola
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Awkward as it may be for an outsider to intrude in the doings of a country or a church that is not his own, I nonetheless believe that the Most Rev. Archbishop Peter Akinola has some explaining to do. The Anglican Primate of Nigeria, one of the most powerful churchmen in Africa, needs to clarify his stance on a Nigerian anti-homosexuality bill he initially supported, which assigns a five-year prison term not only for practicing gays, but also for those who support them. Akinola either needs to publicly renounce, in strong terms, his early support of the bill...
...worked like this: The Nigerian legislation was introduced in 2006, and promptly embraced by almost every church in that country. This included Akinola's, which does nothing without his say-so. Akinola's acceptance of the bill caused considerable discomfort in the 73-million member Anglican communion - even among fellow conservatives, some of whom undertook a quiet campaign to change his mind. Meanwhile, a group of conservative Virginia congregations in the Episcopal Church (U.S.A), which belongs to the same Anglican Communion as Akinola, were taking the tough decision to jump the Episcopal ship and become Nigerian congregants because of their...
...managed to span the distance between incense-saturated Catholic-style rite and tongues-talking low-church Protestantism, that eschewed hyperdetailed doctrinal tests to maintain a looser Christian understanding, adjusted at regular meetings under the low-voltage, first- among-equals leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury. One of the reasons Akinola is both controversial and potentially important is that as the gay issue stretches this understanding past the pain threshold, he is a man unafraid to cut the cord--an uncompromising evangelizer of a sort, more familiar to Americans than to many Anglicans, who is willing to abandon communal solidarity unless...
...national and personal background may contribute to his fondness for bright lines staunchly defended. Nigeria is a country where boundless enthusiasm and resources coexist with harsh factionalism, not the least between Muslims in its north and Christians in its south. Akinola, born into the Yoruba tribe, itself divided by the two faiths, was shaped in a crucible of the religious strife that has by now taken thousands of lives on both sides. That experience, combined with his naturally combative and entrepreneurial nature, made him a fearless herald of Christ. Starting when he became a bishop in 1989, Akinola developed Nigeria...
...size of Akinola's flock, which far outstrips England's in terms of Sunday attendance, has made him a natural leader to robust and conservative Anglican bodies throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia (known as the Global South). Long seen as Western Anglicanism's missionary stepchild, the South has eclipsed it in energy and size, and yearns for corresponding clout. One obstacle is money: funds from liberal Western churches support both the communion and many dioceses, perpetuating what southerners see as a kind of neocolonialism. Akinola announced in 2004 that he would reject money from churches he disagreed with, becoming...