The Nazis took power in January 1933 on a platform of law and order, "traditional values," and an ideology of racial purity that included virulent antisemitism and the persecution of unwanted social groups. Among its first steps to create the "New Order," the regime shut down homosexual gathering places, organizations, and publications in a broad attack on "public indecency." The Nazi assault on homosexuality had begun. - From "The Nazi Persecution Of Homosexuals 1933-1945" Recently, a Mid-Atlantic US AM talk radio host Jerry Klein provoked a minor scandal with a hoax show in which Klein suggested American Muslim citizens should be forced to wear "identifying markers" such as armbands with crescent moon shapes or even branded with crescent moon tattoos on their hands or foreheads [ mp3 recording of the show ] ; Klein's show was flooded with calls from listeners, many of whom agreed with his proposals or suggested Klein's suggestions did not go nearly far enough. But the tacit endorsement, by the renegade Virginia Episcopal churches, of draconian anti-gay legislation worse than that of pre-WW2 Nazi laws, goes farther than individual expressions of bigotry ; it gives hateful anti-minority views institutional and religious sanction and lends support to Archbishop Akinola's claims that homosexuality represents a "satanic attack on the church of God". A Comparison Of Nazi-Era Anti-Gay Legislation, Paragraph 175, vs. The "Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition)" bill Supported by Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola By affiliating with Akinola, The Falls Church, in Falls Church Virginia, and Truro Church in Fairfax City, Virginia have chosen a leader who proposes the criminalization of sexual identity and so raised the profile of hate speech in contemporary America to what may be an unprecedented new level. How many members of these two churches that have aligned themselves with Akinola are aware that the archbishop Akinola supports laws more severe even than the pre-WW2 Nazi laws targetting gays or that Akinola supported Nigerian anti gay marriage legislation would establish criminal penalties for gays who simply ate meals together ? The spectacle of these unfortunate schisms should go on for quite some time : The Falls Church and the Truro Church, reports Laurie Goodstein for the New York Times previously cited, are "large, historic congregations that minister to the Washington elite and occupy real estate worth a combined $27 million, which could result in a legal battle over who keeps the property". Stay tuned. For extended discussion on the VA schisms see Truro and Falls Church Vote in Favor of Bigotry from Father Jake Stops The World For extensive background coverage, see the following Talk To Action story: Orthodox Anglicans' Akinola: 'Five Years in Jail if You are Gay in Nigeria' that begins with the following paragraphs:
In late February, 2006, John Bryson Chane, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, DC, wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post. In it, he revealed to the WaPo's readership one of the many awful consequences that decades of conflict have brought to the Anglican Communion over the issue of homosexuality. Just days before, one of Chane's fellow bishops in the Anglican Communion, the Primate of All Nigeria and leader of the Anglican Communion's largest Province, Archbishop Peter Akinola, endorsed legislation that would ban most basic civil rights for gay and lesbian Nigerians, and enforce that ban with a 5 year prison sentence.For yet more background, see this November 2003 Atlantic article: Defender of the Faith: Why all Anglican eyes in London are nervously fixed on a powerful African archbishop: ....An uncompromising traditionalist, Akinola presides over the most vibrant and almost certainly the largest Anglican community in the world—at a time when the Anglican world's true center of gravity has shifted to Africa. ....Commenting on the decision of the Canadian diocese of New Westminster to approve the blessing of gay unions, Akinola declared that the diocese had in practice seceded from the Anglican world. ....Akinola thundered, "This is an attack on the Church of God —a Satanic attack on God's Church." And during the buildup to the U.S. Episcopal Church's controversial ordination of Gene Robinson as the bishop of New Hampshire, he announced, "I cannot think of how a man in his senses would be having a sexual relationship with another man. Even in the world of animals, dogs, cows, lions, we don't hear of such things."
Schismatic VA Episcopalians OK With Anti-Gay Laws Worse Than Pre-WW2 Nazi's ? | 9 comments (9 topical, 0 hidden)
Schismatic VA Episcopalians OK With Anti-Gay Laws Worse Than Pre-WW2 Nazi's ? | 9 comments (9 topical, 0 hidden)
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