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November 23, 2003
Developed versus developing
I see on the African Pundit's page that the Church of Nigeria has now formally severed relations with the Episcopalian Church in the US over the consecration of The Right Reverend Gene Robinson. I suspect that several others will follow suit and this highlights a very important difference between "Developed World" values and those of the "Developing" world. Just because it is now acceptable to be openly gay in the US or Europe, does not mean that it is, or should be, the norm anywhere else.
Don't get me wrong, I am not a gay basher or anti-gay, or anything else. All I am saying is that our morality and cultural values are not necessarily applicable anywhere else. Africa has huge problems just to meet the basic needs of a fair society. Their concept of justice or morality is not necessarily ours and we should not expect it to be - yet. Democracy is not something that has been developed in these areas, nor is it a concept that is properly understood. It is not in their history and it is a European or American implant - one which has no foundation or roots and will struggle to gain an effective foothold. Civil liberty and the idea that morality is a flexible norm is not something likely to be well received in any country where average incomes are below subsistence levels, where justice is concept understood to be something which springs from the barrel of a gun, or where women are the property of a husband or father.
Then there are the other pressures on all faiths in this sort of environment. The Christian Churches in West and Central Africa bordering on Muslim countries are under direct attack by Muslim Fundamentalist preachers and proselytisers and simply cannot afford to be seen to be going soft on any part of their "scriptural" heritage - particularly as the Koran is even more specific about homosexual relationships. There are also issues in this region of slavery, usually Christian minorities targetted (particularly in countries bordering the Sudan) with women and children carried off into slavery, justified by their being "infidels"; ie: non-Muslim.
The Church in its many guises has certainly managed to get a lot wrong over the last two thousand years, but it has also managed to get a lot more right. It was, after all the great Christian thinkers who finally shut down the slave traffic between Africa and the America's in the 19th Century. It was the British Empire, driven by the Church of England, that shut down slavery in East Africa and much of the Middle and Far East. Since the rise of a more egalitarian society in the "Developed" world, the influence of the Church in these areas has been forgotten, belittled or undermined. The leaders of the African Churches, and we must not forget that they are fully fledged African institutions in their make up and style of worship, leadership and liturgy, recognise this and also recognise the risk this poses in a society where the elders are still the leaders, the majority of the population is illiterate and dependent upon authority figures for leadership and guidance.
Recently I had the privilege of teaching a group of Nigerian officers and discussing some of these concerns with them. Most were Christian but two were Muslim and even they were adamant that any weakening of the moral teaching of the Church in Nigeria would have very serious consequences indeed. It was pointed out that already the militant elements of the Islamic movement in the Northern Provinces was using this as an excuse to attack Christians.
There are some very hard questions in this for us all. I do not pretend to have any answers, but I do recognise that this is something on which we will all need to do a lot more thinking, praying and talking. There is a lot of hurt on all sides, there is no easy answer and there never will be. Of one thing I am absolutely certain. We in the "Developed" world need to have a far greater understanding of how our actions, cultures and the exercise of our "freedoms" affect those we seek to help and develop in the "Developing" world. Only when we take proper notice of their concerns and aspirations can we really hope to help them move to where they need to be - which may not be where we think they should be going.
Posted by The Gray Monk at November 23, 2003 11:02 PM