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| Opinion |
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by
Editor, 10 February 2006
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06:07:49
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It’s intolerance
Of all places the church ought to be the place where people should be tolerant to each other, even in the most difficult situations, but what is happening in the Lake Malawi Diocese of the Anglican Church regarding the impending visit of the rejected bishop-elect Nicholson Henderson does not reflect that virtue.
The problem created by the controversial election of Henderson was resolved by the church’s constitutional Court of Confirmation that sat at St Peter’s Church in Lilongwe.
With that a new leaf was later turned with the appointment of a Zambian bishop, Leonard Mwenda, but that new leaf has had its problems too.
That aside, the issue is about some church leaders in the diocese who do not want a man they rejected as bishop to visit friends and fellow Anglicans in Malawi. And our question is: What crime has Henderson committed for him not to visit friends and fellow Anglicans in the country?
By the way, this is the same man who has funded some development projects elsewhere in the diocese. Does he not have the right to visit such projects?
We see no crime and urge the Anglican faithful who are not comfortable with Henderson’s visit to think and act rationally. As God’s messengers we feel they have a great deal of scripture they can draw wisdom from regarding judging others, which they are doing to their fellow man of God.
The church leaders may have grudges against Henderson, but it is going too far for them to stop him from stepping his foot on the Malawi soil. Actually, it is being insensitive to God’s teaching of love and compassion.
In the views of those church leaders Henderson may be a sinner not worth mixing with them but we all look up to these church leaders for examples of good living as Christians. Here we see intolerance—the opposite of good lessons we should be learning from them—and we wonder if that instils faith in the church’s followers.
Actually, the intolerance we are seeing here is what we have often seen among the majority of our politicians, which the same church leaders have vehemently condemned. Our church leaders need to lead by example.
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