Gay Marriages Won’t Apply In Kenya - Archbishop

Anglican Church of Kenya Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit has come out to say gay marriages won't work in Kenya while criticising the Church of England’s decision to allow priests to preside over civil marriages of same-sex couples.

The Archbishop accused the Church of England of secularizing the church by normalizing sin, declaring that the Anglican Church of Kenya will not recognize its Mother Church's decision to bless same-sex weddings.

“It is ridiculous that the Church of England affirms to remain faithful to the traditional teachings of marriage yet have sanctioned the so-called prayers of love to be used in their Churches to bless unions between persons of the same sex. 

"This is hypocritical and a blatant lie for there is only one truth and not many versions or opinions of it,” he said.

“Whereas in the Anglican church, we are saddened by the departure of our mother church from the true gospel, their resolutions do not apply to us and we do not recognize any teachings that are extra-biblical or contrary to the teachings of the Bible,” he said.

“We affirm that the Holy Scripture is authoritative in all matters of faith and any departure from historic Formularies and the plain teachings of the scripture must be corrected.”

Following a historic vote by its governing body, the Church of England enabled priests to bless civil marriages of same-sex couples, signalling a significant shift in the church's attitude on homosexuality.

In a statement, Ole Sapit cautioned that unless the Church of England repents and returns to Biblical doctrines, it would become irrelevant and lose its identity.

“Unless the church of England preaches the gospel as inherited, it will soon be irrelevant and it will lose its identity as a church,” he said.

The church of England voted by 250 votes to 181 to back a proposal by bishops intended to end years of painful divisions and disagreement over sexuality.