ABUJA, Oct 25 (AFP) - Africa's top Anglican bishops Monday announced plans for a network of theological colleges to promote traditional beliefs after clashing with some Western churches over what one termed the "abomination" of homosexuality.
At a news conference on the eve of the first ever conference of Africa's Anglican prelates, Nigeria's Archbishop Peter Akinola took pains to stress that the bishops did not want their meeting to be dominated by sexuality, which he said was a fringe issue for a continent with much more pressing problems.
But afterwards, he was categorical in his denunciation of the Western dioceses who have ordained homosexual priests, blessed same-sex unions and, in one case, appointed an openly gay bishop.
"What we are saying is that the Bible says that this is an abomination," he said, talking to reporters.
Some 300 Anglican bishops from across Africa are gathering in the Nigerian city of Lagos for a week-long conference on issues facing the church and the people of the continent: war, diseases such as HIV/AIDS, poverty and the role of women in religion and society.
The get-together has been planned since 2001.
Bishops said that it had not been designed as a response to a recent bitter controversy within world Anglicanism over homosexuality, which was in the news again last week when church headquarters in London released a report on the dispute.
But the issue was clearly at the front of the cleric's minds as they announced that, under the theme "Africa Comes of Age", the conference would seek ways to build its own seminaries to protect young priests from the liberal ideas gaining ground in some Western theological colleges.
"The western world is embroiled in a new religion which we cannot associate with, and we need to find ways and means to establish our own theology," said Akinola, who is chairman of the African council of bishops and who as Primate of Nigeria leads 17 million Anglicans, the church's biggest province.
"This conference was not created to discuss human sexuality. We Africans have too many other problems. On our continent, sex is what happens between a man and a woman in the comfort of their bedroom, not on the television or in newspapers," he continued.
The archbishop complained that African churches which send trainee priests to foreign countries to learn about their faith had found that they were coming home having been exposed to liberal ideas about homosexuality which he regarded as alien to Africa and to Biblical teaching.
"Where I went ... in the United States, same-sex union is now allowed. When I studied there, there was no such thing. You now have on campus men and men cohabiting, which is against the African way of life," he said.
From Uganda, the Archbishop of Kampala Henry Orombi, said: "The fact is that Africa is rich in theology. It has a traditional culture and it has the most exciting spirituality that can be found anywhere in the world, but it is being ignored by the West."
A simmering dispute within the Anglican communion over the status of homosexuality boiled over last year when the US diocese of New Hampshire ordained Gene Robinson as the world's first openly gay bishop, despite cries of dismay from traditionalists in Africa and elsewhere.
The row was further stirred when a Canadian diocese began to bless same-sex unions between lay worshippers and a homosexual British priest was forced to turn down an appointment to a bishopric to avoid inflaming tensions further.
Last week, the world church issued a report into the issue which sought to head off the mounting danger of a permanent schism by urging a moratorium on the appointment of gay bishops, and urging both sides to seek forgiveness. Akinola has already rejected the document as insulting and patronising.
While the bishops meeting in Lagos insisted that the African church is almost entirely united on the issue, there have been some dissenting voices.
The Primate of Southern Africa, Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, has called for a more conciliatory approach to the dispute, but he will be the only one of 12 provincial leaders not present at this week's conference. His flock will be represented by colleagues, including the Bishop of Pretoria, Jo Seoka.
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