The Episcopal Church is ‘demonic’, Nigerian Archbishop charges: CEN 3.12.10

First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

The Primate of the Church of Nigeria has accused the leadership of the Episcopal Church of being in league with the devil for waging a “demonic” campaign of litigation against breakaway conservative parishes in the United States.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria published last month, Archbishop Akinola stated the Nigerian-backed Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) was growing, but faced a number of obstacles. The law suits were a “major challenge,” he said, but “it is not CANA going to court; it is the demonic powers in the so-called Episcopal Church that are suing CANA churches.”

“They are fighting us with everything they have with the hope of crushing us,” he said in the interview published on the Church of Nigeria’s website.

“It is so ungodly, so demonic and they are determined to completely wipe us out and this is costing millions of dollars,” he said, noting that “money that could have been used in more positive work of the Gospel, is now being used for legal battle; it’s so sad.”

Archbishop Peter Akinola’s denunciation of the Episcopal Church comes as the Virginia Supreme Court has set a date for oral argument in the case of the Diocese of Virginia versus CANA. On March 3 the court stated it would hear oral arguments on the appeal of the diocese of a trial court ruling that held in favour of the breakaway parishes during the week of April 12.

Speaking for the breakaway parishes, the chairman of the Anglican District in Virginia Jim Oakes said “our parishioners have exercised their religious freedom by staying true to the Gospel, and have tried to do so in a way that avoided the need for government interference in our affairs. We continue to regret the necessity for defending ourselves in secular court, but remain fully prepared to do so and are confident in our legal position.”

The Secretary of the Diocese of Virginia Henry Burt stated the diocese welcomed “this news and the opportunity to appear before the Court.”

“For more than 200 years, the Episcopal Church has had the freedom to govern itself without government interference,” he said, adding that “we look to the Court to protect the religious freedoms upon which this Commonwealth and our nation were founded.

Archbishop Akinola noted the litigation campaign had produced mixed results. While prevailing so far in Virginia, breakaway congregations had lost cases in other jurisdictions. But he stated, that “where we have lost, our people have braced up to say that they will not bow down to Baal and they will not on the account of money go and do what is not right.”