The Anglican Church of Canada is expected to vote today on gay marriage.
The measure needs two-thirds majority to pass in the Church’s General Synod, which is meeting in Ontario.
The resolution, if passed, would change the wording of marriage in the canon law. What reads “union of man and woman” and “husband and wife” would change to “partner.” Under the new resolution, clergy would be able to officiate at same-sex marriages if approved by a diocesan bishop.
Today’s debate is the first of two meetings. The second would come in 2019 if today’s passes.
In 2013, an Anglican commission in Canada that looked at drafting a motion on the issue reported: "The experience of same-sex committed partnerships in our midst, clearly manifesting God's blessing and the fruit of the Spirit, are a powerful indication that God's view of marriage may be more inclusive than ours."
Meanwhile, the conservative Nigerian leader of Anglicans says the Bible is being turned “upside down” in the debate over same-sex marriage.
“"The message of the Bible is being turned upside down by those for whom 'my God' means the God I want,” said the Primate of the Anglican Church in Nigeria, Nicholas Okoh.
"Our struggle in the Anglican Communion today comes about because of those who turn Thomas's words upside down. By 'my' they mean a Jesus who they possess, a Jesus and a Lord who fits with their desires and agrees with what they want as they go with the flow of secular culture,” he added.
Publication date: July 11, 2016