Roosevelt Papouloute Admits ‘Huge Theological Differences’ at Church-State Commission

Roosevelt Papouloute

A rift in the membership of the Church-State Commission will result in separate reports being presented to the Government of Belize.  The Commission was formed in the wake of the August, 2016 ruling by Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin which allows for consenting adults to engage in certain sexual acts previously deemed unnatural in privacy. Leaders of the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Methodist and separate Evangelical and non-affiliated churches under Patrick Menzies’ Alliance had engaged in discussion for several months, but the Anglican and Methodist leaders withdrew after being unable to reconcile with their fellows on key points. According to the Methodist leader and president of the Belize Council of Churches, Reverend Roosevelt Papouloute, the differences are mostly theological but effectively insurmountable at this time. He spoke to News Five today.

Rev. Roosevelt Papouloute, President, Belize Council of Churches

“We have been meeting for a couple months now – I must confess that due to other commitments I have missed some of the meetings – but those meetings that I have attended and the meetings of those meetings that I have not attended but I have read, caused us to give some consideration to first, the purpose of the Commission, and the way the Commission is going and whether or not we will be able to achieve the goal that is set before us. At the last meeting that I attended, on behalf of the Belize Council of Churches, I came out with the impression and the conviction, indeed, that based on what is happening and I can safely say there is a huge, fundamental theological difference in how we understand the issues, how we want to address them; the whole matter of the role of the Commission and in addition to that, the whole matter of – even if we do not take the same line with you, not because we are in a minority position means that we not have a say. Based on these reasons, I went back to the executive of the Belize Council of Churches and I reported my observation, and I officially made the recommendation that we be withdrawn from the work of the Commission.”