Once again, I wish more religious leaders had the wisdom and tolerance that Archbishop Desmond Tutu has exhibited in his continued denunciation of the anti-gay elements within the Anglican Communion. While aimed at the knuckle dragging Neanderthal element within the Anglican Communion, the condemnation equally applies to anti-gay religious bigots across the board. For Christians, I have long believed that if one accepts the Gospel message, treating others with love, feeding the hungry, assisting the poor and the sick and other acts of mercy and charity are the highest callings of faith. Instead, bigots like Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria (a country surely is in need of immense efforts to fight rampant poverty and disease) are obsessed with persecuting gays. It's nice to know that Desmond Tutu is of a like mind. Here are some highlights from Pink News:*
Speaking at a conference of church leaders in London organised by global poverty charity Tearfund, Archbishop Desmond Tutu accused his church of "persecuting the already persecuted" in its attitude to gay people. "We seem to be engaging in this kind of, almost, pastime [while] there’s poverty, hunger, disease, corruption. "I must imagine that God is weeping, and the world quite rightly should dismiss the Church in those cases as being totally irrelevant."
*Archbishop Tutu, a 76-year-old veteran of South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle and the winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, has repeatedly said the church should come together on the topic of homosexuality. Archbishop Tutu told a gay audience in April: "How sad it is that the Church should be so obsessed with this particular issue of human sexuality when God's children are facing massive problems; poverty, disease, corruption, conflict."
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