Archbishop Desmond Tutu: Homophobia is the "New Apartheid"

Modern conservative Christianity is defined by its adherents' hatred of others and discrimination against those who look different, love differently, or fail to adhere to their toxic hate and fear based religious beliefs.  It is the same mindset that has distinguished conservative Christians over the year as they have supported slavery, supported segregation, railed against women's rights and, of course, sought to denigrate and stigmatize LGBT individuals.  Conservative religion's wake always seems to involved ruined lives so that the "godly folk" can congratulate themselves on the piety.  Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been a loud and consistent critic of these modern day Pharisee types and is again speaking out against religious based homophobia which he calls the new apartheid.  Here are highlights from The Advocate:

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was a seminal figure in the fight against apartheid in South Africa, said in an interview with NBC News' Ann Curry that he would rather go to hell than to a heaven reigned over by a homophobic God.

"I am absolutely, utterly and completely certain that God wouldn't be…homophobic," Tutu told Curry, reiterating a sentiment he articulated more than a year ago at a rally hosted by the United Nations Human Rights Office in Cape Town, South Africa.

The retired Anglican archbishop also said that oppression of LGBT people is the "new apartheid." As he has in the past, the Nobel Peace Prize-winner spoke disapprovingly of the use of religion as a weapon to oppress gays. Since many antigay activists cite the Bible as justification for their views, Curry asked Tutu how he reconciled his desire for acceptance of LGBT people with the Bible.

"You don't choose your sexual orientation," the archbishop said. "The Bible is the word of God. But it is the word of God through human beings."

Asserting that he cannot rest in retirement while discrimination against LGBT people thrives in many parts of the world — not least throughout much of Africa — Tutu called for an end to the oppression of people because of their sexual orientation.

"God sits there and weeps, because God says you know what, you're all my children, you're all members of one family — my family," Tutu said during the interview. "And when are you going to learn to live amicably together?"

Desmond Tutu: Going to Hell Better than Worship Homophobic God

Desmond Tutu has time and time again shown himself to be a bold voice for LGBT rights and equality and he has now stated that he would rather go to Hell than worship a homophobic god.  His point, of course, is that God isn't homophobic, it's some of his foulest self-proclaimed followers who are.  Indeed, if one is homophobic - or racist, etc. - one is not truly Christian regardless of whatever lip service one may give to false piety and religiosity.   Tutu made his remarks in conjunction with a new United Nations initiative to oppose homophobia and the deprivation of rights to LGBT individuals.  Tutu is the antithesis of bigots and and hate mongers such as Patriarch Kiril in Russia.The Christofascists have utterly perverted Christianity and are killing Christianity in the eyes of many, especially the younger generations who are leaving religion in droves.  ABC News looks at Tutu's latest declarations against homophobes:

CAPE TOWN - South African peace icon Desmond Tutu on Friday said he would rather go to hell than worship a homophobic God, likening the fight against gay prejudice to the anti-apartheid struggle.

"I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place," the retired archbishop said at the launch of a United Nations gay equality campaign in Cape Town.

"I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this," he said, condemning the use of religious justification for anti-gay prejudice.

Launched by the UN Human Rights Office, the public education campaign "Free and Equal" aims to raise awareness of anti-gay violence and discrimination.

Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, compared the project to the fight South Africans waged to end the former white racist minority rule, a struggle in which he played a pivotal role.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said same-sex relationships are illegal in more than a third of countries around the world and punishable by death in five.

Even in countries where gay rights are upheld challenges remain, she said, noting that South Africa has "some of the worst cases of homophobic violence" despite having some of the world's best legal protections.

"People are literally paying for their love with their lives," said Pillay.   The campaign, which aims to push for legal reforms and public education against homophobia, will have a strong focus on working with governments.  "I constantly hear governments tell me 'but this is our culture, our tradition and we can't change it'... So we have lots of work to do," said Pillay.

 Kudos to Tutu.  It is good Christians like him that have kept me even nominally hanging on to the Christian moniker.   More like him need to stand up and publicly call out the merchants of hate in the Catholic Church, Russian Orthodox Church, and of course the Southern Baptist Convention.

Desmond Tutu Denounces Use of Religion Against Gays

Once again retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu has place himself as a counterweight to the abundant number of gay hating African bishops within the Anglican Communion. Tutu - as usual - doesn't mince his words and speaks what I believe is in keeping with Christ's gospel message which the modern day Pharisees seek to pervert. Often for their own gain and/or egocentric gratification. Tutu made these comments supporting gays for the opening of a peace summit in Vancouver, British Columbia (one of my favorite cities in the world). Here are some highlights from XtraWest:

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Retired Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu has denounced the use of religion to spread fear of homosexuals and those foreign to us. “Religion has often been used diabolically to encourage all kinds of awfulness — xenophobia and homophobia,” he said.

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He made the comments by video from South Africa Sunday at the opening of the Vancouver Peace Summit: Nobel Laureates in Dialogue. Tutu could not attend the summit in person due to a back injury.
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His comments were made on the day he and the Dalai Lama became the inaugural recipients of the $100,000 Fetzer Prize for Love and Forgiveness. The Kalamazoo, Michigan-based Fetzer Institute, founded by broadcaster John Fetzer to promote the power of love, compassion and forgiveness, conferred the award.

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Tutu’s statement against homophobia comes as the worldwide Anglican Church continues to be divided over the issue of same-sex marriage and the ordination of gay clerics. The first Anglican blessing of a same-sex relationship in an officially approved rite took place in Vancouver.

Desmond Tutu: "God is Weeping" Over Anti-Gay Arguments

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:

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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."

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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."

Tutu to Apologise for Persecution of Gays on BBC Radio Tonight

I have become increasingly impressed with retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his willingness to speak out on what he sees is the truth regardless of whether or not it pleases the knuckle draggers in some branches of the Anglican Communion. It is voices like Tutu's that will open minds and change hearts. Speaking of which, I had lunch today with a member of my church (First Lutheran Church) who is a retired professor from the ELCA's Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina, and an advocate for respect and full acceptance of gays in the ELCA. He has even debated Warren Throckmorton, a sometimes fair haired boy of the proponents of the reparative therapy snake oil, at a ELCA conference (Throckmorton had been invited by conservative, homophobic factions in the ELCA). We met to discuss my frustration with some members within First Lutheran who oppose outreach to gays and in the parish's failure to be truly accepting of LGBT individuals in a public way. But I digress, here are some story highlights about Tutu's statements (http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/07/Dec/1702.htm):

MANCHESTER, December 17, 2007 – Archbishop Desmond Tutu has apologised to gay people all around the world for the way they have been treated by the Church. The Archbishop recently criticised the church for being ‘obsessed’ with homosexuality but speaking on the only gay programme on the BBC he goes further and says he’s ‘sorry’.

The Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner says “sorry” to the worldwide LGBT community in an exclusive recorded interview with Ashley Byrne, presenter of Gay Hour, to be transmitted tonight (December 17) on BBC Radio Manchester. “I want to apologise to you and to all those who we in the church have persecuted,” Archbishop Tutu says in the interview. “I’m sorry that we have been part of the persecution of a particular group. For me that is quite un-Christ like and, for that reason, it is unacceptable. “I’m sorry for the hurt, for the rejection, for the anguish that we have caused to such as yourselves.”

Previously, Tutu made similar statements in 2004 during a sermon at Southwark Cathedral in London (http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/20040206001.htm):

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said homophobia is, to him, as “totally unacceptable and unjust as Apartheid ever was.” And the former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, in a sermon at Southwark Cathedral in London, fired what amounts to an ecclesiastical torpedo into the school of the Anglican Church that insists homosexuality is wrong.

“The Jesus I worship is not likely to collaborate with those who vilify and persecute an already oppressed minority,” he said. “I myself could not have opposed the injustice of penalizing people for something about which they could do nothing - their race - and then have kept quiet as women were being penalized for something they could do nothing about - their gender, and hence my support inter alia, for the ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate. “And equally, I could not myself keep quiet whilst people were being penalized for something about which they could do nothing, their sexuality. “To discriminate against our sisters and brothers who are lesbian or gay on grounds of their sexual orientation for me is as totally unacceptable and unjust as Apartheid ever was.”