By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
November 23, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the ultraliberal Anglican prelate who played a leading role in the fight against the South African apartheid system, is now complaining about the Anglican Communion’s “obsession” with sexuality.
Letting loose a string of liberal rhetorical tropes, the aging prelate opined in a recent interview with the BBC that “our world is facing problems—poverty, HIV and AIDS—a devastating pandemic, and conflict”.
“God must be weeping looking at some of the atrocities that we commit against one another,” said Tutu. “In the face of all that, our Church, especially the Anglican Church, at this time is almost obsessed with questions of human sexuality.”
Tutu’s concern is not that the Anglican church has been pre-occupied with its highly divisive change permitting active homosexuals to be elevated to the rank of priest and even bishop. It is rather that the organization hasn’t universally capitulated to the demands of the “gay rights” agenda. He claims that the Anglican church isn’t “welcoming” enough.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, is a special target for Tutu’s ire. “Why doesn’t he demonstrate a particular attribute of God’s which is that God is a welcoming God?” he asked in the interview, apparently oblivious to the Bible’s repeated condemnation of sodomy as a damnable sin. Williams has refused to enforce the Anglican communion’s condemnation of homosexual unions, allowing the practice to continue, but apparently this is insufficient for Tutu.
Unlike Tutu, other African bishops in the Communion have condemned the acceptance of homosexual behavior among Anglicans and have begun to create their own jurisdictions outside of Africa to absorb parishes that wish to separate from more liberal dioceses. Tutu calls their attitude “homophobic”, using a term created by homosexuals to imply that those who object to their practices have a secret fear of their own hidden homosexual identity.
Tutu has recently decided that the whole world is in need of his advice, and joined several other aged liberals (including Nelson Mandela and Jimmy Carter) to proclaim himself as one of the world’s “Elders”. “The Elders,” as the group calls itself, claims that the earth is now a “global village” and portrays itself as the official guardians of the world’s wisdom (see website at https://www.theelders.org).
Related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Canada’s Anglican Bishops Allow Everything But Nuptial Blessing for Gays
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/may/07050202.html
Archbishop of Canterbury Fears Coming Anglican Schism over Homosexuality
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jan/07010904.html
50 Homosexual Anglican Clergy Couples “Married” in Civil Partnerships
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jan/07010305.html
Anglican Church of England Will Allow Gay Clergy to “Marry”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/may/05053007.html
Anglican Bishops Group Formed Against Acceptance of Homosexuality in Church
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06092006.html
World Leader of Anglicans Acknowledges Massive Split Coming Over ‘Gay’ Bishop
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/oct/03101706.html