Tutu, Desmond
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Comment by openevan on October 28th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
In the article “Tutu, Desmond”
>Political Views >Homosexuality
The following piece, from the above, is irrelevant and propagandistic and should hence be deleted:
“Yet others equally devoted to divine and human compassion find it incumbent upon spiritual leaders to decry homosexuality as part of prophetic responsibility and calling. The issue remains controversial in religious and human affairs. The call to define a divine ideal in human relations should not be presumed as uncaring or discompassionate.”
Comment by Clinton Bennett on January 3rd, 2009 at 5:49 pm
The official teaching of the Anglican Communion, defined by the Lambeth Bishops’ Conference 1998 is that marriage is “”intended by God to find its rightful and full expression between one man and one woman in the covenant of marriage…[which is] a life-long, monogamous and unconditional commitment between a man and a woman.” The Anglican Community, however, also * opposes homophobia in the sense of discrimination against and oppression of homosexuals.
* opposes “any discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.”
* states that gays and lesbians are loved by God, and that all baptized members of the church are “full members of the Body of Christ”
* declares that some forms of sexual activity are “inherently contrary to the Christian way and are sinful.” Their list included adultery, incest, pedophilia, promiscuity, prostitution, female circumcision and rape. It did not include homosexual activity. They stated that “We must confess that we are not of one mind about homosexuality.”
Individually, some bishops depart from some of these positions in accepting same sex unions although not same-sex marriage. The task of a bishop is to uphold the faith as set out in the official statements of the communion. In view of this, the attempt to understand Archbishop Tutu’s compassion while discussing his views within the context of his episcopal status is neither irrelevant nor propaganda but a nuanced discussion of a controversial stance.
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