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R/£ I wouldn't worship an anti - gay God - Tutu
November 19, 2007 Edition 2
Sapa-AFP, AP
LONDON: Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has slammed the church for being "obsessed" with homosexuality, in a BBC radio programme to be broadcast tomorrow.
The 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner, 76, said he felt ashamed of his church for its attitude towards gays.
He also criticised Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the leader of the world's Anglicans, for not demonstrating the attributes of a "welcoming God".
"Our world is facing problems - poverty, HIV and Aids - a devastating pandemic, and conflict," Tutu said.
"God must be weeping looking at some of the atrocities that we commit against one another.
"In the face of all of that, our church, especially the Anglican Church, at this time is almost obsessed with questions of human sexuality."
He said the church had appeared "extraordinarily homophobic" during the row over whether the openly gay priest Gene Robinson should be allowed to become the Bishop of New Hampshire.
Tutu said he was "saddened and ashamed" of the church over the row.
Asked if he still felt ashamed, he replied: "If we are going to not welcome or invite people because of sexual orientation, yes.
"If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God."
Tutu hit out at those religious conservatives who believe homosexuality is a choice.
"It is a perversion if you say to me that a person chooses to be homosexual," he said.
"You must be crazy to choose a way of life that exposes you to a kind of hatred.
"It's like saying you choose to be black in a race-infected society."
Criticising Williams, he added: "Why doesn't he demonstrate a particular attribute of God's which is that God is a welcoming God."
At the weekend, the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth in Texas took the first steps to withdraw from the US church as part of a growing rift over scriptural interpretation and homosexuality, giving preliminary approval to constitutional amendments.
The diocese is among four of the 110 Episcopal dioceses that have approved measures to break away and align with an overseas Anglican leader.
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