- Desmond Tutu, the Anglican ex-Archbishop of Southern Africa and Nobel Peace Prize winner, in a speech in England expressed his disappointment with the Church of Uganda. The Ugandan Church, Mr Tutu holds, broke with "Anglicanism's inclusive spirit" when it refused to invite US Church leaders to a recent ceremony because of a row over homosexuality.
Speaking to the UK-based Anglican Communion office, Archbishop Emeritus Tutu emphasised on the tradition of inclusiveness in the Anglican Church, which he also believed to be a central part in the message of Jesus. Based on this, Mr Tutu stated his disappointment with how some African church provinces had treated the debate over homosexuality, spurred by the appointment of a gay Bishop in Episcopal Church of the United States (ECUSA).
- Anglicans must keep in mind that the chief characteristic of Anglicanism is that it is all inclusive, Mr Tutu told the Anglican Communion office. "It is especially important for Anglicans to promote this because the world finds it impossible to deal with diversity." Jesus, he continued, had stated the most radical of ideas, that we are all of one family. "Everyone is an insider, there are no outsiders, whatever their beliefs whatever their colour, gender, or sexuality."
He said that the difficulties between ECUSA and the Province of the Church of Uganda - where the Ugandans had not wanted to allow representatives from ECUSA to attend the enthronement of their archbishop - had particularly pained him. It was so sad, he said. "Show me one family where there is always unanimity and I will show you liars. It should be 'I don't like your lifestyle, but you don't stop being my brothers and sisters, whatever the disagreement'."
On the issue of homosexuality that currently divides the Anglican Communion, Mr Tutu said that it was only natural this had become a dominating issue. "When there is confusion in the world, and complex, heart-breaking problems - such as HIV/AIDS, violence and poverty - people turn to issues on which they can have a black and white stance, because then they will be in close association with people of the same attitudes and they feel protected and safe."
- That's why fundamentalism grows in periods of confusion, said the South African ex-Archbishop. "But this is not the answer. It is to admit vulnerability and to embrace your brother and sister with whom you disagree. But difference is seen as a threat." Any issue that sought to exclude people from Church was wrong, he said.
Mr Tutu thus defends the principles of the current Archbishop of Southern Africa, Njongonkulu Ndungane, who has been the only Anglican Primate in Africa to defend ECUSA's right to have its own practices regarding homosexuality.
Archbishop Ndungane has fiercely criticised his counterparts in Nigeria and Uganda - the Church's anti-gay hardliners - for their excluding practices and for not concentrating on issues that are more important, such as HIV/AIDS and poverty. Ex-Archbishop Tutu goes far in repeating his successor's critique of the Nigerian and Ugandan Archbishops.
Mr Tutu however also told the Communion office that Anglicanism's inclusive spirit should go beyond that of our own faith, because the world's people - of whatever faith - needed to share their experience. "At this time, the world finds the difference between Christian and Muslim particularly difficult to handle."
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