tutu's gay campaign illogical

Source: The Herald (Harare)

December 9, 2005: "And it came to pass in the days . . . when Abraham was 99 years old . . . two angels came to Sodom . . . (where) men . . . were wicked and exceedingly sinned before the Lord," so says the Holy Bible in Genesis chapters 13 to 19.

It is also written that when the two angels visited Lot, a nephew of Abraham, who was righteous and a servant of God, "the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house and they called to Lot: 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them'."

It is further written that Lot replied: "I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.

Behold I have two daughters who have not known men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof."

The hordes of homosexual men threatened to do worse things to Lot than they wanted to do to the two men inside the house.

They then tried to force their way into the house but failed and later, despite Abraham's passionate plea to God to spare Sodom and the adjoining city of Gomorrah from destruction, the cities were flattened by fire and brimstone.

And this, according to Christian anthology, was God's clear testimony of his disapproval of the complete liberty of homosexuals.

According to Lot's story, God detests homosexuality so much that incest is a less punishable crime because Lot's two daughters successfully connived to have children with their father and their death was nowhere near as painful as that endured by the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

A mere disregard of an instruction by God not to look back on Sodom and Gomorrah as they were devoured cost Lot's wife her life - she turned into a pillar of salt.

Sodom and Gomorrah may have been destroyed thousands of years ago, but the gay culture that led to their destruction is still alive and making strong inroads into many communities.

Gay and lesbian activists believe their sexual inclination is natural and that they have the right to freely have same sex marriages.

The gay culture has spread its tentacles, infiltrating deep into many corridors of power as well as Christian churches whose roots stem from Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of God.

In Sodom and Gomorrah, the gay had free rein because they had successfully overridden the territory. They even challenged Lot whom they described as not a resident but a mere sojourner or lodger.

Today, gay communities are challenging Christianity, one of the biggest and most influential doctrines that is openly against their existence, to accept them, their beliefs and what they are.

And two years after one of the first early Christian bodies, the Anglican Church, was rocked by the homosexuality controversy, the age-old gay spectre has returned to haunt this denomination.

Malawi's Anglican African bishops have blocked the appointment of a pro-gay bishop, Reverend Nicholas Henderson, to head the Lake Malawi diocese.

Confirming the decision this week, Archbishop Bernard Malango, the leader of the Anglican Church in Central Africa, says: "He (Bishop Henderson) has actively demonstrated that he was of no sound faith -- that's what the Court of Confirm-ation decided."

This is the second time in two years that Archbishop Malango has openly declared his distaste of gay culture.

When, on August 5, 2003, the United States Episcopalians (the American equivalent for Anglican) appointed a gay divorcee, Gene Robinson, as Bishop of New Hampshire, Archbishop Malango was among the first African Anglicans to disapprove of the appointment.

"How can you have a divorcee and, worse still, a man who sleeps with a fellow man, to head a communion?" said Archbishop Malango back then, calling the election "odd and unnatural".

That gay controversy led to a global rift within the church that prompted Anglican bishops in Africa to stop sending African clergy for training in the Western institutions in November last year.

The development signalled the first clearest drift from the centre of Africa representing more than half of the church's over 76,5 million Anglicans across the world.

African Anglicans' strong stance against homosexuality is firmly rooted in their cultural background which has never accepted gay or lesbian relationships although the practice has long existed on the continent.

President Robert Mugabe has described gays as "worse than dogs and pigs", while Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni outlawed homosexuality in the country, and unleashed detectives to root out gays, "lock them up and charge them".

But the gay debate within the Anglican Church and elsewhere on the continent is set to create further controversy after the South African Constitutional Court ordered President Thabo Mbeki's government to amend the country's marriage laws within the next 12 months. The court wants marriage to be defined as a "union between two persons" instead of a "union between a man and woman".

Even if the South African government, which argues that Parliament was the supreme law-making body, refused to act, it will be lawful for same sex marriages to take place in that country as from December 2, 2006. The ruling follows a court petition by two white Afrikaner lesbians, Marie Fourie and Cecelia Bonthys.

South Africa's controversial Anglican archbishop, Desmond Tutu (74), has now become the self-styled crusader of the permeation of gay culture in the church.

Being quoted extensively for his clear support of the appointment of gay bishops, Archbishop Tutu says because sexual orientation is something that cannot be changed, the Anglican community should support the first openly gay Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire.

Maintaining that consistency is important when speaking out against discrimination, whether based on race, gender or sexual orientation, Archbishop Tutu says: "I am deeply saddened at a time when we've got such huge problems . . . that we should invest so much time and energy in this issue. I think God is crying."

Indeed, God could be crying like He did in the old days of Sodom and Gomorrah, but His tears fell in the form of fire and brimstone.