What is happening in the Church of England is a wake-up call for nations especially those in the African continent to develop our own moral compass that truly reflects our identity and cultural values.

The truth is that many of us live by the tenets of Western-influenced morality, which often demonizes our way of life, including marriage and the African family system.

While the Church of England sees nothing wrong with its own way of life, we do not even have the courage to hold them accountable. This situation once again proves that what is considered morally acceptable at one point in time can later be deemed evil.

For example, many of us come from polygamous homes. Perhaps your grandparents had multiple wives, and your father or mother was born into such a family system. Yet today, we strongly frown upon polygamy because of Western cultural influence and their model of family life.

My question is this: if the Church of England chooses to strictly support or engage in same-sex marriage which is their choice and I respect that then is polygamy inherently evil or bad? Why do I ask this? Because our African preachers are gradually creating safe spaces for members of the LGBT community.

Can they also extend the same love and acceptance to those in polygamous marriages, knowing that God loves each and every one of us? Biblically, God has not punished any man for having multiple wives, but we can speak of God's judgment on the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The demonization of polygamy in Africa is influenced by Western moral standards rather than the Bible. I believe that if we are unable to rightly divide the word of God and differentiate Western-induced norms from our culture, we may one day lose it all in the name of religion.

My question is: I have heard other preachers using the Bible to defend homosexuality, and I completely respect their views, but why are African preachers not bold enough to admit that there is nothing wrong with polygamy, since many of their lineages came through polygamy? One may not be interested in polygamy, but that doesn't necessarily make it evil.

There has been a lot of religious bias towards non-Europeans, and it has always used the Bible to propagate Western beliefs to undo our culture. Until we wake up from slumber and confront this Western-influenced morality, we may end up in a ditch. Let people advocate for same-sex marriage, but they must equally respect the African way of life with regards to our family systems structure. If polygamy is evil, as we proclaim, can we say same thing about same-sex marriage?.

We should never make the mistake of righting the ills of foreign culture while we continue to despise our family structure which has been in existence for centuries. Maybe we may also need to develop our own moral codes which align with the African way of life.