Comments by Pope Francis and Archbishop Tutu on gay rights not clear

Comments made by Pope Francis of the Catholic faith and Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa regarding gay rights are to say the least very confusing. We need clear messages from God backed by their faiths to give hope to humanity.

While Pope Francis said on his trip to Brazil that he cannot judge ex gays and lesbians priests so long as they follow the right path of worship, Desmond Tutu said in a UN meeting on gays in South Africa that he would not worship a God who is homophobic. This, to the respected clergyman, means that all those against gays and lesbians are homophobic. What does he mean by homophobia? Where did he get this knowledge, from the United Nations, Europe or the gay right movement?

The two men are held in high esteem for the positions they hold globally. However, one is at a loss as to the true positions they hold regarding gay and lesbianism.

The questions to ask is are they in support and approve the position of the Gay Right Movement? They need to clear the air else their current position might lead to confusion in the minds of their followers and many more on gay and lesbianism.

However, some clergymen in Ghana and some parts of Africa and the world have expressed surprise and disapprove the stand taken by the two clergymen and have called on Catholics, Anglicans and the rest of the people to ignore them.

What is more worrying is that most of the European nations particularly Britain and the United States have vowed to promote same sex relationships and marriage. If the current move by the United Nations to also promote gay rights in the world then we especially in Africa and the third world the situation may get out of hand. Our governments, opinion leaders and religious leaders must do all they could to resist the move to force gay right on us, especially because all sections of the society and political parties are against gay rights. Speaking on Adom FM, a Ghanaian Anglican Archbishop Yinkah Sarfo said the comments by Bishop Tutu were his personal opinions but not the stand of the entire Anglican Church.

He noted that all the Bishops and Archbishops of the Anglican Church met in Mauritius recently and unanimously condemned those comments and dissociated themselves from it.

“We suspect that retired Archbishop Tutu may have collected some moneys from some of the western governments or from gay rights activists to do their bidding but the Anglican Church condemns gay practice,” he said.

Archbishop Yinkah Sarfo said in a few days to come the Anglican Bishops of Africa, South America and Asia would come out and formally state their position on this matter.

He is therefore admonishing all members of the Anglican Church in Africa to remain steadfast because the church does not support gay practice and the leadership will make that clear in a few days.

If the purpose for the support being given by men of god and respected world leaders in supporting gays and lesbian rights is to promote human rights then they are wrong.

Many African leaders have said that the same sex relationship that leads to sexual activities and marriage between same sex partners is not right. It lowers humans below animals and leads to many deadly consequences such as sexually related diseases such as HIV AIDS.

In some African societies the practice are frowned upon to the extent that they physically attacked and killed by those opposed to their activities. For that matter the United Nations and all the nations pushing for the recognition of same sex relations must hasten slowly.

If it has been found easy to make laws for same sex marriages in Europe, it would not be easy to do so in Ghana and some parts of Africa. The African governments must examine the situation in relation to our culture, traditions and religious beliefs and take a stand to resist attempts to make laws to approve same sex marriages.

Apart from being abhorred by almost all the major religions as indicated in the Bible Quran and other religious books, I doubt that the ordinary Ghanaian and African would support the same sex relations in our land now and in future.

Executive Director

eanfoworld for sustainable development

eworld200047@yahoo.com/ abdulai.alhasan@gmail.com