Rowan Williams warns against 'homophobic language' following murder of
Ugandan activist David Kato
Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent
Monday January 31 2011
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/31/anglican-summit-condemns-gay-victimisation
Anglican leaders from around the world yesterday reiterated their
opposition to the "victimisation or diminishment" of gays and
lesbians, saying demonising and persecuting them was "totally against
Christian charity and basic principles of pastoral care".
The statement follows the Archbishop of Canterbury's condemnation on
Friday of the killing of Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato. It
was approved by most Anglican primates within the communion and calls
on all clergy "to minister pastorally and sensitively to all
irrespective of sexual orientation and condemn irrational fear of gay
people".
"We would like to express our support for the statement of the
Archbishop of Canterbury in response to the horrific murder of David
Kato in Mukono, Uganda.
"We join him in saying that no one should have to live in fear because
of the bigotry of others."
The issues of blessings for same-sex partnerships and the ordination
of openly gay clergy have caused deep, almost irreparable divisions in
the Anglican Communion.
Several archbishops boycotted the bi-annual Anglican meeting that
concluded in Dublin yesterday and which issued the anti-homophobia
statement, along with texts addressing a range of international issues
such as Pakistan's blasphemy laws and climate change.
The archbishop of Uganda, the Most Rev Henry Luke Orombi, who has
repeatedly said that homosexuality is incompatible with scripture, has
still to comment on Kato's death.
He and half a dozen other senior clerics stayed away because of
developments in the US Episcopal Church, which has ordained partnered
gay clergy and is developing liturgical resources for same-sex
blessings.
Its leader, the Most Rev Katharine Jefferts Schori, used her Sunday
sermon to say Kato's voice had been "silenced".
"We can pray that others will continue that work, or be challenged by
the brutality of his death into some conversion of heart."
At a press conference, held at the Emmaus Centre, Dublin, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, reminded journalists that
Orombi had signed an earlier pledge "deploring and condemning all
violence and language about homosexual persons" while also warning
that homophobic language had consequences - as illustrated by Kato's
murder.
Williams acknowledged there was "a critical situation" in the
communion.
"The division is very real. The question is how we cope with it.
Whether we are able to stay in the same room and argue the case."
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2011
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