Does anyone else feel sorry for the aggressively anti-gay Archbishop of Uganda, Stanley Ntagali?
He claims he has been ‘betrayed’ by the Anglican Church. Why? Because bishops didn’t do even more to punish the Episcopal Church in the USA and Canada for same-sex blessings and LGBTI ordinations.
He’s so upset, he’s boycotting the Anglican Consultative Forum in Zambia this April.
As a Nigerian and an Anglican, I believe it’s time our bishops’ took full responsibility for their actions towards LGBT people.
If anyone should feel betrayed, it is LGBTI Anglicans who have suffered first hand from the African church’s persecution.
Here’s my open letter to Archbishop Ntagali.
Your Grace,
I write to you in the name of our loving and merciful God. I have been following your views on human sexuality for a long time. Your continued wish to avoid dialogue with the Anglican Communion causes me much sorrow.
The problem arises from you and your associates’ misunderstandings of Holy Scripture.
There was once a biblical justification for the enslavement of black people, and yet now the world views this as completely abhorrent. Similarly, you should not be so arrogant as to imagine you have nothing to learn from the theological perspectives of The Episcopal Church.
The Commandments tell us to love your neighbor as yourself. Where is this love in your continued snubbing of your brothers and sisters in Christ? Where is this love in your support for laws which persecute and jail people who through no fault of their own happen to be LGBTI?
I grew up in Nigeria, and lost my job because I was gay. I had to leave my village, my friends and family, and eventually had to leave the country. I suffered death threats and was tortured by the police, all because I was gay.
These memories continue to haunt me with pain and sorrow. This persecution of LGBTI people was and continues to be incited and egged on by the Church of Nigeria.
The church should be a sanctuary of love for everyone. But in Uganda, in Nigeria and throughout Africa, it has stoked the fires of persecution.
The heart of Jesus was open to everyone. He embraced sinners and tax collectors alike, and preached a message of inclusiveness. Where is your love?
I find it astounding you should claim to feel betrayed by the Anglican Communion. If anyone should feel betrayed it is LGBTI Anglicans in Africa, who have suffered a holocaust of violence and cruelty, incited by people such as you. You are like the Pharisees of the Gospels, following what you think is the letter of the law, while completely missing the fundamental message.
I am happy the South African Church is now accepting and welcoming everyone including us homosexuals. However, I will not rest until all of Africa, and the entire world has followed in their Christian footsteps, and shown love and acceptance to LGBTI people everywhere.
Davis Mac-Iyalla is a Nigerian gay Christian currently living in exile in London/UK. He is the founder of Changing Attitude Nigeria.
Source: GayStarnews.com