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Nigeria's Archbishop Peter Jasper Akinola

• Homophobia

It was no small matter, then, when [Archbishop Peter Jasper] Akinola went public this past summer with blistering denunciations of proposals to consecrate openly gay bishops and to sanctify gay marriage. Commenting on the decision of the Canadian diocese of New Westminster to approve the blessing of gay unions, Akinola declared that the diocese had in practice seceded from the Anglican world. Reacting to a proposal in the Church of England to ordain a gay bishop (a proposal ultimately withdrawn after intense pressure from African and Asian leaders), Akinola thundered, "This is an attack on the Church of God —a Satanic attack on God's Church." And during the buildup to the U.S. Episcopal Church's controversial ordination of Gene Robinson as the bishop of New Hampshire, he announced, "I cannot think of how a man in his senses would be having a sexual relationship with another man. Even in the world of animals, dogs, cows, lions, we don't hear of such things.[*]"

American and European readers may be inclined to dismiss such remarks as coming from a hidebound bigot, or perhaps from a demagogue seeking attention—but they would be wrong to do so. In his attitudes toward sexuality, and above all in his attitude toward religious authority, Akinola represents a deep-rooted conservative tradition in African Christianity that is flourishing and growing, and that is simply not going to vanish as levels of economic growth and education rise in Africa. The prospect of imminent global schism in the Anglican Communion is therefore real.

Philip Jenkins, The Atlantic: Why all Anglican eyes in London are nervously fixed on a powerful African archbishop

* Actually, we do: Natural history and gender

Richard Evans Lee
October 19, 2003 •
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The article by Philip Jenkins that you reference concluded that Archbishop Akinola is amping up the conservative rhetoric because he doesn't want Muslims to gather any more ammo against Christians. Nigeria is, after all, the country where 100 people died in riots and 4 churches were burned earlier this year after a journalist suggested that Mohammad might have chosen a wife at the Miss World beauty pageant. Muslims in Nigeria have their own standards of sexual propriety, and when Christians draw any attention to their own differing standards, violence breaks out. The Christian Archbishop might be taking up a Muslim hardline against homosexuality to save his own skin.

Posted by: Tucker Lieberman | November 9, 2003 9:27 PM

An article I read recently by a couple of Nigerian journalists discussed the fight for souls. Not just Christians vs. Muslims but Christian vs. Christian, pentecostalism has been displacing the older Christian churches. A much earlier article by Jenkins described the African and Latin American Roman Catholics as the most conservative congregations in the world. That seems to be the case within the Anglican Communion. Not talking about the recent election of a gay Bishop. For some years African Bishops have been ordaining priests to work as missionaries within the American Episcopal Church to fight its liberal bias. This has led to some battles between the liberal heirarchy and some local conservative congregations, notably in Pennsylvania and (I think) Virginia.

Posted by: Richard Evans Lee | November 10, 2003 5:42 AM

Although I have no problem whatsoever with gay blessings or gay unions, I understand that Nigeria is not the West. I've lived there and know this personally. Christians have already been attacked in Nigeria, axed to death in church, churges burned and razed by some fanatical muslims (note NOT muslims are fanatical, only the ones carrying out murder under the banner of Sharia which is now practiced in the majority of Nigerian states). His comments, however narrow they might appear in terms of our western view must be considered in this context. It isn't just simple homophobia, this is about fearing for his and other church members lives.

Posted by: pam harvey-fulton | April 21, 2004 12:05 PM

Are Leviticus, Romans 1, and I Corinthians 6 too hateful to be included on this site?

Posted by: Hugh McCann | October 19, 2004 8:14 PM

**This is all I am allowed to post this because I used specific gender terms. This shows the insannity and desire of those in the alternate life style to control and eleminate those who do not agree with them.

Posted by: James | October 26, 2004 11:48 AM

How do you feel?

Feel free to share your feelings about Nigeria's Archbishop Peter Jasper Akinola. Please stick to the theme of the entry. Disagreement is fine. Homophobia, racism, and kindred expressions of hatred will be deleted. This site is one of my hobbies. I genuinely enjoy hearing from people and hate moderating or killing comments. Forthright disagreement is fine as long as it is civil.
My thanks,
Richard

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