Tutu hits out at Church on attitude to gays

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has strongly criticised the Anglican Church for its stance on homosexuals.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4, the Archbishop accused the Church of being "obsessed" with the issue of gay priests, while ignoring pressing global needs such as poverty and HIV.

"Our world is facing problems - poverty, HIV and Aids - a devastating pandemic, and conflict," said Archbishop Tutu, 76.

"God must be weeping looking at some of the atrocities that we commit against one another.

"In the face of all of that, our Church, especially the Anglican Church, at this time is almost obsessed with questions of human sexuality."

Archbishop Tutu went on to criticise the spiritual leader of the 70-million strong worldwide Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, of overlooking God's "welcoming" nature.

"Why doesn't he demonstrate a particular attribute of God's which is that God is a welcoming God," he told the BBC.

The Anglican Communion has been in turmoil over homosexuality since the US Episcopal Church elected the openly gay Gene Robinson to serve as the Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

According to the BBC, Archbishop Tutu said he had felt "saddened" and "ashamed" of his Church at the time of Bishop Robinson's consecration and that the Anglican Communion had responded in an "extraordinarily homophobic" manner.

When asked during the interview if he still felt ashamed, he replied: "If we are going to not welcome or invite people because of sexual orientation, yes.

"If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God."

In North America particularly, conservative Anglicans are taking measures to separate themselves from more liberal churches and find new approaches that would allow them to live according to Scripture.

Last month, an orthodox group in Ottawa, Canada, proposed the formation of a new branch of the Anglican Church of Canada that is more "biblically faithful" than the current Church after the Ottawa and Montreal Dioceses approved resolutions in October urging their respective bishops to allow clergy to bless same-sex unions.

The outspoken Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola and prominent traditionalist Gregory Venables in Argentina have said they will continue to offer a home for parishes and dioceses who want to leave the liberal-leaning Episcopal Church.

An October 30 communiqué signed by nine Primates of the Global South called for a postponement of the Lambeth Conference and stated, "We reject the religion of accommodation and cultural conformity that offers neither transforming power nor eternal hope."