Tutu claims "God is weeping" over gay arguments

Tutu claims "God is weeping" over gay arguments in Anglican church



A leading Anglican has castigated his church for obsessing over gay issues while poverty, disease and hunger are ravaging the human race.

Speaking at a conference of church leaders in London organised by global poverty charity Tearfund, Archbishop Desmond Tutu accused his church of "persecuting the already persecuted" in its attitude to gay people.

"We really will not be able to win wars against so-called terror as long as there are conditions that make people desperate, and poverty, disease and ignorance are amongst the chief culprits," he said.

"We seem to be engaging in this kind of, almost, pastime there’s poverty, hunger, disease, corruption.

"I must imagine that God is weeping, and the world quite rightly should dismiss the Church in those cases as being totally irrelevant."

More here: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-8921.html

Shouldn't he have a more "up" attitude about things, being all-powerful and omniscient and all? It also makes him sound a little, well, sissy. I just can't figure out this "God is weeping" idea.

God may be all-powerful, but he doesn't intervene in human affairs, except in very rare instances. To do so would be to eliminate human free will, and without free will, love is impossible. Therefore, God can mourn human folly; weep, if you will.

The fact that you consider weeping "sissy" is another matter...

eom

It's human-like enough that "he" has a gender (why?).

It's called irony. I was obliquely making fun of people who would actually say that and mean it. Kind of like that New Yorker cover, which I guess you assumed was anti-Obama.

since the main region where these problems are coming from in the Anglican church is Africa.

I met him very briefly a few years ago, when he visited St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle. The dean at the time, Robert Taylor, was himself from South Africa and had been a protege of Tutu.

I have little doubt that soon after he leaves this existence, the Anglican Communion will add him to its calender of saints. (The Communion views saints as men and women whose lives are worthy of emulation and not as intermediaries of divine grace. The calendar of saints for the Episcopal Church of the United States commemorates Martin Luther King, Jr. (Apr. 4), Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Ross Tubman (collectively on July 20), and King Kamehameha and Queen Emma (Nov. 28), among many worthy people.)

The right used to bring up communism and homosexuality whenever they needed to raise money. Now that communism has been “conquered”, homosexuality gets it with both barrels. Pass the collection plate…… As much as they try…..since gays can not be “cured” by prayer, this will be a long running income stream for fundamentalist. Don't expect this hate to go away any time soon, its easier than helping the less fortunate.

Understands what even those here can not grasp.
Desmond also understands that a joke that has to be explained is not a joke. He's multi faceted and an actual man of faith. That brings my man of actual faith count up to almost 2.

I have nothing against prelates in any denomination interpreting their own religion as they see fit. I understand where traditionalists are coming from and I understand what Tutu means.

It can be a spur to humane treatment of our fellow travelers.

I'm afraid, though, that Tutu is thought of as something of an extremist in his church, precisely because he is not obsessed with persecution.

canada and england pretty much agree with his sentiments.

yes, we have break-aways -- but they don't make up the majority of us.

In the Episcopal Church, no person can be raised to the episcopacy without the consent of both houses of the General Convention. That a majority of the House of Delegates (lay people and clergy elected by their parishes to represent them) and the House of Bishops (all consecrated bishops) saw no moral error in the personal life of an openly gay, openly partnered man speaks volumes.