Check out Wayne Besen's article on the strident homophobic Archbishop Peter Akinola and then read the instructive Atlantic.com article, "God's Country" that Wayne links to.
Here is an excerpt from that Atlantic article dealing with Akinola:
"When asked if those wearing name tags that read 'Christian Association of Nigeria' had been sent to the Muslim part of Yelwa, the archbishop grinned. 'No comment,' he said. “No Christian would pray for violence, but it would be utterly naive to sweep this issue of Islam under the carpet.” He went on, 'I’m not out to combat anybody. I’m only doing what the Holy Spirit tells me to do. I’m living my faith, practicing and preaching that Jesus Christ is the one and only way to God, and they respect me for it. They know where we stand. I’ve said before: let no Muslim think they have the monopoly on violence.'”
Do you hear Akinola? "I've said before: let no Muslim think they have the monopoly on violence."
The Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), are irrelevant to evil-doers in the name of "Christianity!" Homophobia in the name of Christianity partakes of this same mind-set, and we are to never forget it, nor are we to let anyone else forget it either!
Wayne Besen, in part, writes:
"When openly gay Gene Robinson was elected Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, the Nigerian Archbishop, Peter J. Akinola, called the event "Satanic." However, after reading the latest issue of Atlantic Magazine, it appears that Akinola is the one whose behavior is modeled on the devil.
"According to the article, Muslim fanatics attacked Christian worshippers in the Nigerian town of Yelwa in February 2004. They set fire to a church and murdered anyone who tried to escape - leaving 78 people dead. In retaliation, members of the Christian Association of Nigeria, led, at the time, by Akinola, surrounded the town. The vigilantes murdered 660 Muslims - while torching twelve mosques and 300 houses.
"In a state that lacks law and order, it is somewhat understandable that the Christians might take matters into their own hands - as they certainly have a right to defend themselves. What is unconscionable, however, is the gratuitous cruelty and downright evil that occurred on Akinola's watch. Far from Christian, one might equate the ghastly reprisals in Yelwa with a tyrant like Saddam Hussein - not an Anglican Bishop."
[Read Wayne's complete article here.]
Homophobic people are usually haters, and haters not only hate whom they have constructed as "the other," "the stranger," and "the enemy," but such "religious" haters take their act to the other side of the street, often cozying up to some of the most reactionary forces in society, and seek to justify their hateful rhetoric and/or actions on both their interpretation of selected Bible texts devoid of context and, often, even devoid of the accuracy of their interpretation of the Greek language in those texts.
Whenever evil people engage in evil they almost always justify their evil in the name of some "good" that they perceive will appeal to their accusers. Whether it's "preserving traditional marriage," "the welfare of children," "the betterment of society," "national security," "bad parenting," or any one of a number of other excuses for the expression of their hate, the dynamics of the expression of hate remain the same. Only the contexts differ!
If we had a decent mainstream media, this allegation against Akinola would be thoroughly investigated, and all the findings brought to light!
The expression of "religious" evil exists whenever there are remarks and/or actions emanating from clergy and many other professing Christians against LGBT people! It would be instructive to know if Akinola and those of his hateful ilk also engage in evil in other contexts as well, and thereby see the kind of people so many professing Christians are gullible enough to trust and follow.
The additional tragedy is that Akinola isn't alone in perpetrating evil in the name of "Christianity!" Every time you hear a professing Christian preach hateful words against LGBT people, or act hatefully toward LGBT people, you know that their profession of Christianity is false, and they are not Christians!
[Thanks to my friend, Don Charles for sending me Besen's article.]
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