Expel the Nigerian Church - Time to Move On

Nigeria is clearly a place obsessed by homosexuality, no matter what else is going on that troubles that land. On top of laws already existing to outlaw homosexuality, it would outlaw "homosexual marriage", so it seems much of this would be to allow police to harass people who are suspected of simply living together in a relationship and to imprison both them and anyone who helps them.

It is law making that is clearly discriminatory in the sense known in the early days of Nazi power - wide scale, easy to pursue, easy to enforce, scare-based law making that really turns law into a harassment and police as an agent of thuggery. It even uses the word holocaust in its attack on gay people, twisting this historical tragedy against groups and individuals into something against the Nigerian State.

If there is no prospect of gay partnerships in law the alternative is leaving people alone, of live and let live. This is precisely the opposite and reflects a society that doesn't have its priorities right, is obsessed, sacred of its fears, and looking for scapegoats and victims.

The so called Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) supports this continuing discrimination to bear down on individuals, to create suspicion, and isolate, and imprison. Further, the phrase "tearing the fabric of society" is the equivalent phrase used when the election and appointment of a relationship gay man as a bishop in an Anglican Church apparently "tore the fabric of the Communion".

Well it's like this. The Anglican Communion is watching one of its members become increasingly fascist, but its "patient" response so far has been to slow down the brighter model of inclusive development of human rights elsewhere. This is simply not a proper response to such a State's and Church's relationship towards its weakest (to paraphrase the identification of how to identify 'being ethical', according to the Archbishop of Canterbury in his recent economics lecture).

Rather, the time is now to show an alternative beacon of Communion of all the people: to meet this evil homophobic obsession in Nigeria head on and show that there is another way and a visible hope for all those about to suffer even more at the hands of the likes of Akinola and his crew. The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, and other Churches, should now take off the brakes, because this is the ethical thing to do in the face of the dark clouds over obsessed Nigeria.

It is time to use the State's apparatus here to press against these developments in Nigeria (we are giving asylum to its victims, so the policy must be to reverse this) and at the same time to begin a process that would expel the Church of Nigeria from anything Anglican, if Anglicanism has an ethical purpose.

Update

Here are some evil words signed by this utterly reprehensible man. No one with an ounce of ethical intent should have anything to do with him. Yes, come on Rowan Williams, save your pointless Communion now - rather, save it (if you can) from this bigot:

(a) The penalty for engaging in same gender marriage should be five (5) years imprisonment each.

(b) The term of imprisonment for witnesses should be three (3) years.

(c) Section 4 (c) should be three (3) years imprisonment for an individual while one year imprisonment without an option of fine should be the punishment for group of persons.

CONCLUSION:

Same sex marriage apart from being ungodly is also unscriptural, unnatural, unprofitable, unhealthy, uncultured, up-African and un-Nigerian. It is a peversion, a deviation and an aberration that is capable of engendering moral and social holocaust in this country. It is also capable of extincting mankind and as such should never be allowed to take root in Nigeria. Outlawing it is to ensure the continued existence of this nation. The need for doing this is urgent, compelling and imperative. The time is now.

The Most Revd. Peter S. Akinola

Archbishop Primate and Metropolitan
Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)