Justin Welby insists that the goal here is to treat everyone with the respect they merit rather than imposing Western values on them.
Concerned about the Ugandan Anglican Church’s support for a recently passed anti-homosexuality law, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has urged the sister church to oppose it.
Welby stated in a statement on Friday that “there is no justification for any province of the Anglican Communion to support such laws: not in our resolutions, not in our teachings, and not in the Gospel we share.”
The head of the Church of England declared that he had written to Uganda’s Primate, Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba, to express his “grief and dismay” and to highlight the conflict between the Church’s position on the anti-gay law and its adherence to “Resolution i.10.”
The church’s position on homosexuality and the teaching that marriage is only between a man and a woman were both codified in Resolution i.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, a gathering of Anglican Bishops held every ten years.
The resolution “expressed a commitment to minister pastorally and sensitively to all – regardless of sexual orientation – and to condemn homophobia,” the head of the Anglican Communion worldwide said.
After President Yoweri Museveni signed the harshly criticized law into law, Kaziimba said in a statement that the church was “grateful” for its passing. According to him, homosexuality is being imposed on Ugandans by “foreign actors” who want to damage the traditions of the former British colony.
The bishop said, “We thank the President for ignoring their threats and for defending Uganda from their self-destruction paths.
While recognizing the injustice of colonial rule in the East African nation, Archbishop Welby argued that opposing the anti-gay law, which imposes life in prison for homosexual acts and the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” is not about “imposing Western values” on Ugandans.
It’s about reminding them of the vows we made as Anglicans to treat everyone with the kindness and respect they merit as God’s children, he said.
He pleaded with the Church of Uganda and its leader to reconsider their stance on the legislation and to oppose the criminalization of LGBTQ people.
