The following letter to the editor was published in the New York Times today, March 14, 2007. Read the Editorial that prompted it here.
To the Editor:
Re “Denying Rights in Nigeria” (editorial, March 8):
I am embarrassed to learn that an archbishop of the Anglican Communion, the Most Rev. Peter J. Akinola, is a major supporter of the odious Nigerian legislation designed to deny basic human rights to gay and lesbian people.
What deeply saddens me is that he is a well-regarded leader to many of the most conservative Episcopalians in this country. But what puzzles me is the apparent willingness of the archbishop of Canterbury and other primates of the Anglican Communion to appease him in his insistence that the Episcopal Church’s welcome of gay and lesbian people is somehow un-Christian.
As your editorial rightly concludes, this proposed legislation, and his support of it, are a chilling reminder of the profound dangers to which bigotry can open us.
Supine complicity with such a view, as you rightly stated, “sets a treacherous example for the region and the world.”
(Rt. Rev.) Mark S. Sisk
New York, March 9, 2007
The writer is bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York.
I am astounded that +Sisk was unaware of the Nigerian bill and ++Akinola's and the Cof N's support for it. I thought +Sisk's "We are they" comment was a big step forward for him, but it seems he's back to his old ways. How could he not have known about this?
ReplyDeleteBob S.