The Archbishop of Canterbury issued a rare public condemnation from a fellow Anglican primate who described homosexuality as a “deadly virus” that should be “radically eliminated and wiped out”.
Justin Welby, who is the leader of the global Anglican Church, said the comments made by Henry Ndukuba, the archbishop of Nigeria, were unacceptable and dehumanizing.
His criticism was endorsed by important colleagues in the Church of England, including Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York, and Sarah Mullally, bishop of London.
In response to a statement on gay pastoral care released by the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) in January, Ndukuba said: “The deadly ‘virus’ of homosexuality has infiltrated ACNA. This is compared to a yeast that must be urgently and radically eliminated and excised so that it does not affect the whole lump. “
In a statement, Welby said: “I totally disagree and condemn this language. This is unacceptable. It dehumanizes those human beings to whom the statement speaks ”.
He said he wrote to Ndukuba to make it clear that his language was incompatible with the teaching of the Anglican Communion, which condemns homophobia while reaffirming the traditional Christian view of marriage.
Welby added: “The Anglican Communion continues to seek to walk together through many differences and through many struggles. I urge all Christians to join me in continuous prayer for the people and churches of Nigeria as they face economic difficulties, terrorist attacks, religious-based violence and insecurity.
“The Church’s mission is the same in all cultures and countries: to demonstrate, through her actions and words, that God’s offer of unconditional love to every human being through Jesus Christ calls us to holiness and hope” .
Ndukuba’s comments were prompted by a pastoral message issued by ACNA on sexuality and identity, which in turn gave rise to a letter from a group of ordained and lay Anglicans saying that the Church considered “people of the same sex attracted to a more higher than heterosexual people “.
The archbishop of Nigeria described the letter – known as the “Dear Gay Anglicans” card – as a “clarion call to recruit gays to ACNA member parishes”.
The global Anglican Church has been convulsed by deep divisions on the issue of sexuality for decades. Welby has sought to avoid a split, mainly between conservative Anglican churches in sub-Saharan Africa and some in North America, on the one hand, and more liberal churches in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and elsewhere on the other.
Conservative churches have established a global alliance, known as Gafcon, to “guard and proclaim the unchanging truth in a changing world”. ACNA and the Nigerian church are members of the group.
The United States Episcopal Church, which represents the majority of liberal Anglican churches in America, was sanctioned by the Anglican Communion five years ago for accepting same-sex marriage.