Mark Harris, writing at his blog, Preludium comments on the speech to the Province of Nigera by Archbishop Peter Akinola, Nigeria:
Ever the political lion, etc, the Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, has seen fit to make comments on the Western and US scene. As a primate with oversight of a proto-diocese in the United States, he speaks “from the chair” to the West. All part of ecclesial sausage making: he seems to think that if you package it right, you can put anything in it they will eat it. But not this time. This time the Archbishop has put poison in the grinder.
Akinola: “As a Church we cannot but continue to decry the disturbing level of moral decadence and spiritual degradation eating deep into the soul of western societies. In the United Kingdom, all through Europe and in ever increasing number of States in America, Legislators make laws to upturn the natural order and throw God away from the public domain. Marriage and family life as we know them in the word of God have been jettisoned. People of the same sex are legally permitted to marry. Parents’ right to discipline their children is legally denied, the age of discretion that used to be 21 has been lowered 18 and there are efforts at reducing it to 16 if not 14. As if these are not bad enough, only last week the TELL magazine reported in its 36th edition on page 12 that a 27 year old man was arrested for having sex with a sheep in Dulwich, south east London.”
Harris: There it is: the three strikes and out – Strike one, upturning the natural order, Strike two marriage and family life are jettisoned. Strike three, guy pokes sheep.
As to Abp Akinola’s comments on the US elections and the Presidential candidates Harris writes:
What is remarkable is that the Archbishop of Nigeria has decided to chastise an American presidential candidate. Now to be fair, clergy of American congregations are given occasionally to telling their governors what to do, and the Archbishop of Nigeria is known to have done the same in Nigeria. But for the Archbishop to make public comments regarding one but not both of the candidates for election in the US Presidential election is very peculiar indeed.
He is meddling in US Politics at a very primary level, calling on one of the candidates to “reconsider some of his ultra liberal dispositions,” that is to repent.
He can do what he damn well pleases, of course. Freedom ain’t worth nothing but its free. Still, he might remember that a fairly large number of Americans do not particularly like foreign potentates telling them what to do, who to vote for, and we sure don’t like them telling particular candidates of ours to repent.
Read the rest of the blog here.
Read the speech here.