Today's Post-Gazette includes a letter from Scott Means, Administrator of the Seeds of Hope Fellowship in Bloomfield. Seeds of Hope is a mission church of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.
As a member of the Episcopal Church, I was ashamed to read Bishop Chane display his ignorance of African culture. He clearly presumes that it is acceptable to hold Africans to the moral standards of his own Western culture. Bishop Chane is guilty of the very same intolerance of which he accuses Archbishop Akinola.
Shame on you, Mr. Means! Shame on you for dressing up your homophobia in the guise of cultural relativism. Bishop Chane rightfully calls out Archbishop Akinola for his UNCHRISTIAN stance with regard to the welfare of homosexual Nigerians. This isn't about disrespecting the African culture underpinning the Nigerian homophobia. This is about a man of the cloth failing to uphold his moral obligation to the vulnerable members of his community.
It is xenophobia to claim that African's are culturally wired to be homophobic. Even if they are, it doesn't absolve Archbishop Akinola from his MORAL obligation to protect the human rights of Nigerian homosexuals.
Shame on you, Mr. Means!
