Not Fit to Live?

An Anglican bishop in Nigeria, Isaac Orama, recently made a completely indefensible and un-Christlike remark about homosexuals. He stated:

Homosexuality and lesbianism are inhuman. Those who practice them are insane, satanic and are not fit to live because they are rebels to God's purpose for man.

Such a comment is outrageous and beyond the pale for Christian discourse. Apparently his new slogan is "hate the sin, kill the sinner." This man's hate towards other people shows that he clearly has no understanding of God's love (see 1 John 4:7-8). He needs to repent or be removed from any position of Christian leadership.

This case becomes more critical than just a bishop in another country when one realizes that many Episcopalian churches in the U.S. are leaving the U.S. branch of the Anglican church and joining the Nigerian one. Orama touched on that in his comments. He stated:

The aim of such fight is to provide a safe place for those who want to remain faithful Anglicans and Biblical Christians.

His comment about people not being fit to live undermines his claim to being biblical. It is not biblical to say such things about people who God created, loves, and died for. Episcopalian churches who have submitted to the Nigerian branch should rebuke such comments or leave. If not, they are condoning such un-Christlike statements and cannot claim the moral high ground in the Episcopalian debate. To his credit, one such U.S. leader (Greg Griffith) has condemned the remarks.


Thanks to Jim Naughton at the Episcopal Cafe for pointing out this story.


UPDATE [9-8-2007]: The Nigerian Anglican leaders are claiming that the quotation is false and that the newspaper will retract it, although Episcopalian blogger Father Jake remains doubtful that the quotation is actually false.