Justin Welby criticises Ugandan church’s backing for anti-gay law

The archbishop of Canterbury has urged the Anglican religion successful Uganda to reconsider its vociferous enactment for the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ law, which imposes the decease punishment for definite homosexual acts.

Justin Welby said determination was nary justification for supporting the legislation, successful a determination that highlights heavy divisions wrong the planetary Anglican religion connected LGBTQ+ issues.

Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, signed the measure into law past period amid condemnation. The UK authorities said it was appalled by the “deeply discriminatory” bill. Joe Biden decried the enactment arsenic “shameful” and a “tragic usurpation of cosmopolitan quality rights”.

Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba, the person of the Ugandan church, praised the caller law. He said homosexuality was “currently a situation successful Uganda due to the fact that it is being forced connected america by outside, overseas actors against our will, against our culture, and against our spiritual beliefs”.

Welby said helium had written to Kaziimba to explicit his “grief and dismay” astatine the church’s enactment for the law, describing it arsenic “a cardinal departure from our committedness to uphold the state and dignity of each people”.

In a statement, Welby said: “I americium profoundly alert of the past of assemblage regularisation successful Uganda, truthful heroically resisted by its people. But this is not astir imposing occidental values connected our Ugandan Anglican sisters and brothers. It is astir reminding them of the commitments we person made arsenic Anglicans to dainty each idiosyncratic with the attraction and respect they merit arsenic children of God.

“Within the Anglican communion we proceed to disagree implicit matters of sexuality, but … supporting specified authorities is simply a cardinal departure from our committedness to uphold the state and dignity of each people. There is nary justification for immoderate state of the Anglican communion to enactment specified laws.”

He urged Kaziimba and the Ugandan religion “to reconsider their enactment for this authorities and cull the criminalisation of LGBTQ people”.

The planetary Anglican communion, which claims much than 85 cardinal members worldwide, has been divided for decades implicit sexuality. Broadly speaking, liberal, declining churches successful the developed satellite are much accepting of LGBTQ+ radical portion conservative, increasing churches successful sub-Saharan Africa importune connected accepted biblical teaching connected enactment and marriage.

Welby’s connection said the Ugandan church, “like galore Anglican provinces, holds to the accepted Christian teaching connected sexuality and matrimony acceptable retired successful solution i.10 of the 1998 Lambeth conference. That solution besides expressed a committedness to curate pastorally and sensitively to each – careless of intersexual predisposition – and to condemn homophobia.”

He called connected planetary bodies that correspond blimpish churches “to marque explicitly and publically wide that the criminalisation of LGBTQ radical is thing that nary Anglican state tin support: that indispensable beryllium stated unequivocally”.