Archbishop of York speaks

Updated

The Archbishop of York speaks out on the treatment of asylum speakers and the Ugandan anti-gay bill.

Sentamu criticises treatment of asylum seekers and Ugandan anti-gay bill
In Ekklesia (UK)

The Anglican Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has criticised both inhuman UK policy on asylum seekers and the anti-homosexuality bill currently going through the Ugandan parliament.

In an article in today’s Times newspaper, Dr Sentamu accuses the British Government of exploiting the weak by making it more difficult for asylum seekers to make legitimate claims to stay in the country.

He also warns that cuts in financial support will leave many people who have fled from mistreatment destitute this Christmas and he condemns the reduction in benefits to £5 a day for single asylum seekers.

The archbishop said that this “meagre” sum was the same amount he received when he arrived in Britain in 1974 after fleeing from Idi Amin’s Uganda.

In a busy media day, Dr Sentamu also appeared on the flagship BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning to make clear his concern about the private members bill currently going through the Ugandan parliament, which would further criminalise homosexuality and bring in the death penalty for gay people with HIV.

HERE is his radio interview - he appears at the 833 mark. Addendum. A transcript is available at Changing Attitude.

HERE's his entire essay on asylum seekers in Britain, published in the London Times.
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Posted on December 24, 2009 10:30 AM | |
Comments (4)

I think the grass roots opponents of the Ugandan legislation can take credit for forcing the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to speak out against this bill. They clearly didn't want to, put it around that speaking out would be counterproductive and that those who thought otherwise were naive. What changed? An international outcry, led by the kind of people at whom the Lambeth-based leadership had previously looked down its collective nose. The archbishops did not exercise moral leadership; they exercised moral followership.

Posted by Jim Naughton [TypeKey Profile Page] | December 24, 2009 11:14 AM

This is worse than I originally thought. The Archbishop of York says:

"I’m absolutely committed that the Church of Uganda, and I can only speak about the Church of Uganda, is committed to the pastoral care which is in the Dromantine Communiqué, is also committed to the listening process to the experience of homosexual people, and people may have very clear, what I may call traditional views about sexuality, but we as a Communion are actually committed to listening to the experience of homosexual people."


There is considerable evidence that the Church of Uganda does not hold the views that the archbishop conveniently ascribes to it:

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/anglican_communion/does_the_church_of_uganda_real_1.html

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/anglican_communion/don_armstrongs_silence_and_oth_1.html#more

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/anglican_communion/position_of_the_interreligious.html

Posted by Jim Naughton [TypeKey Profile Page] | December 24, 2009 11:29 AM

Which all reveals the fly in the Christmas pudding of Romanizing tendencies of late. A strong laity willing to speak up when archbishops will not rather than a spoon-fed "faithful" beholden to archbishops is the sign of healthy Churches-in-Communion in our time.

Posted by Christopher Evans [TypeKey Profile Page] | December 24, 2009 12:03 PM

At the end of his interview, I think ++York is engages in wishful persuasion. He states that Ugandan Anglicans are committed to Dromantine, pastoral care and listening, but actually hopes to make it so by saying so.

Clearly in their own utterances they are not.

Posted by Michael Russell [TypeKey Profile Page] | December 24, 2009 1:58 PM

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