Pat Allen

Date Added: Tuesday, September 16th, 2003

THE Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement in Britain may have commenced a campaign aimed at banning Most Rev. Peter Jasper Akinola, the Primate of All Nigeria Anglican Communion, from entering Britain. Specifically, the group wants to stop him from participating at next month's meeting of the Anglican Primates called by the Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the estimated 70 million Anglicans worldwide, Most Rev. Rowan Williams, at the Lambeth Palace, to discuss the gay crisis, which has divided the Church. The move to ban Akinola, according to sources, is as a result of his open criticism and condemnation of the ordination of gays as priests and a bishop of the Anglican Communion. The gay movement has sent a letter to Britain's Home Secretary, Mr. David Blunkett, asking that Primate Akinola be stopped from coming to Britain because he might incite hatred towards homosexual people. Akinola, who is leading the most populous Anglican population in the world with membership close to 18 million, has been one of the strongest voices against the liberal tide, opposing the blessing of same sex unions in Canada and the appointment of a practicing homosexual as a bishop in America. The secretary of the gay movement, Rev. Richard Kirker believed that there are many examples of language used by Archbishop Akinola that could be viewed as promoting hatred towards homosexuals. The office of Primate Akinola confirmed the development at the weekend, saying that the group hoped to be successful in their campaign.  "The fundamentalist movement has a number of backers within the Labour Party and Kirker remains hopeful that he will be successful in his bid to stop the Primate from going to Britain. Last year, in a high profile case, the Nation of Islam leader Loius Farrakhan was barred from Britain," Akinola's office said. It however, added that a Home Office spokesman said that they were inundated with people trying to block others from access to Britain. Homosexuals have been upset by the traditional stance taken by Akinola over the appointment of gays as priests. It will be a significant breakthrough for them if they are able to prevent one of the leading critics of the new development from attending the October submit. In August, a Ugandan priest was rough-handled and almost beaten in a street in Britain by those who were sympathetic to the gay movement and who regard any priest from Africa as against them. Meanwhile, a group called 'Anglican Evangelicals,' the biggest gathering of British religious movement, is to meet in Blackpool this month, to discuss strategy in dealing with the Church of England's crisis. Hard-line evangelicals including Wallance Benn, Bishop of Lewes and Peter Jensen, Bishop of Sydney, who have been outspoken in opposition to the appointment of gay bishops, will be among high profile participants at the meeting. The meeting will come up three weeks before the October summit where all the 38 Primates of the Anglican Communion worldwide, will gather to respond to
the 'homosexual crisis.'