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Who are the real
killers?
Report for June
11, 2004
The New Zealand homo-fascists are accusing an
Anglican archbishop of committing homophobia and thus causing death. Those
who promote homosexual acts often and, unfortunately, effectively use the
claim that "homophobic words" cause suicide. As proof, they
point to the high rate of suicide among sodomites. But, of course,
sodomites do have a higher rate of suicide. So do drug users, drunks, and
prostitutes -- all for obvious reasons! When young sodomites, under
conviction of their consciences (Romans 2:14-15), are told by older
mentors that "gays and lesbians are born that way," it makes
those young people even more prone to suicide. The only message the older
reprobates (Romans 1:28) offer to the youth struggling with guilt over the
"vile" (Romans 1:26), "filthy" (2 Peter 2:7) acts he
has committed is "Get used to it, kid. You were born that way."
Christians share the gospel truth that through true repentance and genuine
faith in Christ, a sodomite will become a new creature (2 Corinthians
5:17), "washed . . . sanctified . . . justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11). We
share the promise of God that if the sodomite will repent of his sins,
including "fornication, and going after strange flesh" (Jude 7),
our Lord promises, "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool" (Isaiah 1:18). The promoters of perversion, in the name of
"freedom," offer young people bondage (2 Peter 2:18-19) to a
filthy sin and guilty conscience. Christians offer hope, freedom, and
redemption through Christ. Sodomite propagandists cause suicide -- not
Christian truth tellers! "If the Son therefore shall make you free,
ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).
Archbishop's gay comments 'threat to young'
By MATHEW DEARNALEY, New Zealand Herald, June 7, 2004
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=news&thesubsection=&storyID=357101
1
Maori researchers are accusing the Anglican Church's new head, Archbishop
Whakahuihui Vercoe, of endangering young people for calling for a world
without gays.
The head of a Maori sexuality research project at Auckland University,
Clive Aspin, said yesterday that struggles in coming to terms with
sexuality were a significant factor in a high suicide rate among young
men.
Dr Aspin said comments such as those by Archbishop Vercoe, who was quoted
in the Herald as saying that homosexuality was not morally right,
threatened long-term and permanent damage to youngsters grappling with
their sexuality.
Early research findings from interviews with more than 70 people of all
ages showed Maori had always had an open and embracing attitude towards
sexual diversity within social networks.
Project researcher Leonie Pihama also rejected a claim by Richard
Randerson, Dean of the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell, that most Maori
would probably find homosexuality culturally very difficult. "Such statements are colonial and Victorian
views that merely seek to oppress certain sectors of society and
have no basis in tikanga Maori," Dr Pihama said. "As far as we can see, there is no cultural
basis for a hatred of a group of people in the community."
Archbishop Vercoe denies condemning homosexuals as individuals, saying he
loves them as people despite believing their practices unnatural.
He told the Herald last night that he stood by what were personal
comments, and believed he had a right as a church leader to make them.
"If you find it difficult you shouldn't lead anything, you should
stay home and close your door," he said. "Everybody else has
their personal right to say what they believe, but once people like me who
are traditionalists make a statement, it suddenly becomes hot news.
"There is a lot of leadership in the world today that is
contradictory - we say it is not right to kill people but still have
leaders who tell us it is normal." But Dr Pihama decried the primate's vision of a
world without gays as "holocaustic".
Maori author Witi Ihimaera, who is gay, said he was extremely saddened by
Archbishop Vercoe's views. "They were the sort of comments I would
have expected to hear coming out of Noah's waka, and not from the head of
the Anglican Church in New Zealand. "I would really call for his resignation
because he needs to get pastoral advice - his comments are very, very
punitive, they are very patriarchal, very homophobic and very
sexist."
Ihimaera was equally outraged at a statement by the archbishop that the
time was not right for him to ordain a Maori woman as a bishop, even
though New Zealand has had a Pakeha Anglican woman bishop since 1990.
"Maori women have suffered double discrimination from Pakeha and to
hear they are also suffering the same double discrimination from a Maori,
from, in fact, the head of the Anglican Church, is very worrying."
The Right Rev Dr Penny Jamieson, the Anglican Bishop of Dunedin and the
first woman in the world to lead a diocese, would not be drawn on the
archbishop's views.
"I cannot see what the issue is. He is talking about his culture and
he is very knowledgeable about it - I have no problem with that." But an Auckland University theological lecturer and
Anglican priest, the Rev Dr Philip Culbertson, said he believed the
archbishop's comments were a breach of a prohibition by the church's
ruling Lambeth Conference against homophobic statements.
He said they did not represent the position of the Anglican Church, which
had left the issue of homosexuality unresolved, and were potentially
divisive in being "so offensive to so many people in the
church".
Anglican Maori leader Professor Whatarangi Winiata defended the
archbishop's right to make such comments, although
he disagreed that homosexuality was morally wrong.
Additional reporting: Rosaleen Macbrayne
Editorial: No apologies for featuring bishop's view
New Zealand Herald, June 9, 2004
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3571337&thesection=news&thesubsection=dialogue THE NEWLY appointed leader of the Anglican Church in New Zealand, Bishop
Whakahuihui Vercoe, believes homosexuality is unnatural and immoral and
looks forward to a day when a better society, in his view, will find it
unacceptable. When he mentioned this in an interview with the Weekend
Herald we thought it sufficiently extraordinary to put it on the front
page. The report brought a natural response to the primate's view but the
correspondence also contained an attitude no less extraordinary: that the
Herald should not have given his views such prominence. "As a gay man," one reader wrote, "I am deeply offended by
you headline, 'A world without gays'. If [Bishop Vercoe] had stated 'A
world without Jews' or 'A world without Maori' would you have printed that
as your headline?" Another called the report cheap and downright
appalling. "How dare you publish that rubbish on your front page,
unless of course you ... are as bigoted, homophobic and out for cheap
controversy as your Maori interviewee." There were several more in that vein. The most considered of them, from
Westmere reader Amanda Cropp, said: "The Herald and all other media
should give serious thought to how information on extreme perspectives is
presented. Believe it or not, this does make a difference, given that hate
crimes and discrimination are still a despicable reality in our
community." The astonishing thing about this criticism is the insecurity it reflects.
We gave such prominence to the bishop's attitude because it is so far out
of step with the mainstream today and it is surprising that one of the
country's more liberal churches should appoint someone of such an outlook.
It is the very eccentricity of his views that make them remarkable. Were
his attitude commonplace, as it was a generation ago, it would not have
warranted a headline. But our critics seem to believe that by reporting his views in the way we
did, we risk an eruption of prejudice that has been suppressed in recent
times only by a form of informal but rigorous censorship. We think that is
mistaken. The community has come to a more open view of homosexuality not by the
efforts of a censorious conspiracy but by the force of factual argument.
Surely most people now recognise that homosexuality is simply a variant of
human nature, as elemental to gays as their gender or ethnicity. And, yes,
we would have given the same prominence to the views of someone in Bishop
Vercoe's position if he had advocated a world without Jews or Maori. Most
definitely. There is no point disregarding or downplaying an important person's
attitude simply because it is now considered Neanderthal. Censorship, even
the informal sort known as political correctness, is dangerous. It can
provoke the very reaction the sensitive fear. The reason National Party
leader Don Brash made such an impact with his Orewa address was not just
that so many people agreed with him but that he made it suddenly
permissible to vent those sentiments. Now that those people feel free to say what they think they can be
challenged to reason their view. As time goes on, the frustration to which
Dr Brash appealed will lose its force and arguments of fact and fairness
must be confronted. If treaty issues had been debated much more frankly
over the past 20 years, Dr Brash might not have been handed such a potent
cause. In airing the views of Bishop Vercoe, Dr Brash or anyone else, newspapers
do not necessarily endorse them. The Herald confines its editors'
political views to this column; they play no part in decisions about the
selection and treatment of news. Those who ask us to ignore or downplay
attitudes unpalatable to them from a leader of the Anglican Church ask us
to abandon our role. We believe exposure and free debate are better in the
long run for all concerned and for that we make no apology. Homo-Fascism
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