Open Letter from Desmond Tutu (pdf)
To Rev. Grayde Parsons, Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church
(USA)
Dear
Brother in Christ,
I am writing you with the request that you share these
thoughts with my brothers and sisters in the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):
It is incumbent upon all of God’s children to speak out
against injustice. It is sometimes equally important to
speak in solidarity when justice has been done. For that
reason I am writing to affirm my belief that in making
room in your constitution for gay and lesbian Christians
to be ordained as church leaders, you have accomplished
an act of justice.
I realize that among your ecumenical partners, some
voices are claiming that you have done the wrong thing,
and I know that you rightly value your relationship with
Christians in other parts of the world. Sadly, it is not
always popular to do justice, but it is always right.
People will say that the ones you are now willing to
ordain are sinners. I have come to believe, through the
reality shared with me by my scientist and medical
friends, and confirmed to me by many who are gay, that
being gay is not a choice. Like skin color or
left-handedness, sexual orientation is just another
feature of our diversity as a human family. How
wonderful that God has made us with so much diversity,
yet all in God’s image! Salvation means being called out
of our narrow bonds into a broad place of welcome to
all.
You are undoubtedly aware that in some countries the
church has been complicit in the legal persecution of
lesbians and gays. Individuals are being arrested and
jailed simply because they are different in one respect
from the majority. By making it possible for those in
same-gender relationships to be ordained as pastors,
preachers, elders, and deacons, you are being a witness
to your ecumenical partners that you believe in the
wideness of God’s merciful love.
For freedom Christ has set us free. In Christ we are not
bound by old, narrow prejudice, but free to embrace the
full humanity of our brothers and sisters in all our
glorious differences. May God bless you as you live into
this reality, and may you know that there are many
Christians in the world who continue to stand by your
side.
God bless you.
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu (Cape Town, South
Africa
