Desmond Tutu says he would rather go to hell than to ‘homophobic heaven’
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, - Speaking at a press event in Cape Town during the launch of a UN campaign promoting homosexual "rights," retired Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu said he would prefer to go to hell than to worship a "homophobic" God or go to "homophobic heaven."
"I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place," Tutu said at the launch of the UN's "Free and Equal" campaign.
"I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this, " he said.
Tutu was joined at the "Free and Equal" press event by UN Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay and Justice Edwin Cameron of the South African Constitutional Court.
There they announced the launch of the year-long project, which the UN's website describes as a “global public education campaign to promote greater respect for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people everywhere," with a focus on "legal reforms and public education to counter homophobia and transphobia."
Archbishop Tutu said the UN's new campaign against "homophobia" was similar to the campaign he waged against racism in South Africa.
"I am as passionate about this campaign as I ever was about apartheid. For me, it is at the same level," he said.
The ultraliberal Anglican prelate played a leading role in the fight against the South African apartheid system, but has made a name for himself more recently as a champion of homosexuality, abortion, and population control.
In 2007 Tutu was named as a founding member of “The Elders,” a group of self-proclaimed "wise men" that includes Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela, and Kofi Annan, who, their website contends, meet privately to solve the world's problems.
"I’m not particularly reassured by that group," said Jim Hughes, president of Campaign Life Coalition, Canada and vice-president of International Right to Life, at the time.
"Given that almost all of the members of the group are well-known, powerful figures in pro-abortion, pro-population control, pro-everything else circles, I can imagine what sort of ‘wisdom’ they plan on offering the world. Personally, I think the world would be a much better place without that sort of wisdom."
"The fact that they are touting themselves as the world’s wise men is simply a big joke. I would rather refer to them as the wise-guys. That’s closer to the truth," Hughes said.
