Hate Has No Place in the House of God

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, wrote "In Africa, a step backward on human rights" published on March 12 in the Washington Post. We commend this extraordinary article to you and encourage you to share this widely. While the first context he speaks to is his beloved Africa, his message of love, reconciliation and justice is for the whole world.

"Hate has no place in the house of God. No one should be excluded from our love, our compassion or our concern because of race or gender, faith or ethnicity -- or because of their sexual orientation. Nor should anyone be excluded from health care on any of these grounds. In my country of South Africa, we struggled for years against the evil system of apartheid that divided human beings, children of the same God, by racial classification and then denied many of them fundamental human rights. We knew this was wrong. Thankfully, the world supported us in our struggle for freedom and dignity."  Tutu goes on to say,"It is time to stand up against another wrong."

The Outspoken Award

Archbishop Desmond Tutu received the 2008 Outspoken Award from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Here is his acceptance speech at Grace Cathederal in San Francisco.