He said the church abide by the traditional dictates of the bible, however, it is against the persecution against homosexuals and same-sex unions.
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Archbishop of Canterbury gravely concerned by Ghana's proposed anti-LGBTQ+ Bill
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has made a commitment to assure LGBTQ+ community that they are loved by God amidst conversation on Ghana's draft for the proposed LGBTQ+ Bill in parliament.
Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby expressed "deep concern about the stress for the Anglican Communion" by changing "the definition of marriage in the canons so that any reference to marriage as between a man and a woman is removed."
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In a statement to the church, Justin Welby said the anti-LGBTQI Bill before the Ghanaian Parliament goes against what the global church believes in.
Welby, who is the global leader of the Anglican faith made his views known in a statement issued on October 26, 2021; when the Parliament of Ghana reconvened to consider a number of bills among which is the bill unofficially tagged, the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill.
In his statement titled "Archbishop of Canterbury's statement on Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ+ Bill," Welby said:
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“I am gravely concerned by the draft anti-LGBTQ+ Bill due to be debated by the Ghanaian parliament. I will be speaking with the Archbishop of Ghana in the coming days to discuss the Anglican Church of Ghana’s response to the Bill.
He made a commitment "to assure [LGBTQ+ people] that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ.”
“I remind our brothers and sisters in the Anglican Church of Ghana of these commitments."
Adding: “We are a global family of churches, but the mission of the church is the same in every culture and country: to demonstrate, through its actions and words, God’s offer of unconditional love to every human being through Jesus Christ.”
He said the draft Bill contravened Anglican doctrines specifically the 1998 Lambeth Conference Resolution I:10 and the Primates' meeting of 2016.
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Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby holds a press conference at the Saint John Eye Hospital compound in the Christian quarter of Jerusalem's Old City on May 10, 2017
AFP
The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 seeks to criminalise Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) activities in the country.
The bill threatens the very existence of LGBTQI people, meaning that they are perpetually put in a position where they are subjected to physical and psychological violence endorsed by the state.
If the bill is passed by parliament, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo could either sign it into law or veto it.
NOTE: This story was updated on October 27, 2021 at 13:50GMT with a change in headline and lead to reflect the comments made by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
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