HOMOSEXUALS are God's children, Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane said yesterday, ahead of a conference in Rwanda with the contentious issue of gays in the church on its agenda.

Tensions in the church have been growing since 2003, following a row over the blessing of same-sex relationships and the consecration of an openly gay bishop by the American Episcopal Church.

Ndungane, who leads the two dozen bishops in the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, said same-sex legislation currently before Parliament should be upheld.

“It (the Constitutional Court ruling in favour of same-sex marriages) in no way undermines our understanding of marriage,” he said, emphasising that the court protected the conventional understanding within a Christian context, namely between a man and a woman.

Ndungane, referring to the church's submission last year to the Department of Home Affairs on this same-sex legislation, said the church did not regard same-sex unions as a marriage in the eyes of God.

He said the Constitutional Court was very clear in saying that there should be two kinds of laws – one which affirms traditional marriages and the other which accommodates all kinds of unions, whether customary unions or same-sex partnerships.

On the question of adoption by gays, Ndungane said this was interesting, particularly with some agreeing it should be accepted when there were so many unloved children.

On Nigeria – Africa's largest Anglican church with some 17,5 million members and which has condemned same-sex marriages – Ndungane said people should not play the “numbers game” but rather get on with life and deal with “life and death issues”.

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