June 7, 2024
borkena
Toronto – Ethiopian Patriarch His Holiness Abune Mathias on Thursday said that sodomy and same sex marriage is rejected in natural law and in the Holy books.
He was reading out a statement issued by the Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church which has been conducting its annual meeting for several days at the Patriarchate in the capital Addis Ababa.
Acts of Sodomy ” distorts mental identity , individual identity, and damages family life and social cohesion,” said the statement from the Holy Synod.
The Holy Synod emphasized that homosexuality and same sex marriage is absolutely unacceptable “in natural law and human living, prohibited in Holy books…”
The church said it will issue detailed statement reflecting on the Ethiopian Church’s stand of homosexuality and same sex marriage.
Homosexuality is one of the issues on which Abiy Ahmed’s government lost trust after his government signed the Samoa Agreement in November 2023. The view is that western powers are attempting to impose homosexuality in societies like Ethiopia by tying aid to a range rights on alleged grounds of “inclusion” and “sex education.”
In February 2024, Ethiopian Inter-Religious Council opposed that the Ethiopian government should not have signed the Samoa Agreement and demanded its withdrawal. https://borkena.com/2024/02/09/ethiopias-religious-council-demands-govt-withdrawal-from-samoa-agreement/
In the same month, four major Ethiopian opposition parties opposed the Abiy Ahmed government as a party to the Samoa Agreement. In a Joint Statement, the parties said “Sodomy/Homosexuality, apart from cultural and religious views, is a criminal act in Ethiopia. From that angle, any action that supports or encourages homosexuality knowingly or unknowingly, directly or indirectly – in addition to being opposing values to our culture, religion, and values – amounts to supporting and encouraging a criminal act.” said the joint statement from four major Ethiopian opposition parties.
In March of this year, Ethiopian Muslims had a meeting with Abiy Ahmed as part of a series of “discussion” sessions with “representatives from different sections of the society.” One of the main concerns they raised was the move to promote, on the part of the government, homosexuality, under the guise of “inclusive sexual education.”
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed response was
“I hear many talks about it. if it [the agreement] has an article that is not relevant to Ethiopia, it means it will not be implemented. In Short, no need to suffer much about it. First, agreements that Ethiopia signs with other countries will be law only when ratified by parliament. I do not think there is a government that erodes Ethiopian values… no need to suffer much about it…, ”
About 98 percent of the Ethiopian people are said to be devout religious. However, under Abiy Ahmed’s administration norms and views from the western world have become deeply entrenched in institutions.
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