Akinola criticises West for cultural laxity and timidity

by Pat Ashworth
12 September, 2008

ENGLAND has let Christ go, says the Archbishop of Nigeria, the Most Revd Peter Akinola. Consequently, the “huge religious vacuum” created in the name of multiculturalism is being filled by Islam.

In an interview with Third Way, the Archbishop says he now leads 20 million Anglicans — “not on paper: in the pews on Sundays”. He describes himself to Joel Edwards, director of the Evan­gelical Alliance, as a nobody; some­one with no claim to glamour or “superstar syndrome”; a “tool in the hand of God”, with no choice but to be humble.

As a family man, he says that none of his six children, aged between 25 and 38, have ever given him a sleepless night. While he acknow­ledges that in his younger years as a Canon he could be “a little bit aggressive”, he says that his new status as Baba, spiritual father to the country, gives him no choice but to be “more tender, more pastoral, more caring”. It is a self-portrayal different from his defiant appearance in a BBC documentary, Battle of the Bishops, screened in July and featur­ing his preparation for, and presence at, GAFCON. the rest
(Thinking Anglicans)

Interview With Archbishop Akinola