TUTU A ‘SON OF SATAN’ FOR SUPPORTING GAYS, EUTHANASIA

The conservative Christian Democratic Party (CDP) has condemned Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s support for assisted suicide and gay marriage, calling him “a son of Satan”.

In an opinion piece for the UK’s Observer last weekend, Tutu wrote: “I do not want artificial feeding or to be on an artificial breathing machine – I don’t want people to do their damnedest to keep me alive.”

The 82-year-old cleric added: “I revere the sanctity of life – but not at any cost. I confirm I don’t want my life prolonged… Yes, I think a lot of people would be upset if I said I wanted assisted dying. I would say I wouldn’t mind actually.”

The statements were met with outrage by Rev Theunis Botha, leader of the CDP, who took the opportunity to also slam same-sex marriage as ungodly.

“To his support for abortion and same-sex-marriage, Bishop Tutu now adds euthanasia (suicide) on the list of things he supports that are totally contrary to the Word of God,” said Botha.

“In his desire to be in the limelight it would appear that he has become a friend of the enemy instead of a friend of God. It is our opinion that should Jesus Christ have been on the earth today He would have greeted him with the same disdain that He treated the Pharisees of His day by calling him a ‘hypocrite’, ’whited sepulchre’ and ‘a son of Satan’,” Botha said.

Tutu is one of the world’s most high profile religious leaders to vocally support LGBT equality. He’s criticised African states for targeting people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and last year said that he would rather go to hell than worship a God who is homophobic.

The CDP has no seats in parliament. It pulled out of the 2014 national elections in March due to the Electoral Commission of SA’s high deposit fees.