Archbishop Akinola

There’s a very moving piece on the Nigerian Anglican, Archbishop Peter Jasper Akinola in the current issue of the Atlantic Monthly , written by Philip Jenkins. It’s wonderful to see how the Lord is raising up sturdy Christian leaders from the Southern Hemisphere to challenge the decadent churches of the North. One of the points Akinola makes is that the endorsement of homosexual practice will be an enormous boon to Islam in Nigeria. As Jenkins summarizes it, “If the Anglican Communion accepted gay bishops or approved gay unions, Muslims would gain an enormous propaganda victory in Nigeria — and in a dozen or so other African countries in which Christians and Muslims compete for converts, often violently . . . . At stake, [Akinola] believes, is the religious map of much of Africa, and the global balance between Christianity and Islam.”

This article is another of a string of surprises from the increasingly indispensable Atlantic Monthly , which still bears the mark of the late editor, Michael Kelly.