Desmund Mpilo Tutu
Klerksdorp, 7 oktober 1931
Kaapstad, 26 december 2021
Een morele gigant, een religieus leider in de juiste betekenis van het woord.
Een paar van zijn prikkelende citaten om te overdenken, wellicht om te laten schuren en botsen in uw gedachten.
“Don't raise your voice, improve your argument."
“We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low.”
“When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said "Let us pray." We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.”
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”
“Language is very powerful. Language does not just describe reality. Language creates the reality it describes.”
"I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place,"
“You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.”
“It is through weakness and vulnerability that most of us learn empathy and compassion and discover our soul.”
“Our maturity will be judged by how well we are able to agree to disagree and yet continue to love one another, to care for one another, and cherish one another and seek the greater good of the other.”
“A person is a person through other persons; you can't be human in isolation; you are human only in relationships.”
“God is not a Christian.”
“To be neutral in a situation of injustice is to have chosen sides already. It is to support the status quo.”
“I would like to share with you two simple truths: there is nothing that cannot be forgiven, and there is no one un-deserving of forgiveness.”
“One of the most blasphemous consequences of injustice, especially racist injustice, is that it can make a child of God doubt that he or she is a child of God"
"I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this."