Desmond Tutu: Quotes about God
Desmond Tutu is South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner. Explore interesting quotes on god.
Forward (April 2011)
God Is Not a Christian: And Other Provocations (2011)
Context: Some of my friends are skeptical when they hear me say this, but I am by nature a person who dislikes confrontation. I have consciously sought during my lifetime to emulate my mother, whom our family knew as a gentle “comforter of the afflicted.” However, when I see innocent people suffering, pushed around by the rich and the powerful, then, as the prophet Jeremiah, says, if I try to keep quiet is is as if the word of God burned like a fire in my breast. I feel compelled to speak out, sometimes to even argue with God over how a loving creator can allow this to happen.
In the Church of Sant'Egido in Rome, home of an extraordinary community of lay people devoted to working with the poor, there is an old crucifix that portrays Christ without arms. When I asked about its importance to the community, I was told that it shows how God relies on us to do God's work in the world.
Without us, God has no eyes, without us, God has no ears; without us, God has no arms or hands. God relies on us. Won't you join other people of faith in becoming God's partners in the world?
“I give great thanks to God that he has created a Dalai Lama.”
As quoted in "Dalai Lama honours Tintin and Tutu" at BBC News (2 June 2006) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5040198.stm
Context: I give great thanks to God that he has created a Dalai Lama. Do you really think, as some have argued, that God will be saying: "You know, that guy, the Dalai Lama, is not bad. What a pity he's not a Christian"? I don't think that is the case — because, you see, God is not a Christian.
"Desmond Tutu Would Prefer Hell Over A Homophobic Heaven" at The Huffington Post (26 July 2013) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/26/desmond-tutu-hell-homophobia_n_3661120.html
Context: I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this. 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. I am as passionate about this campaign as I ever was about apartheid. For me, it is at the same level.
As quoted in The Mammoth Book of Zingers, Quips, and One-Liners (2004) by Geoff Tibballs, p. 255
“You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.”
Address at his enthronement as Anglican archbishop of Cape Town (7 September 1986)
Speech in Boston (2002)
"And God Smiles," sermon preached at All Saints Church, Pasadena, California (6 November 2005)
Beyers Naudé memorial lecture (15 August 2003)
"Tutu calls on Anglicans to accept gay bishop" http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=33&idsub=128&id=2141 in Spero News (14 November 2005)
Sermon in Tromsö, Norway (5 December 1991)