South African archbishop warns of 'biological colonialism'

Archbishop Butu Joseph Tlhagale of Johannesburg, has attacked proposed legislation that would allow the harvesting of eggs from African women for investigation purposes in other countries as "biological colonialism".

In his opening address at the plenary assembly of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference the Archbishop spoke of the "global ethic" which was a challenge to churches. He described it as "the global postmodern ethic that puts great value on differences," and "maintains that reality is a social construct, that truth is what you make of it."

With this lack of objective truth, Archbishop Tlhagale said: , "the authority of the Word of God has been turned on its head."

"Natural law is seen as an integral part of ancient explanations or mythologies. A whole new vocabulary and concepts have been produced by the postmodern global ethic."

He said that in this world view, the "right to choose" is seen as the fundamental norm. As a consequence, "One can freely choose bisexuality, homosexuality, lesbianism, heterosexuality. Children now have the right to choose abortion irrespective of their parent's beliefs. They too have equal rights."

Archbishop Tlhagale warned of continuing attempts to legalise abortion and in vitro fertilisation in African countries, with the African Union's Maputo Protocol and the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Among his main concerns, he said: "Such legislation will make it possible to poach ovarian human eggs from African women. Harvesting ovarian human eggs in Africa will help meet the needs of embryonic stem cell research in industrialised countries.

"It is illegal to use British eggs in Great Britain. Biological colonialism is on our doorstep."

He concluded: "Do Church leaders have a say in these complex moral issues of the day or are we simply left to the mercy of unscrupulous campaigners?"

Source: CISA