Recently, the "official" student newspaper of the University of Stellenbosch published an edition of the bi-weekly (hotlink to PDF) which boldly depicted two men kissing on the front cover.

The event which occasioned the photo was an annual campus tradition in which students are invited to gather together to try and get as many couples together as possible for a mass kissing event. This year, the campus LGBT society encourage their members to participate in this event, which has traditionally been dominated by heterosexual couples.

There has been widespread reaction to the photo. See, for example, this article and comments (note: the article is in Afrikaans). People are either "for" or "against", with no middle ground, as the editor admits. Some outsiders looking in might be astonished about the ruckus which this single photograph has caused, but the truth is that the Afrikaner people1 has traditionally been extremely conservative and the publication of the photograph at Stellenbosch was a recipe for controversy.

Needless to say, much of the reaction has been very emotional. Personally, I have already recently addressed the issue of homosexuality (al be it very briefly) from a Biblical perspective and really do not feel the desire to contribute to the debate which currently rages. But this past Sunday, TBT made a statement (hotlink to PDF) regarding this issue and I do want to share it with you. I think it is an accurate summarisation of what the Christian reaction to this issue should be, so go have a read.

• 1. Stellenbosch is the only university in South Africa which is still mainstream Afrikaans.