Archbishop Desmond Tutu has slammed the Anglican church for its "obsession" with homosexuality, which he claims, has come before world poverty.
At a London conference for Christian charity Tearfund he said: "God is weeping to see such a focus on sexuality and the Church is quite rightly seen by many as irrelevant on the issue of poverty. It may be good to accept that we agree to differ on the gay issue."
"I am ashamed of homophobia in the church" he added.
Tutu then said the Anglican Church was ideally placed to tackle poverty because of its presence at the heart of communities. However, he said he felt ashamed of his fellow Anglicans as they focused on trying to resolve their disagreement about homosexuality, while 30,000 people died each day of poverty.
"We really will not be able to win wars against so-called terror as long as there are conditions that make people desperate, and poverty, disease and ignorance are amongst the chief culprits," he said.
He then accused some of his fellow Anglicans of going against the teaching of Jesus in their treatment of homosexual people by "persecuting the already persecuted".
He added that traditionalists were wrong to suggest that gay people had chosen homosexuality and the dispute had to be kept in proportion. "It will be good for us obviously, to resolve our differences on this, and maybe accept that we agree to differ," he said.