Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill: A Betrayal of Christ’s Teachings

by Jim Wallis 12-11-2009

There are times in the “culture wars” when a very diverse group of religious leaders can come together across the political spectrum in a common cause. Recent legislation pending in the Ugandan parliament is one of those occasions. If it becomes law, the bill recommends the death penalty for same-sex activity and prison if same-sex activity is not reported to the police.

This week, more than sixty U.S. church leaders released the following statement:

Our Christian faith recognizes violence, harassment and unjust treatment of any human being as a betrayal of Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. As followers of the teachings of Christ, we must express profound dismay at a bill currently before the Parliament in Uganda. … Regardless of the diverse theological views of our religious traditions regarding the morality of homosexuality, in our churches, communities and families, we seek to embrace our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters as God’s children worthy of respect and love. …

One news report noted that “emerging revelations of the influence of conservative American Christian leaders on Ugandan church groups pushing the bill have generated wide interest in the story in the West — hence the statement.”

Yet reports from Uganda indicate that the harassment of homosexuals has already ramped up, and those who have not been targeted fear persecution. Whatever one’s views on homosexuality, I would hope we can at least agree that legal, civil, and human rights must be honored, respected, and defended for all people. It’s a question of justice.

Categories: Human Rights

djulien

Any extreme form of religion, be it Christianity or Islam, tends to be intolerant and often hateful and violent against the "other" which in this case, is gays.I don't think that Mathew Shepard was brutally murdered by a Muslim.....

WaveTossed

There have been incidents of violence against gays done by people calling themselves "Christian," right here in the U.S. A.

http://www.pridedepot.com/?p=1404

http://www.religiousrightwatch.com/2007/10/chri...

BlueCollarTodd

I think you are wrong and this confusion about being against the normalization of homosexuality by Christians is nothing compared to the threat from Muslims. Muslims who are morally comfortable with attacking gays. Remember, Muhammad killed people, not Jesus.Here are some videos of Muslim violence against gays, and I hope Christians will denounce it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjcpo3KcHSI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfW9inRkTpU

WaveTossed

Some Ugandans who oppose this leglislation:

http://www.sexualminoritiesuganda.org/

WaveTossed

There is a vast difference between those who voted for Prop 8 and those who advocate genocide.

"I guess a country who would drop 500lb bombs on an Iraqi people for a decade don't have hate in their hearts. "

Actually, a regime which would unilaterally start a war, invade a country under false pretenses, would have either hate or a form of cynicism in their hearts.

"Jesus death/existence is an matter of opinion which I care not to waste time on such foolishness either."

You do not believe in Our Savior? That is your choice. I will not advocate genocide for you or for any other non-believers. That's not what Our Savior preached when He was alive.

WaveTossed

It doesn't matter what they do in Iran or other places. Genocide or imprisonment of people only because of who they are is wrong -- period.

letjusticerolldown

What do you believe a Biblical view is of the source of life?

pianki

Yea I guess the voters who overwhelmingly passed Prop 8 in California had hate in their hearts too. I guess a country who would drop 500lb bombs on an Iraqi people for a decade don't have hate in their hearts. Jesus death/existence is an matter of opinion which I care not to waste time on such foolishness either.

pianki

Bisexualism is meet with by death in Iran. Cultural practices dear to societies have now become religion by western fanactics going back to Constantine. Keep the planned parenthood type motives out of Africa and stop promiseing Africans US and UK visas if they act out certain roles in support of issues that will lead to their ultimate demise.

pianki

I don't think Nazis done what they done because of religious belief. (How about usury.) Is that why Nazis persecuted Blacks in Germany also which we never hear mention of?

WaveTossed

"The deity of the old test was not for everybody and that society looked down upon homosexual behavior with vengenance. And rightfully so."

I need to stop arguing with people with such hatred in their hearts that they would condone genocide.

Jesus died on the Cross because of people like this.

WaveTossed

"Different societies had their own perspective of the creator(s) of hue-man kind."

You are practicing a kind of moral relativism here. There are certain acts that are immoral in any culture and this is an absolute, not something relative to various cultures.

Some of those acts that are wrong in ANY culture is the murder or imprisonment of people only because of who they are. Believe it or not, there are many Africans vehemently opposed to genocide or persecution and they are speaking out against this legislation.

WaveTossed

"I strongly agree with this black African Nation right to set standards today that years ago would not even be a subject."

So when the Nazis murdered Jews for practicing Judaism, that's perfectly OK?

Is it perfectly OK for Indians in India to practice "Untouchability?" After all, they've done it for thousands of years?

And it's perfectly OK for Africans to practice female genital mutilation because this practice has been done for thousands of years?

WaveTossed

"Gay men and women may soon find that Conservative Christians are their best friends because they will be the only ones standing against the threat of Islam."

I seriously doubt it. In the eyes of most gay men and women, anti-gay Christians are aligned with anti-gay Muslims. Both are potential threats.

Gay people are learning ways to resist oppression wherever it manifest itself.

WaveTossed

One of the huge problems is that too many people equate ALL homosexual relationships with SEX, without regard to the quality of the relationship itself. Saying that two people who are pledged to each other in a lifelong monogamous relationship = "permissiveness" or "incest" or "licentiousness" is a false argument.

WaveTossed

"[WT'So if someone has AIDS and engages in consensual, knowing sex (perhaps with their legal spouse of the opposite gender) -- they deserve the death penalty?'

"[JacobS] I think you're ignoring the fact that the vast majority of people would not engage in consensual sex if they knew their partner to be infected."

Not always true, especially within married couples. What they do is practice VERY safe sex.

Yes, there is an epidemic of AIDS. Education is the answer, not putting people to death.

WaveTossed

"[WT]'"Not the God of my understanding. Not the God that Jesus spoke about when He was on Earth. God does not sit up there and say, "I'm going to kill X,Y, and Z but I'll allow A, B, and C to live."'

"[JacobS] How then are we to understand the flood? Is that not what God did when he chose to save Noah and his family?"

God sent His son into the world to establish a New Covenant. This New Covenant is not based upon the sorts of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" philosophies that existed before (as recounted in the Old Testament). Instead, the New Covenant is based upon the Two Great Commandments: Love God and Love your Neighbor as Yourself.

For His New Covenant, Jesus died upon the Cross. Then He was resurrected.

BlueDeacon

Somehow I don't think gays appreciate the difference. To paraphrase Stephen Bishop, they may see that as Islam and conservative Christianity analagous to going from the fire into the frying pan.

pianki

more important than ethics?. The were engrain within the cultural practices demonstrated by the way people conducted themselves as taught with their immediate and greater family structure. These societies had their moral ethical laws long before outside interference and even so well structured that outsiders copied as a basis of what that they claimed today as being god word. Different societies had their own perspective of the creator(s) of hue-man kind. Their view of two persons of the same gender engaing in activities served no useful purpose as would the normal arrangements between those of opposite sex. After all they applied a duality to the creator of the universe and that duality was based on opposites. Uganda just as other black African nations have been under attack by white power structures for the 560 years and really we can go back further when the Shepard Kings invaded K'mt and caused disruptions. The US is a basion for everything. Every population control scheme has been waged on non-white societies and this effort to try to impose homosexual movement onto African Nations could be looked at as yet another eugenetics ploy. As far as using the "lord" as an excuse remember every ethnic group of people has their own idea of a deity(s), and they should rightfully do so at their pleasure. The deity of the old test was not for everybody and that society looked down upon homosexual behavior with vengenance. And rightfully so.

Morna

Most Christians regard the Holiness code of the Old Testament no longer binding. All anti-homosexual laws from that code would therefore have the same moral force as those which called eating shellfish an abomination. (There are pro-gay-acceptance arguments on the New Testament scriptures, but that's not what you asked about).

That being said, I do not think that the Old Testament holiness code was meant to forbid committed, monogamous same-sex relationships. The same-gender sexual contact familiar to Old Testament scripture authors involved idol worship or the forced sodomy (rape) of prisoners of war. I don't think we have any trouble seeing why God might oppose those things.