The Lead

Pat Ashworth summarizes the response of Anglican groups and others to the proposed anti-gay legislation now being proposed in Uganda, noting that in 2007 the Archbishop of Canterbury criticized an Anglican bishop who supported a Nigerian version of this type of law.

Ashworth reports in the Church Times:

The Church of the Province of Uganda has been firm in its stand against homosexuality, which it described in a paper published in 2005: “Homosexuality, bestiality, incest, paedophilia, fornication, adultery, polygamy/polygyny and polyandry are all manifestations of a perverted sexual desire.” It has also made it clear that gay and lesbian people had “no place in God’s design of creation . . . or His plan of redemption”.
Uganda’s Ethics and Integrity Minister, Nsaba Buturo, is reported to be a member of the Church of the Province of Uganda. He is quoted at a press conference to introduce the Bill as saying the legislation would make Uganda a leader in countering gay culture in Africa. “On the issue of homosexuality, let them forget about [human rights]. The government has started biting,” he said.

The Revd Dr Andrew Goddard, an Evangelical theologian, has criticised the Bill in a briefing paper for Fulcrum, a broad Evangelical network. “The proposed legislation cannot simply be ignored, given its apparent support from a leading government minister, its incompatibility with Anglican teaching, its undermining of Anglican ministry and mission, and the danger it represents to many Anglicans and others in Uganda who are likely to face prosecution should it become law,” he said.

Many think the Bill is unlikely to go through in the face of global criticism and in the light of Uganda’s dependence on US aid. The Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law has pointed out that the Bill’s call for Uganda to nullify any international protocols contradictory to the Bill would mean the country’s withdrawal from international covenants, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Ugandan Church will be wary of being told what to think by its former colonial masters, experts on the African Church suggest. Archbishop Orombi joined fellow Primates at Dromantine in 2005 to condemn homophobia as “anathema”, although he would not respond to a direct question at the press conference about the situation in his own country.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has spoken out where an archbishop or bishop has allied himself publicly with legislation of this nature. In September 2007, he described as “unacceptable and profoundly shocking on the lips of any Christians” remarks made by the Bishop of Uyo, Nigeria, the Rt Revd Isaac Orama, that homosexuality and lesbianism were “inhuman” and those who practised them “insane, satanic and not fit to live” (News, 14 September 2007).

Read the rest here.

Comments (5)

Will they? Will global Anglicans come to the aid of Uganda's GLBT community (who are all virtually powerless to defend themselves).

Where is the Presiding Bishop? Where is Canterbury? Everyone must do SOMETHING, no matter how small! Write letters; call friends; plead with bishops to speak out.

I have two good gay friends in Uganda and they are terrified, fearing for their very lives -- and dreading even something as simple as an accusation from an enemy. (That's all it would take under the new law!!!)

Act; Write; DO SOMETHING!

Posted by John-Julian,OJN | November 6, 2009 12:25 PM

I wrote the Presiding Bishop and asked her to speak out. Here is the response I received:

Dear Ms. Baker,

Thank you for your recent email to Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. This is to confirm that it has been received by our office.

Once again, thank you for writing.

***************

I responded with this:

Is this really the best that you/she can do? How very disappointing…

Meanwhile, people will suffer and die because the Church did not speak out. How on earth can you live with that?

Sincerely,
Paige Baker

I must have hit a nerve, because within 5 minutes, I got the following response:

Dear Ms. Baker,

The email I sent was a confirmation that this was received and was not intended to be a full response to your concern. A full response is forthcoming.

********************

Keep writing/calling/holding their feet to the fire. I want a response and I want it last week.

Paige Baker

Posted by paigeb | November 6, 2009 1:48 PM

"...gay and lesbian people [have] “no place in God’s design of creation . . . or His plan of redemption.”

This is one of the reasons why the disgusting, dangerous, and foolish doctrine of "The Fall" has no place in an ethical monotheism. At the core of ethical monotheism is the absolute equality of all humankind by virtue of nothing more than our very existence as creations of a common creator. The ugliness that is "The Fall" allows those of us who are more apt to be pagans to deny that absolute human equality by claiming a "scriptural" basis for declaring some people to be outside of God's plan for creation. What these people are really doing though is exposing their inability to comprehend the radical idea of monotheism that Abraham discovered, and Jesus further exemplified.

Posted by Grant Charles Chaput | November 6, 2009 4:39 PM

I also sent the PB's office an email.

Thanks for the idea, Paige.

Posted by Grant Charles Chaput | November 6, 2009 5:13 PM

The UK government has now joined the US and France in condemning the bill:

http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/archives/004050.html

Posted by John B. Chilton | November 6, 2009 10:34 PM

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