THE PULPIT: Christian right blamed for Ugandan anti-gay bill

The battle against gay rights attained an unprecedented legislative level in Uganda this year.

But this is one legal stance against gays the American Christian right isn’t celebrating.

“The purpose of laws is to make societies safer, and there is legitimate concern that the legislation being debated in Uganda will incite violence against homosexuals,” Jim Daly, president and CEO of Focus on the Family, said last week of the Ugandan bill.

The saga began in March, when Ugandan lawmaker David Bahati drafted the “Anti-Homosexuality Act 2009.” Though same-sex relationships are already unlawful in Uganda, the bill concretizes the penalties. Consenting adults involved in gay sex would be jailed, and those having gay sex with a minor would face life imprisonment or the death penalty. Someone who has knowledge of a same-sex relationship and fails to report it faces imprisonment.

Bahati touts God’s will and family values as reasons for the bill.

“As God-fearing people, we cannot condone what God condemns,” Bahati recently told Ugandan media outlet Daily Monitor.

Rick Warren, author of the bestselling “The Purpose Driven Life,” was criticized by major media outlets like the New York Times for failing to denounce the bill early on. The flak he got came because Warren’s ministry has a huge presence in Uganda, which Warren calls “a purpose-driven nation.” Warren also is chummy with Ugandan pastors who support the bill.

But the criticism of Warren snowballed into a general criticism by some media outlets of evangelical missionaries in Africa.

Indeed, hundreds of American ministries are evangelizing in Uganda and other African countries, and some are preaching against the gay lifestyle. But that doesn’t mean these missionaries share blame when a lawmaker of an African country drafts an anti-gay bill.

Ralph Blair, president of Evangelicals Concerned in New York, believes the bill was influenced more by African culture and politics than Christian rhetoric against homosexuality. African nations, including Uganda, have had anti-gay laws on the books for decades, he said.

Moreover, it’s unfair to single out American evangelical leaders and organizations for not condemning the bill when many world leaders, including President Barack Obama, and human rights groups have also been silent on it.

Even so, this month numerous Christian leaders and groups have weighed in.

On Dec. 11, dozens of American Christian leaders and parachurches (but not Focus) signed a declaration denouncing the bill, including Tony Campolo, president of the Pennsylvania-based Evangelical Association to the Promotion of Education.

“If Christians don’t stand up for those who are oppressed, we lose the right to worship with ease in churches on Sunday,” Campolo told me.

Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has not stated publicly if he’ll veto or sign the bill.

To read more evangelical reaction to the anti-gay bill, go to my blog, The Pulpit, at www.thepulpit.freedomblogging.com.
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