Kathleen Parker, writing at the Washington Post, has piece called Who will stand against Uganda’s brutal anti-gay law? Parker notes that amid the onslaught of rotten domestic news, the proposed Ugandan exterminate-they-gays bill might not get the attention it merits:
Corrupt politicians count on the brevity of the American attention span, but certain items demand a tap of the pause button. How exactly does the idea of executing gays evolve in a majority-Christian nation? Interesting question.
Gays in Uganda already face imprisonment for up to 14 years. Under a bill proposed last October by David Bahati, the government could execute HIV-positive men and jail people who don’t report homosexual activities.
Parker addresses the purpose-driven, pop pastor Rick Warren’s cheery little holiday message to Ugandan pastors that described the bill before parliament as “unjust,” “extreme” and “un-Christian,” and points to Warren’s motivation and reluctance to pressure further:
Warren’s message wasn’t prompted by outrage at the treatment of gays, however, but by accusations that he had helped create the bill. Warren’s Saddleback Church has hosted a Ugandan pastor who supports the legislation, but the purpose-driven pastor insists he has had no role shaping the proposed law. Though Warren deserves to be taken at his word, other comments he made in his defense are problematic.
In a statement to Newsweek, Warren said: “The fundamental dignity of every person, our right to be free, and the freedom to make moral choices are gifts endowed by God, our creator. However, it is not my personal calling as a pastor in America to comment or interfere in the political process of other nations.”
(emphasis: mine)
Writes Parker: “If we decide that genocide is too political for interference, then what good is moral leadership?”
Enter the collusive backers of so-called ex-gay therapy:
Other evangelical Christians operating in Uganda are less easily excused from responsibility in the country’s increasingly hostile attitudes toward gays. Often cited as having stirred the pot are pastors Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundidge and Don Schmierer, who last March worked with Ugandan faith leaders and politicians to help stop the “homosexualization” of the country.
No, nobody “made” Bahati write the bill. But these three pastors, known for their conviction that gays can be “cured,” have been spreading their particular brand of gospel in Uganda, and it seems to have found traction. The three have distanced themselves from the proposed law and say they never encouraged punishment for gays.
In particular, hate-monger and associate of two SPLC-certified hate groups, Scott Lively is called out for his false witness bearing and for playing a part in turning the African nation into, what Parker describes as, “a laboratory for zealots who have found a receptive audience for their personal cause.”
