The UG Pulse reported this morning on the Facebook group “Speak Out Against Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009.”
Uganda Health News: Activists use facebook to fight Uganda Homosexual bill
Ultimate Media
As the debate over the proposed Anti Homosexuality Bill 2009 gains momentum, activists against the bill have launched a facebook group to decampaign the proposed legislation.
The facebook group which was formed by Dr. Warren Throckmorton, an Associate Professor of Psychology at Grove City College had by Saturday Morning reached a membership of 1,130.
Throckmorton says multi-faith, multi-national group of people include mainly evangelical Christians around the world.
Dr. Throckmorton says although many members of the group do not approve of homosexuality, they believe Christianity teaches freedom of conscience and freedom of speech.
Throckmorton says they believe obedience to the gospel which pleases Christ comes from free choice and not from coercion of the state through laws such as the one proposed against homosexuality.
But the Minister of Ethics and Integrity, Dr. James Nsaba Buturo insists that the government has a duty to introduce and enforce laws against acts of homosexuality or same sex relationships which he says are immoral and against the order of nature.
Click through here to join the group.
Will you be rewriting our Bibles for us? Or are you suggesting we throw them out? The first part of the list is words and phrases that you rarely, if ever, hear from the regular conservative bloggers here but they do come from the Bible.
I’ll grant that many Christians have misused words like ‘abomination’…forgetting that the Bible also calls ‘lying lips’ an ‘abomination’.
I’ve always been troubled by passages in Leviticus that said ‘shall surely be put to death’ and was glad that the death penalty was borne by Jesus Christ.
I’ve heard a number of arguments that suggest that homosexuality was a misinterpretation in 1 Corinthians but never a suggestion that ‘will not inherit the kingdom of God’ was a misinterpretation. Is it okay if we still believe that idolators and adulterers won’t inherit?
“Evil”–a word like ‘abomination’ that can sound charged if we don’t apply it across the board. Compared to God’s holiness, ALL of our selfish ways are ‘evil’.
“Damaged. Broken.”–yeah, bad word choices. Originally intended to convey an understanding that your sin wasn’t entirely your fault. We should have stuck with ‘sinful’.
“Sinful”–back to that list in Corinthians. Can we call anything ‘sinful’?
“Gay Agenda”–depending on the topic, people will actually admit there is one! I believe it was LynnDavid who made a comment a week or so ago about changes in the gay community where plurality of partners was being played down and monogamy was being talked up. Some of the reasons: acceptance and legal rights. Shh….it’s got directives, group talk, history, and goals…just don’t call it an ‘agenda’.
What we say here echoes in Uganda.
Abomination. Shall surely be put to death. Will not inherit the kingdom of God. Evil. Damaged. Broken. SInful. Gay agenda. Danger to children. Destroying the family. Bigger threat than terrorism…
(echo, echo, echo….)
This MP from Uganda even proffers the same time-worn phrases about gays that my states senator in Indiana has, like: “homosexuals cannot reproduce. They must recruit…” Maybe she read his circular to the voters.
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See: Neo-colonialism fuels homosexuality in Africa
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The title tells it all and speaks to why efforts even among Christians are likely to be rebuffed.
Interesting article on UgPulse.com concerning Pentacostal churches in Uganda: Pentecostal movement riddled with scandals: Will Caesar bring sanity to God’s temple?
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Concerning the article on the Facebook group, I find it somewhat disconcerting that they somewhat buried it on their “Health” pages. And you can always tell on UgPulse what they really want to get across by an article, it is always in the last paragraph:
In any event, frustrations aside for the moment:
It is encouraging and inspiring to see gays, ex-gays, ex-ex-gays, bi-sexuals, straights — people from very divserse religious and cultural backgrounds — to work together towards something that really matters — not just for folks with “SSA”, but for everyone one His children.
As Warren describes such cooperation: “rare, but cool!”🙂
An earlier comment by Warren on a related thread:
And this one:
Shouldn’t Exodus be doing more than posting a denunciation of the Bill on their blog? As Warren has righly pointed out, they have “some culpability” in this. I share Warren’s frustration.
good quotes Warren.
Good quote: “Sometimes, punishment is little more than legalized crime” — anon.
A Ugandan Feacebook member speaks of the USA “exporting religious bigotry to Uganda.” Makes you wonder… Who could he have been talking about?
Law is one thing and punishment is another.
This is encouraging. It is also good to see that folks living in Uganda are joining the group.
One new member from Uganda speaks of hope that this “makes some kind of difference. But it would be nice if there were more Ugandans willing to join the group.”
And from another new member in Uganda:
All the more reason that Christians here in the USA need to step up and speak out. Ugandans need our support and prayers. They need to see the real compassionate heart of American Christianity. Please join the effort. And please continue to pray.