Monday, November 9, 2009

In Solidarity

UPDATE: My apologies. No, I am not the one who wrote this.


No. Someone wrote it, and sent it to my email. I asked to post it here, and the person agreed. My promise was to keep the person anon. Because being gay supportive is not a very Ugandan trait. Not supported at all.


Anyway, it was not me, but a Ugandan, who is Christian, and horrified.


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Here is the letter the person wrote

In solidarity as a Christian against the anti-gay bill

I am a conservative Christian and I have watched on in horror as my church leaders (Anglican) endorsed the anti-gay bill but are opposed to the death penalty as if that is a concession.

I can't believe that our pastoral mentors who are always stressing that we are all sinners, and that we should forgive fellow sinners could agree to such a hate-filled law.

As I boy we grew up being told wonderful bible stories and the more interesting and captivating, the ones my LORD and SAVIOUR told in parables.

One is poignant, the stoning of the adulteress, and Jesus's assertion, that the non-sinners were the only ones qualified to throw even one stone at her. Jesus was sinless and so was entitled by his statement to throw a tempest of stones at her first, and then the angry mob next, but he didn't.

He then set the standard that even though you think you are sinless, neither should you cast the stone. The church has fallen right into the trap, churches in Europe did, associating themselves with the state. This association will blur where the state begins and the church ends.

Hence the failings of the state will be construed to be the failings of the church and this will in turn lead to lack of trust or confidence in our faith leaders, and by extension in the wonderful faith, we have began a journey that will lead us to the European situation where spirituality is virtually dead.

The church in essence by supporting this law has started to categorise sin into different tiers. I have not seen any concerted effort by the church to increase punitive measures for corruption, torture and unlawful detention etc

It creates a perception you can do the above and get scot free, a small sentence but God forbid if you are gay, only your life will do. I consider engaging in homosexual sex( as is my right under freedom of belief) as a sin, but it's not the first of all sin, neither the last, SIN is SIN. But whether I regard it is as Sin, it's irrelevant to one who's belief is different

I can not trust politicians nor government as custodians of "morality" one bit and doing so will be laughable, giving them such wide ranging discretion and power will only lead to it's abuse. I will not leave a thief to guard my house! A crime that is next to impossible to prove, is the easiest to abuse, and is one which should not have such punitive punishment. Wait when opponents of this government start being indicted in court with shady witnesses, and their fortunes are left to the mercy of the court, it's one's word against the other and so, the verdict of guilty or innocent will be 50/50 irrespective of guilt or innocence of the accused. (Even pastors have taken to accusing each other of homosexuality)

I am also disappointed that we Ugandans can have an uproar against actions of two consenting adults, but will not so much as make a whisper when officials steal our funds even those meant to save lives, what bigotry and hypocrisy!

I for one will stick to my LORD and SAVIOUR for guidance by:-
1 Loving God with all my strength, heart and soul.
2. Loving my neighbour as I love myself.
Only through this will I not unwittingly become a Pharisee.

Am here talking about my faith and beliefs but what happened to the right to associate, worship, speech, and have your own belief. Does Uganda equate to the sum total of Christians and Muslims only? Do all Christians believe the same thing? the same for Muslims. I for one as a Ugandan,  fear what lies ahead, this year has been the year of hatred. The riots in Kampala led to the death of someone as a result of his ethnicity or assumed ethnicity, now we are turning on others. I aired my views on a social networking site, and I got a lot of stick for it(I was honestly surprised, I used to equate education to liberation and civilisation, not anymore). And I fear for those in the gay community, if I could get such raw hatred for expressing my view, I don't know what will happen when they get their wish. Hatred begets hatred and feeds on itself and consumes all , I fear one day even I will be in this position.
May God bless us Ugandans
God help us all

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

As a gay Christian I am touched by this post. It embodies everything the church is meant to stand for, inclusivity, compassion and the betterment of society. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you...

Kat Monterosso said...

This is so refreshing to see. How sad it is that in a world with as many things wrong as ours we are so focused on stopping love. Being raised Christian I was never once told to love my straight neighbor, but my neighbor, regardless of race, religion or...sexual orientation. So many times in church I've heard it said to embrace and forgive sinners, but why is this "sin" so unforgivable? Why is it so threatening to the church that it must not only be condemned but sought out from all the other sins and given its own platform? What is homosexuality? What are same sex relationships? They are love. They are caring. They are two people coming together and sharing something wonderful, not sinful. We are in such desperate need of love and caring today, how dare we discourage and actively try to stop it. Thank you again for your thoughtful post.

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