Food for thought

By now, the whole world knows that my schizophrenic countrymates want to kill off people like me, because it is what the Bible says.
Well, at least that is what they read as their Holy Book. Calm down, I do know that not everyone supports them. I know some Christians have come out to condemn them. And, I know that some Christians have taken the unprecedented step of criticizing them openly. Yes, they have.

First, here is the Bill under contention. The full text.

But, you know what, the Fundamentalist Christians in Uganda, they have come out swinging. They wrote to Rick Warren, demanding a biblical apology within 7 days, or, (dont know, will they give a biblical curse? Pastors in Uganda are feared for that...!) Here is their letter.

Oh, the letter is completely schizophrenic. I am told that that fancy word means lunatic, or lunacy. It has mainly been written by Ssempa, Pastor Martin Ssempa, once upon a time, a friend of Rick Warren who is now disowned.

Now, there is the rub. Ssempa is very willing to play the spoilt child. 'Daddy, Daddy, if you dont give me my sweet, that means you dont love me'. And, he has gone off into a decided sulk. And, told the whole world about Daddy's disgusting behaviour. Well, Pastor Warren, I am keeping my fingers crossed. That saga may be more interesting than the Pastor wars in Uganda. If you want to know about them, why, check them out here..... I will follow them avidly. I will call them the International Pastor Wars....

See, here in this backwater, Uganda, we dont need soap operas. We make them, live.

But, food for thought. There is no way that Rick Warren and Ssempa can think the same thing. Warren is going to be flabaggasted by his erstwhile friend, who is purpose driven to fight the evil of homosexuality, how he challenges him to go ahead and support the Bill. Remember that Ssempa supports absolutely the Bill as it was written. He said so, and, if it wasnt for international opposition, that is how Ssempa wanted the bill passed. So, Rick Warren, and Ssempa Martin. Friends, now ripped apart.

Same as Luke Orombi, Archbishop of Uganda. But, Orombi seems to have played Canterbury into leaning over till he snapped. Canterbury is broken. Oh, my assesment. My assesment.

Anyway, when you ally with mad allies, sooner or later, you understand how different you are from them.

I came across this rabid assesment of the situation from Ssempa and Male. Please, hold in the laughter until the end. These guys are very, very serious.

Two outspoken Evengelical pastors, Solomon Male and Martin Sempa have come out strongly against the pressure from the western world on Uganda over the proposed anti-homosexuality bill.

Appearing on the Sanyu FM breakfast show this morning, Monday Dec. 21, 2009, Male said the claims that homosexuality is an innate, inborn trait, is false and said he has counseled homosexuals who later turned to a normal sexual tendency.

Asked by co-host Fatboy why a few pastors and other clergymen in Uganda were holding out when even some conservative pastors like Rick Warren of the United States have expressed their opposition to the death penalty for homosexuality in Uganda, Male said this was a sign that some pastors were compromising with the world order.

Martin Sempa, speaking to Sanyu FM on phone said: "There's a widening shift between the western church and the African church. Just last week in Rick Waren's area, they ordained a lesbian as a bishop, Mary Glasspore. Rick Warren has not seen at all to make a statement about that. You know, the Anglican church broke away from fellowship with the western Anglican church. So there is increasing denial of the authenticity of the word of God, decisions are made based on emotion."

Solomon Male is one of the friends of Ssempa who are determined to kick homosexuality out of Uganda. Me, my interest is to fan the flames into a full fledged blow. They were on the same side in the Pastor Wars; the local version. They are allies in the International Version.

 Well, to the food for thought. What do you think Rick Warren is thinking?

Another gay man, American I think, examines this thing and comes to some thoughtful conclusions. Wake up..!

You don’t have to go far to find examples of our opponents subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) invoking pedophilia and child molestation when they’re asked about homosexuality.  But you’d be hard pressed to find a more explicit, concise and complete conflation of the two distinct subjects than in this letter from Uganda’s Martin Ssempa to Rick Warren about Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill.  There are precious few paragraphs that do not explicitly misdescribe the bill’s goal in terms of protecting children from rape, and those few fill the gap by repeated use of the word “evil” to describe gays.

----

I am glad Warren has now taken a firm stand against the criminalization of adult, voluntary same-sex relations.  He will find, if he takes the time to think about it, that it needs no great leap of logic to see that a love that should not be criminalized might also be worth recognizing – at least if you think committed love is a socially good thing.

But the bigger issue for Warren, I think, is to look hard at the tactics and intent of the people who cite him for his anti-gay support.  Warren has distanced himself from Ssempa, but why does Ssempa believe Warren should be at his side?  Can he see, in Martin Ssempa, a little bit of what it is we have to fight every day of our lives?  I can only hope Warren will understand us a little better now that he, too, is the object of one of our ruthless, amoral enemies.

 Ssempa is indeed a ruthless, and amoral enemy. All in the name of God, of course.

Solomon Male is of the same ilk. But, Male's charisma and, shall I say education, limit him. But, he might be worse than Ssempa in his ruthlessness.

Another Christian examines the meaning of all this. I cant say am any sort of expert on the Christian scene in the west, but, I do know that the sort of soul searching that this thing has caused in the west is well worth it. The kind of, know your friends, the shock, the sight of reality. As we see it from this side of the pond, especially. A rude awakening.

What could cause these Ugandan Pastor’s to believe they were wronged by Warren…to the point they now ask him to apologize? Could it be they misunderstood Warren’s PDP?. It sounds as though they got the impression that extreme legislation needed to be enacted to combat the sin of homosexuality. Either Warren has a secret agenda to imprison or kill all homosexuals (which I don’t believe) or somehow they misunderstood..

Frankly I’m deeply troubled by ministries like Warren’s, going into countries like Uganda and spreading their false doctrines. These countries [like Rwanda and Uganda] have enough problems. They don’t need the Purpose Driven Program, or US political figures from the group ‘The Family’ carrying in dominionist teachings. What they need, as do we, is Jesus Christ.

Well, a wake up call indeed.

Pardon me, but, I am strongly reminded of another preacher of a radical brand of religion. Or preachers. Osama bin Laden, Al Quaeda, and the Talibans. You are either with them, or against. No middle ground.

But, it is highly likely that being gay, my mental faculties are at fault here. But, but, radical fundamentalist Christian preachers anywhere? They do exist. Check Martin Ssempa, Solomon Male (incidentally, the accent is on the l to make it strong. Not like the masculine half of a specie...)

Eh, will post this in the morning. Good morning to you all!

gug