Faith and Reason

I am soon going to sleep.

Have just had a lovers' tiff. So, I am spending the time cooling off in the computer. And, soon I will go to bed and hold him. That is how it should end. Always, ok? Love tip from gug...!

But, I have come across the official invitation to Rick Warren by Rachel Maddow. Wow, love that lady. Dont know what to say. Except that, you do, lady!

Anyway, she got Warren's scalp. Now, she wants to confirm it. On the Rachel Maddow show. Will he take the bait? Dont know! I dont know that particular jungle. But, what I know is the barbs in this article are not really camouflaged.

The invite is official: Rachel Maddow wants Rev. Rick Warren, the nation's most visible evangelical pastor right now, on her MSNBC show.

Night after night, Maddow, who is gay, has been hammering conservative U.S. evangelical leaders and politicians for failing to speak out promptly, loudly and clearly against a bill in Uganda that would criminalize homosexuality.

After days of being blasted by name, a few politicians have now issued statements against the bill, just recently toned down from a life imprisonment and death penalty provisions to mere jail time for being actively gay -- or even knowing someone gay and failing to report them. (Imagine the chaos that would create for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, apart from legitimizing hate.)

Earlier this week, Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life and leader of vast social action networks in Africa under his PEACE plan, issued his first specific denunciation of the legislation, days after initially saying he couldn't interfere in another nation's politics.

But, the writer doesnt waste time to get onto some very serious business. The Archbishop of Cantebury, (and York) need some serious lessons in manners.

 Meanwhile, still no word from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the third largest Christian denomination, the worldwide Anglican Communion with millions of adherents in Uganda.

Williams released his 2009 World Aids Day video on Dec. 1, talking about the dangers of silence on HIV. Six days later, he issued a statement of distress about the election of a lesbian priest as an assistant bishop in Los Angeles, saying it ...

Raises very serious questions not just for the Episcopal Church and its place in the Anglican Communion.

But on Uganda, and a plan to jail people who love outside the lines of heterosexuality -- zip.

----

What moral ills would drive you to speak out -- even it it means telling other people -- or another country -- how to live?

Yes! Go, lady, Go!

Why is it important that the religious leaders speak out? Because, this bill is made in the NAME OF GOD. It is the Christians who are leading the bill, made in the Name of God, to cleanse Uganda of us homosexuals. So, if Christian Leaders in the rest of the world dont speak out to their brothers and sisters here, why, they will never, ever change their mind.

Check out this article from the Episcopal life online.

Back

Seems like I have been away for years…

Not really away. But, I decided to take a break and a breather. To relax and rewind. But, did I succeed in that?

Truth is, am not very good at the personal discipline of rest. So, dogged by exhaustion. This time, I figure it is in a good cause. But then, I always do. So, I went to rest and hide from the internet, and still found myself sneaking back now and then to post. But, I did try not to read the mail, and most of the news….!

So, first I will tackle the long line of mail that I have to.

First letter to tackle, a Ugandan calls out to me for help. Help which might mean 'outing' myself. Here is his letter to me. And why me? Well, because, he most likely can get access to the internet, and when he googles the words 'gay uganda', he lands on this blog.

Here is his letter.

Hi, I am …. I think am a gay because am attracted to people of my sex but i dont know where to start from I need help from you guys thanks

Well, been there. Struggled with that. Done that. And, I am happy I do know a person that I can refer him to. With a warning. It is a jungle out there.

What are the chances that it is someone trying to flush me out? And, ask yourself, in a country like Uganda, what help will there be for a person like this? If I help him, I will be 'promoting homosexuality'. I should see him, and report him within 24 hours to the police. According to Bahati's Bill.

No, I will not. Maybe because I am a human being, who doesnt aspire to be perfect. I will risk, and risk others to help a stranger.

[Sigh, I was supposed to be cured of this!]

Someone writes from Scotland, unhappy and appalled about the bill, and asks what they could do to help. My reply is below...

Thanks a lot for the good wishes.

At the moment, we can only rely on the pressure, both political and otherwise from outside the country. Your political leaders and church leaders and others can put lots of pressure on the Ugandan leaders to stop this dastardly bill.

Please continue doing that. It has already borne fruit, but, the bill still is, and is most likely to pass. Please continue the work.

As someone commented on the blog, seems we Ugandans throw logic right out of the window when it comes to discussing gay issues. We are under attack, by the world, which wants us to accept the gay agenda. If I believed in anything, I would call this a demon. A spirit of confusion which has hit the majority of Ugandans. Someone in Uganda will understand. We live in 'Biblical times' and the time to change the country is now. So, they support the genocidal bill. Here is the guy's take on what is happening in Uganda

I have had many intellectual debates with my friends over the years, some so intense but always logical ideas were expressed. But when I bring up the issue about the logic behind this law, lets just say, it would be funny if it wasn't so sad! Sadly logic seems to leave the building as soon as this topic comes up. It's no secret we Africans have an inherent or acquired negative bias to gays, but it has always been reflected in an indifference at best and a passive stigma to gays, but rarely violence. The truth be told, many Ugandans know atleast one gay, but have never reported to the police the individual(s) despite there being a law against. In just one year, that has changed, I've seen a side of my church/fellow christians/friends, I was blind to or had never surfaced till now. Reverends preaching with conspicuous disgust, hate(one even confessed that he felt like strangling Ugandan gays for embarassing their parents!). I just don't know why logic, even faith seems to be inconsistent with a discussion on gay issues, it's like we Africans are hot-wired with a failsafe fuse, which allows logic to be sidestepped at the trigger of the gay topic! 

Well, at least I dont have to be gay to be confused by the logic of my countrymen and women! Hey, I notice icearc is as anonymous as gug.

Now, found the next letter. A friend e-mailed an alert. Rick Warren at last releases a damning letter to pastors in Uganda. Well, religious leaders in Uganda.

I am noting the most important things, here. Rick Warren is actually condemning the bill as non Christian. And, he goes on to say why, in very clear, Christian terms. Ok. And he quotes Burke. He cant keep silent, he says.

But, BUT, BUT....

I will note, very strongly, that to get to this point Rick Warren has been under intense pressure in the US. Not in Uganda. The people, the Christian leaders who he is writing to are the very ones who are wholly in support of the bill. Through and through.

Dear Rick has been silent. Very silent. Apart from dissociating himself from Ssempa. And now, he releases a video, and a letter. Thanks Rick. Better to speak out now, than to keep silent, like a certain Archbishop.

Well, most likely the video is for the consumption of those outside Africa. But, I am doing something. Just as soon as this. I am sending the letter to Buturo, Ssempa, and the ilk. Yes, that is what to do. Wish I could send it to others...! I am doing it now...! Here is the full letter. Of course, the bulk is addressed to the American audience.

The subject line (of my letter to Bahati) reads, 'Rick Warren Condemns Anti-Homosexuality Bill as Un-Christian.' Think that will get Ssempa to read it? Or, does he have default delete for mail from gug? I have been trying to send him only the relevant mail....!

Bahati says that we are mistaking what he says. The link is to a BBC Focus on Africa programme. Listen. Well, who can mistake what Bahati says when it is all put, very nicely, in the bill, which you can read for yourself here. Certainly, it doesnt take a lawyer to see that the bill wants to kill poor old gay uganda for being a serial offender. [well, first, life imprisonment for having sex with my lover, then, death penalty, when we are caught making love, in  prison. What can be more clear than the text of the bill, which is public?

Poor Bahati. I almost feel like pitying him. I will. When he withdraws the bill.

Is the government reconsidering? I am looking for the original article. And, I am failing to get it at the Media Centre. Anyway, Box Turtle Bulletin has the highlights here.

Hey, the last comment notes that the article has dissapeared from the media center website. So, of course us watchers of the tea leaves will know who is in the lead....! Continue the pressure.

Religious dispatches has some interesting take on why Rick Warren spoke out. And, an analysis about what is  going to happen. Note, Cantebury and York. From some PR specialists, you are sinking yourselves. But then, you are all damned h......! I am gay, and Ugandan, and I am pissed off, though I do see some movement. So, forgive my language.

Ha ha ha...!

this post is in danger of being longer than too long, so I will post, and start another... But, this story is worth the while.

The late-November afternoon sun bore down on the park in downtown Kampala, and all along the benches, Ugandan office workers took their siestas. There could have been no less likely setting for criminal conspiracies to topple an East African state. Still, the doctor's voice dropped a notch when an office worker in a brown suit settled in close by. The medic shifted a battered fedora over his eyes. "I am the gay doctor," the physician whispered to me, making sure nobody around heard.

It is actually in Time. Here. Seems to have been a bit overtaken by events, but, we are in the mainstream media. At long last!

gug

PS. I have a new heroine. Rachel Maddow. Before this, I never knew naught about her. Now, well, a very grateful gay Ugandan acknowledges that you have the scalp of the famed Rick Warren. You have forced him to recant, (in my biased view, of course), and, thanks for your efforts on behalf of this anonymous, gay Ugandan

gug

They are feeling it...!

The pressure. Well, they are.

Major indicator, Minister Nsaba Buturo has come out with a statement. Good. And know what he says? After defending corruption in the Government, (an argument which no Ugandan above the age of 16 will believe... Fact. None of us IS that gullible), he then tackles the 'Kill Gay Bill'.

Apparently, Uganda is a democratic country, which has a democratic process, which allows the orderly presentation of a bill to kill some of her citizens. As long as they were born homosexuals, that is. And, the world must look on, and respect our sovereign sovereignty!

Had to beat. So, World, you must look on. As you looked on in Nazi Germany. Kosovo. Rwanda. Kenya. Cambodia.

We are a sovereign nation, and, you must respect our sovereign right to kill some of our citizens. Anal sex has no rights. These are just homosexuals. And, if you want to take our your money, then, well, why dont you...

US, continue giving us the PEPFAR dollars. Sweden, Norway, we deserve this money. Well, we have the children who are dying, and we have the women who have no antenatal care. And, you need to give us that money. But YOU MUST NOT DENY OUR SOVEREIGN RIGHT TO KILL OFF AND IMPRISON THOSE OF OUR CITIZENS WHO HAPPEN TO BE HOMOSEXUAL.

That is a worse sin. It is called neo-colonialism.

[Derisive sneer. Of course, when you mention such a thing, they will run off. They are wedded to political correctness]

Ok. I have now to link to the Honourable Minister's Statement. I dont know whether he is still the official government spokesperson, but, this is definately a statement from the government. So, let us read and understand it. And the nuances. Including the undesirability of the homosexual, evil, sinner. But I am repeating myself...!

Here is the link.

Maybe, most notable is what the Honourable Minister KNOWS Ugandans think of homosexuality.... I am tempted, and I succumb, let me deposit it just below.

 The people of Uganda believe that practicing anal sex at the expense of heterosexual sex is not a normal practice. Ugandans know or believe that homosexuality involves practices that are dangerous and high risk to the human body which is designed for heterosexual functions. Ugandans also believe that anal sexual intercourse, foreign objects used in sexual intercourse and promiscuity do not deserve to be defended at all. Having said that, it is clear to many of us that the over reaction so far is not surprising to us. Uganda accepts that in some countries it is normal practice for men to sleep with men and women with women. It is often defended that imperatives of human rights defend this practice. We do not believe so in Uganda. Majority of Ugandans hate to see the promotion of illegalities that they consider as dysfunctional, abnormal and unhealthy.

Wow, here is one Ugandan who doesnt think so... Well, of course he is mad, and one of those that you want to send to prison. I had forgotten.

I agree, they are feeling the Heat.

The pressure is being felt. In other places. And, I have to say that it is important. For those Christians who havent yet spoken out to oppose this law, I invite you to look at it. It says everything for itself. And, you will then tell me, in un-parsed words, why a Church, that espouses love, goes ahead to, have no comment, or actively support it.

Let me see

Don Schmierer signed onto the Exodus statement. He is the guy from Exodus, one of the Three Musketeers, who came to teach Ugandans the virtues of hating homosexuals. Sorry, what the Homosexual Agenda was, and how to resist it. He came this year, and had a quite succesful three day conference. So succesful, that his acoylytes are going ahead to wipe out homosexuals from Uganda. Sigh, he is sorry????

And, International Healing Foundation, the organisation to which the Second Musketeer (Brundbridge) belongs, has issued a non statement.... English is not my first language. I am puzzled whether they condemn or support the bill. But you know what, I have some common sense. Say, these guys read the bill, which is freely available. Even here. And, then gave a non-statement statement. Even I can understand that. Check them out at Box Turtle Bulletin.

And, please, continue the outing of the Family. We dont believe it in Uganda. Of course. How can our Dear Leader be dancing to foreign tunes? Only the reviled homosexuals do.
Out them, from that closet. We shall know who we are fighting. And, they are also in Rwanda. Out them. For the good of.... me, of course! Rachel Maddow is going strong on that.

Thanks, from a happy Gay Ugandan. You have made my day. At least, they will stop accusing ME of being 'foreign influenced!' Of course, the war doesnt stop here. Way to go. And, it is good to know how far they extend.

As for Warren and the Hatred Driven Life. Continue the pressure. Let him feel it. I dislike hypocrites, especially of the religious kind.... Bite me, I am on MY blog, and it is MY life that is at stake. I dislike hypocrites.

What is Extreme Prophetic? Why are all things fundamentalistic Christian featuring in this mundane anti-homosexuality bill no 18 in the Ugandan parliament? Anyway, this group, Extreme Prophetic is connected to one of the Three Musketeers. I am getting quite confused at the number of the Crusaders that crusaded on this cause. Sorry, I think I made a mistake. But, forgive my confusion. These are American groups, not Ugandan, and, I am told it is a huge continent, but it is thousands of miles from my little bit of the jungle. What the hell do they have to do with my sexuality in Uganda????

Sigh. Pardon the yell. Extreme Prophetic, they are here. I am bewildered.

Here is a pic of the Three Musketeers, with the guy who invited them to Uganda. In the name of... No. I will not blaspheme.

Image from 'The Way I see It'

Which reminds me, I do have some pics of the 3 at the anti-gay conference, in the preparatory phase of the 'Kill Gay Bill'. No. I am exhausted...!

Something I had forgotten. Most Christians in Uganda are Catholics. And, the Catholics have a fairly 'progressive' view of homosexuality. At least, they should not want to kill us.
But, the Catholic Church in Uganda is absolutely quiet. Studying the Bill. Letting the Protestants kill themselves off?

I would like to see some pressure on the Catholic Church. To stop their hypocritical silence. See here, a Catholic Cardinal overstepped the statements, expressing his homophobia.
"

Homosexuals and transsexuals will never go to heaven, says a leading cardinal.

In his comments, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan said Roman Catholic Church still regards homosexuality as an ‘insult to God’, and added people were not born gay, but chose to embrace homosexuality of their own free will.

“Transsexuals and homosexuals will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven and it is not me who says this, but Saint Paul,” the Telegraph quoted Barragan as saying.

“People are not born homosexual, they become homosexual, for different reasons: education issues or because they did not develop their own identity during adolescence,” the 76-year-old added.

He said perhaps they aren’t guilty but by acting against the dignity of the body they will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven."

And, know what, the Vatican comes up with a slap on the hand. A rare one, because, well, they are promoters of homophobia also. [If they are not, why havent they come out to say ANYTHING in Uganda when what is happening is so much against THEIR doctrine?]

Anyway, they come up with this statement.

Cardinal draws Vatican rebuke for anti-gay talk

A Roman Catholic cardinal has drawn on an unusual rebuke from the Vatican

The comments prompted a response from Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi, who said the Web site to which Lozano Barragan spoke should not be considered an authority on Catholic thinking “on complex and delicate issues such as homosexuality.”

 

Current Catholic teaching acknowledges that some people have innate homosexual tendencies but that homosexual acts are “disordered.”

Question, why havent they come up with a statement on Uganda? Doesnt that Bill, the Kill Gay Bill, deviate from their doctrine and teaching? Why are they giving the impression that they are wholly behind the bill? Speak up, or shut up. From a non-believer. Again.

Why? Because these guys will stop the path to kill me in the name of your God. It is as simple as that. Speak up, you churchmen.
I will end here.

My love is pining away. His feet are in my crouch. Suggestively, and he has quite given up thinking that I will respond. At least let me give him a kiss, and that may do for the time being....!

[bow, bow, bow]

Have a good day!


gug