Anglican Mainstream

Chris Sugden  Evangelicals Now  Janaury 2010

The pressure on the Church of Uganda to respond to legislation that will be placed before the Ugandan Parliament on homosexual behaviour is not restricted to Uganda.  This issue is affecting other democratic nations in Africa and Asia.

With Sharia laws on homosexuality, Islamic nations have a structured response, though it is undoubtedly draconian. In fact, some wonder at the lack of outrage, and why only certain countries’ gay minorities seem worthy of western attention. But African and Asian democracies will be under increasing pressure to react to the aggressive agenda of liberal western lobbies, and in particular, to discard existing legislation and introduce laws, similar to those in the West, to provide rights for active homosexuals.

This already happened in India where the Supreme Court overturned the old British India laws of the 1880s. However, despite intense liberal lobbying, the Indian Parliament refused to legislate.  Instead, it referred these matters to  Parliamentary committees, to insure against a backlash from traditional Hindu and Muslim communities.

Likewise, there was the high-profile situation in Nigeria where similar legislation was proposed, and after lengthy consideration, put on ice. Similar proposals are likely to be tabled in Kenya. However, in South Africa, the government has not only liberalized the law but also promoted anti-exclusion options which are changing the face of Britain as well.

The West will not leave Africa alone.  It portrays the continent as either primitive and lawless or fashionably progressive.  However, this ambivalence ensures two particular victims, religion and the family.

In Asia, parents in mainstream society are keen to maintain and instil in their children traditional values and customs , as well as those associated with modern democracy. These families are worried by the liberal sexual agenda advanced in their communities by local sexual minorities supported and funded by outside western organizations.

For example, in the newly-organized gay pride marches in India, the liberal western voice is blatantly obvious. In media interviews, it is clear it has a western agenda, and has come to India to further the western sexual liberation cause. 

However, homosexuals in India are more concerned to secure safety for themselves than to promote their allies’ agenda. The latter have pushed them to promote sexual liberation and by so doing, transform traditional cultures nationwide.

Returning to Uganda, the situation is much the same.  Westerners are radicalizing gay Ugandans and Ugandan culture, and Ugandan parents are worried about their children.  The Archbishop of Uganda spoke for them when he warned that ““I am appalled to learn that the rumours we have heard for a long time about homosexual recruiting in our schools and amongst our youth are true.

For these families, as for others in traditional Asian and African societies, traditional family life and customs are not just ‘traditional’ but sacred.  Minimizing or replacing them is a violation of the sacred.  When such attempts are being engineered by powerful forces from outside, in ways that are reminiscent of colonial powers imposing their agendas, traditional societies feel they must resort to legislation to protect their sacred traditions, particularly those to do with the family. 

How can the church stand with traditional Ugandans while it also promotes a modern democratic society which has an important place for individual rights?  How can the church draw back from the excesses of the West where the primary sacred value is in the individual’s right to choose and express his or her choice publicly and traditional forms of family life sanctioned by religion are not sacred, only those sanctioned by secular law?

The issue is how the church should respond in ways that are faithful to its culture and theology without being backed into a corner of bigotry and homophobia as defined by totalitarian liberals.

There are many in England who are tut-tutting about this issue in Uganda.  But what would they say to these fearful parents?  Moreover, what have they done to support the black Christians in this country who are victimized and marginalized when they refuse to register same-sex civil partnerships or counsel the “marriage’ problems of those in same-sex relationships? Are they aware of the massive social engineering project presently being foisted on this country which is stripping heteronormativity from the culture and re-writing its history (e.g. like Jesus, Churchill was gay), and if so, what are they doing about it?
 

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