Uganda as a Laboratory for Religious Zealots

Mix in a few American evangelicals who worry that gay people hurt families. Add one really prominent American pastor who welcomes anti-gay preachers into his church, invites them up on stage, and watches as his wife calls one of them "my brother." Then add African politicians immersed in a religious "family" network, and what do you get?

Well, as Kathleen Parker writes in today's Washington Post, you get Uganda, otherwise known to her as a laboratory for religious zealots. And the consequences of mixing all that hatred and all that "Gays are against Jesus" sentiment could prove deadly.

Efforts to pass what is known as The Anti-Homosexuality Bill are in limbo right now, as global pressure has come down on Uganda like bees on pollen. Nobody around the globe wants to see this bill become law. But that's not stopping conservative pastors and political figures in Uganda from trying to jam it through -- or, minimally, to foster such intense homophobia that even if the bill doesn't pass, a gay genocide could still take place.

Pastor Martin Ssempa, the man that Rick Warren's wife Kay called "my brother," and someone she expressed profound love for, held a second meeting over the past few days, where he invited hundreds of people into a room to describe graphic sexual images of two men having sex. For Ssempa, forget that two people of the same gender can love one another. For him, it's all about sex. And he uses the graphic images of sex to fuel hatred among his flock. Recipe for disaster? Try recipe for genocide.

Parker's piece in the Washington Post is remarkable in the sense that she not only calls Pastor Rick Warren out for his ties to Uganda, but calls out American evangelicalism.

"How exactly does the idea of executing gays evolve in a majority-Christian nation?" Parker asks. And that's the $64,000 question. And it lies with pastors like Warren, or religious people like Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundidge, and Don Schmierer, three Americans who traveled to Uganda about one year ago today to hoot and holler about the threat of homosexuality.

What these folks have done is warp Christianity in order to justify violence against a minority they feel doesn't belong. That's why Parker's image of a laboratory speaks volumes. These evangelicals thought they were lending their voices to help create the ultimate pro-family culture in Uganda.

Instead, their voices have created the culture for a potential blood bath. Whether the Anti-Homosexuality Bill passes or doesn't, the level of homophobia stoked by American evangelicals and their friends in Uganda is so high, it could just be a matter of time before this ticking time bomb explodes.

Photo credit: TKnoxB