http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h_IMe5KdW7-YS9ypcVLy79XKraCQD9CDEQ080

I know that you are trying to see the perspective of the gay community. And that is commendable.

But you also seem to be trying to encourage gay people to see and sympathize with the perspective of those who want to execute them. I don’t think that is going to happen. Not all “perspectives” are reasonable or worth considering.

And we cannot not ignore the facts of the matter and pretend that the perspective you report is truthful or has merit. At BTB we are VERY familiar with the chain of events and cannot ignore them so as to see a perspective.

The situation in Uganda (and Nigeria and several other African national churches) is certainly multi-faceted. But it is NOT based in some foreign pressure to change. Actually it is better seen as exactly the opposite.

When the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada began to accept gay Christians as equal members of the body, this was deemed unacceptable to Anglicans on the African continent. The “breaking point” was when the Episcopal Church elevated a gay man to be bishop, resulting in a situation where heterosexuals actually answered to a gay man – a paradigm which is anathema to those who see gay people as worthy of incarceration and execution.

Although your Ugandan source is claiming “pressure”, the Episcopalians did not seek to change theological positions in Africa or demand anything of them. Rather, the African prelates demanded that Canada and the United States obey them, and change their beliefs and policies. Africans united in an effort to expel the Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion unless the Americans did what the Africans dictated. And they have been, to a great extent, successful in doing exactly that.

To their great credit, the Episcopal Church did not respond with, “then we will keep our money” but instead tried to find ways to continue support. However the African churches refused the “tainted” money.

When you come here sharing tales from some Ugandan about how they were “pressured”, we already know that this is not an honest “perspective”. They were the ones exerting pressure. And they were assisted by Americans seeking to use the African churches as a tool to weaken the Episcopal Church in the United States.

The Africans have been astonishingly arrogant. Beyond anything that one would ever find believable. They have said, in effect, to the Americans:

“You will elect only the Bishops we find acceptable and will conduct only the sacraments of which we approve.

We will seek to destabilize your churches; we will declare that any breakaways are under our diocese even though this is unacceptable in the Communion. We will seek to evangelize to your members and proselytize openly.

We will denounce you and cut off communion with you. We will insist that we will not come to Lambeth if you are allowed in the room. We will harm you in any manner that we can.

Further, we will discard human rights and endorse cruelty and defy the world.

However, you must give us millions of dollars, no questions asked, no strings attached, even though we will use your money to harm you.”

So we have already seen their “perspective”. We recognize it. It is evil.

Debbie, perhaps you are not familiar with the chain of events. I hope that you will take a few hours and read our coverage so as to have a more complete understanding:

Uganda

Nigeria and Peter Akinola

Scott Lively

On another note, it has been suggested that the immediate conflict will die out when the leadership -mostly anti-gay, but possibly the other side to some extent- realises that their obsession over this issue is not shared by the ordinary church members.

I’ve been on board for a while now, as you know. I can’t speak to the truth in any of the assertions the commenter made. It is just another perspective to consider about money.

Not that we’ve ever seen that before.

“She was quite clear that their church was against violence done against anyone who was gay, but they feel compelled to speak out because of the pressure being put on them by gay activists…”

So violence is bad but execution and imprisonment is ok?

“Is Uganda trying to legislate morality?”

No. It is trying to practice genocide against an unpopular minority.

Based on what I have read, much of what is claimed is blatantly false.

However, even assuming for a moment that everything that this anti-gay African says is true, it still remains EVIL to treat gay people in the way that the prelate of Uganda supports.

Personally, I just cannot find it within myself to justify evil. I don’t see evil as “an African slant” or as “another perspective”. And I will not “be slow to condemn the church in Uganda” when it endorses evil either explicitly or implicitly.

Because, Debbie, I abhor evil.

I invite you – and the Church of Uganda – to join me.