The anti-gay crusade being led by Archbishops Peter Jensen and Henry Orombi, among others, is not receiving uniformly good reviews back home.
Writing in Online Opinion, an e-journal in Australia, Prof. Bruce Kaye writes:
Portraying the present dispute as being about the authority of the Bible frames the argument so as to presume that the Bible is the only authority. In this context it is not about accepting or rejecting a doctrine of “scripture alone” in such decision making. Scripture alone is held as a personal opinion by many, including some Anglicans, but it is nowhere to be found in the formularies constitution or laws of the Anglican Church. The question at issue is the place of homosexuality in the official life of the church. It is harder to make this a cause for separation than the authority of the Bible.
Meanwhile, in Uganda, Kevin O’Connor wonders why Orombi has so much time to worry about homosexuality in America, and so little time to worry about the corruption of the Ugandan government:
Internal Anglican politics have no interest for me. But what does interest me is that busy Orombi should be worrying so much about what is happening in faraway USA, spending days on something irrelevant for Uganda in Jerusalem, when he should be giving priority to his domestic agenda.
And surely topmost in that agenda is the corruption that is here, there and everywhere in our country. Whether it be the Global Fund, GAVI, junk choppers, Butabika Hospital land, ghost soldiers, ghost teachers, potholes, CHOGM cars, and much, much more – it happens in Uganda. We seem to have just about every form of corruption except ghost ghosts.
Lest you think Orombi is less than obsessed with homosexuality in the United States, consider that of the many issues in the American presidential race that will affect the African continent–debt relief, foreign aid, AIDS research, trade policy, farm subsidies–he has chosen to criticize Sen. Barack Obama for this stand on gay rights, saying:
“It is distressing that Barack Obama a fellow African would promote racial civil rights as morally equivalent to immoral civil behaviour. We are Africans and know the difference between moral behaviour and responsibility as opposed to civil rights being compared to homosexuality. Will Barack Obama represent our interests in this matter?”
The pattern of harnessing the influence of conservative African prelates to serve the interest of conservative Americans while ignoring the interests of thier own people is, by now, a hallmark of the Anglican Communion. Now we see it spreading to the secular sphere.