Faithful America is urging evangelical preacher Rick Warren to speak out against a horrific law in Uganda which would sentence gays and lesbians to life in prison or even the death penalty. From the group’s Web site:
Evangelical mega-church pastor Rick Warren has traveled to Uganda and preached against homosexuality and one of the Ugandan pastors who’s led the fight for this horrific bill has spoken at Warren’s conferences in the United States.
So the last time the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” was introduced in Uganda, human-rights activists successfully pressured Rick Warren into taking a public stand against the law. Faced with mounting international criticism, the Uganda government backed down — until now.
But this time around, Rick Warren is remaining conspicuously silent about the situation in Uganda, despite giving a number of high-profile interviews on other subjects. At a time when his voice could help save the lives of LGBT Ugandans, he’s on CNN comparing being gay to giving in to a temptation to “punch a guy in the nose.”
The group has gathered 15,000 online signatures to pressure Warren to exert what influence he can to block this law. You can sign the petition here.
Meanwhile, Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu speaks out strongly against the measure: From Religion News Service:
“My brothers and sisters, you stood with people who were oppressed because of their skin color. If you are going to be true to the Lord you worship, you are also going to be there for the people who are being oppressed for something they can do nothing about: their sexual orientation,” he said.
Tutu said people do not choose their sexual orientation, and would be crazy to choose homosexuality “when you expose yourself to so much hatred, even to the extent of being killed.”