Bishop Joseph Abura of Karamoja Diocese, Province of the Anglican Church of Uganda has written an op-ed in Spero News supporting the anti-gay bill.
He begins by saying that God rewarded the west because it embraced Christianity:
They led out the way for the Gospel of Christ in the 2nd through to 19th century. They were holy men and women of God. Homosexuality and lesbianism was no issue, Christian spirituality was the issue.
The results were that God honored; gave them wisdom, intelligence and wealth.
But then the west fell into sin:
They devised own and individualistic rules now called “rights”; they did exploits on rights accepted globally and now misused or even misinterpreted or misappropriated them. These are rights called so by the disoriented and their sympathizers as they were/are developed from defiant and deviant spirit. As a result of sin the vice of homosexuality and lesbianism caught up with them and they practiced and popularized it in the name of own rights.
Taking note that the Anglican Church of Canada has condemned by anti-gay bill, he writes:
The Episcopal (sic) Church in Canada has already departed from the truth. The Anglican Province of the Church of Uganda and some other African Churches including some from the very northern America, Europe, have already cut relations with Episcopal (sic) Church of Canada and any who have resolved to pursue the gay agenda. The Ugandan government and parliament should not listen to such which want to uproot or bend our cherished traditions and values.
While the Anglican of Uganda says it is “studying” the bill, there is no mistaking where Bishop Joseph Abura stands on the proposed legislation:
Homosexuality and lesbianism is now being exported to the rest of the world, to Africa and Latin America, and elsewhere. They want to coerce African parliaments like the Ugandan one to condone and legitimize the vice. They want it to become a virtue. … Ugandan Parliament, the watch dog of our laws, please go ahead and put the anti- Gay laws in place. It is then that we become truly accountable to our young and to this country, not to Canada or England. We are in charge! We have our entrenched birthrights, Ugandans should not accept to sell or mortgage these God given birthrights.
ACNA Bishop Guernsey serves under Abura. Where does John Guernsey stand? Do American ACNA parishes linked with Abura condone his views? Does Rick Warren seriously belief disassociating himself from the Rev. Martin Ssempa is that sufficient to disassociate himself from these views? His ties to the Anglican Church of Uganda run deep.
Not familiar with the bill? Here’s a description:
TERRY GROSS: Uganda already punishes the practice of homosexuality with life in prison. What would the new legislation do?
JEFF SHARLET: Well, the new legislation adds to this something called aggravated homosexuality. And this can include, for instance, if a gay man has sex with another man who is disabled, that’s aggravated homosexuality, and that man can be – I suppose both, actually, could be put to death for this. The use of any drugs or any intoxicants in seeking gay sex – in other words, you go to a bar and you buy a guy a drink, you’re subject to the death penalty if you go home and sleep together after that. What it also does is it extends this outward, so that if you know a gay person and you don’t report it, that could mean – you don’t report your son or daughter, you can go to prison.
And it goes further, to say that any kind of promotion of these ideas of homosexuality, including by foreigners, can result in prison terms. Talking about same sex-marriage positively can lead you to imprisonment for life.
Thanks to Colin Coward for the heads up on Abura’s op-ed.