Thursday, 14 June 2012
Bishops support Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill
From the Daily Monitor in Kampala: Bishops want shelved anti-gay Bill dusted
Top religious leaders from across the country have asked Parliament to speed-up the process of enacting the Anti-Homosexuality law to prevent what they called “an attack on the Bible and the institution of marriage”.
Speaking after their recent annual conference organised by the Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC), an ecumenical body which brings together the Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox churches, the bishops resolved that the parliamentary committee on Gender should be tasked to engage the House on the Bill which is now at committee level.
“We also ask the Education committee to engage the Ministry of Education on the issue of incorporating a topic on human sexuality in the curricula of our schools and institutions of learning,” the resolutions signed by archbishops Henry Luke Orombi, Cyprian Kizito Lwanga and Metropolitan Jonah Lwanga, indicated.
The clerics also appealed to all the churches in the country “to remain steadfast in opposing the phenomena of homosexuality, lesbianism and same-sex union”.
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill was proposed by Ndorwa West PM David Bahati and has become a subject of international discussion with most Western powers describing the Bill as barbaric…
Care2.com has Ugandan Catholics Want “Kill the Gays” Bill Revived
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill (AHB) was effectively shelved last year by the government, following sustained pressure from international donor countries. Despite repeated claims to the contrary, including some unfortunate mainstream reporting, the last version of the bill contained the death penalty in some circumstances.
The Catholic Church had previously been the sole major religion in Uganda in opposition to the bill. But according to the Daily Monitor, at the annual conference of the Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC), an ecumenical body which brings together the Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox churches, the Bishops resolved that it should be retrieved from the long grass.
The UJCC said that the bill was needed to prevent what they called “an attack on the Bible and the institution of marriage.”
The Vatican came out strongly and publicly against the bill and, Wikileaks revealed, even lobbied against it. Uganda watchers say that the change by the Ugandan Catholic church is “very serious” and that the UJCCresolution was pushed by an Anglican Bishop…
Religion Dispatches has Ugandan Bishops Push Notorious Anti-Gay Bill
… The reported support for the bill from the Uganda Joint Christian Council is especially noteworthy since Roman Catholic Bishop of Uganda Cyprian Lwanga previously denounced the bill’s death penalty and imprisonment provisions as contrary to “a Christian caring approach to this issue,” though he also said “We, the Catholic Bishops of Uganda, appreciate and applaud the Government’s effort to protect the traditional family and its values.”
And The Africa Report has Uganda: Religious leaders seek return of anti-gay bill.
Posted by Simon Sarmiento on Thursday, 14 June 2012
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“The clerics also appealed to all the churches in the country “to remain steadfast in opposing the phenomena of homosexuality, lesbianism and same-sex union”.
The Anglican Primate of Uganda, Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, has added his name to the list of religious leaders in UIganda who are now demanding that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill – proposed by David Bahati – which had been shelved by the Government of Uganda – now be resurrected and brought into legislation against the Gay Community in that country.
And people wonder why the more civilised Provinces of the Anglican Communion do not want to bond in any form of ‘Covenant’ with this particular conservative Province.
Father Ron Smith, Christchurch, New Zealand
