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The web has been abuzz about Uganda’s proposed anti-homosexuality legislation, the Bahati Bill, which would – according to Jim Burroway:
- Reaffirm the lifetime sentence currently provided upon conviction of homosexuality, and extends the definition from sexual activity to merely “touch[ing] another person with the intention of committing the act of homosexuality.”
- Create a new category of “aggravated homosexuality” which provides for the death penalty for “repeat offenders” and for cases where the individual is HIV-positive.
- Criminalizes all speech and peaceful assembly for those who advocate on behalf of LGBT citizens in Uganda with fines and imprisonment of between five and seven years.
- Criminalizes the act of obtaining a same-sex marriage abroad with lifetime imprisonment.
- Adds a clause which forces friends or family members to report LGBT persons to police within 24-hours of learning about that individual’s homosexuality or face fines or imprisonment of up to three years.
- Adds an extra-territorial and extradition provisions, allowing Uganda to prosecute LGBT Ugandans living abroad.
It turns out that this legislation has many North American Evangelical Christian ties, with questions being raised about groups with such innocuous-sounding names as The College of Prayer and Reclaiming The Seven Mountains of Culture. (Okay nevermind; that last name sounds pretty scary!) My friend Brian McLaren asks some very pointed questions about this legislation, and Christian complicity in it:
I wonder if some of the “discernment websites” that enjoy featuring and critiquing the work of many of my friends and me would be willing to host some discussion on this bill currently proposed in the Ugandan parliament. I’d be interested in reading whether participants in those blogs agree with the Ugandan bill, and if not, why not.
This hits close to home on many fronts. Religious conservatives are well-known for their stance against homosexuality in the West, yet they insist (most of them, anyway) that they do not want to impose a literal reading of Old Testament Deuteronomistic laws imposed on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. In other words, ‘Love the sinner and hate the sin – but don’t stone the sinner.’ But as the Ugandan story unfolds, we’re learning that groups like Exodus International have had a hand in shaping the legislation, and the anti-gay Anglican Church in Uganda is sending mixed-messages.
Human sexuality is as complex as it is beautiful, and discussions (and even heated debates) about sexuality are likely to continue for a long time. This, however, isn’t that. As evangelical Christian Andrew Marin points out (again, quoted by Brian):
Let me make this clear:I don’t care how conservative your theological belief system is, killing people or imprisoning them for being gay or lesbian is wrong and should never, ever happen.
Notwithstanding, according to the bill, I, as a straight person, would also be imprisoned if I don’t turn in gays and lesbians to the Ugandan government.
….Please spread the word. No Christian (or person in general) should ever let this happen on our watch.
He explains how to take action here.
So I have a question on top of Brian’s insightful question, but this one pointed at ‘us,’ the readers of this blog. 2,000 years ago Paul of Tarsus called those seeking to walk in the way of friendship with God ‘ministers of reconciliation.’ Reconciliation is something near and dear to my heart; reconcilers often get walked on by all kinds of shoes. Friends of God who are waking up and in the reconciling business might find themselves befriending and welcoming groups that are very different from one another; groups that do not like each other – like evangelicals and Muslims and gay people! So as we’re trying to befriend and extend hospitality to one other, what do we do with their prejudices? (What do they do with ours?) What when your heterosexism clashes with my poverty-phobia? How tolerant are we to be of intolerance? Do two intolerations cancel each other out…does one bleed into the other? How do we bear one another’s cultural convictions and burdens with integrity and love?
I don’t have the answers…I’m just a guy asking questions.
12 comments to “Tolerant of Intolerance?”
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If we don’t see ourselves as having a personal stake in this outrage going on and perpetrated by people here in the US, let’s not hear anymore about how God is love and Christians are striving to be like Christ. If Christ sought to rid the world of *anybody*.. show me an example.
What is it about violence that’s justified? By Christ?
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First, we acknowledge our grief and then naturally grieve all of this pain and misunderstanding. And we allow this pain to somehow transform us that we will not continue to somehow transmit it. How can MY response change is my first responsibility.
Where others are concerned, we must recognize that such deeply held convictions, whether wholly or partly erroneous, are a very complex combination of irrational, pre-rational, nonrational, rational and supra-rational dispositions. As such, they do not yield in the face of superior logical argumentation, debates about religious epistemology, scriptural proof-texting, pragmatic appeals, enlightened self-interest, meta-ethical reformulations or natural law syllogisms. Such approaches only serve to further harden hearts and close minds.
To reach people holistically, with a full body-soul-spirit and heart-mind “blow,” we need parables, stories, poems, songs, plays, movies and other musical & dramatic arts presentations. And we need to tell our relevant personal stories. And we need to recognize that such seeds that we plant we may not be around to see sprout but others will assuredly reap the benefits. We must be willing to plant trees, the shade of which will not be ours to enjoy. Ministers of Reconciliation and Story-tellers are the most important people in the world, on average, about two generations after they’re dead. Carry on, Tim. Godspeed next week!
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I wish I was better at telling stories. I have some but they’re not really mine to tell. I think it’s important to *also* refute lies. Lies that cloak evil thoughts in sheepskin and wear it as the guise it always is. It’s important to tell truths in story forms. And it’s also just as important to tell them plainly.
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I posted part of my relevant personal story here:
How tolerant are we to be of intolerance? (Tim King asks.) -
It has been proven time and again that homosexuality is NOT a result of upbringing, bad religion, or thought processes. Some people are just wired differently. So that’s like putting someone to death for having a different DNA. A lot of sense that makes.
Alicia
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And to answer the other questions…cultural convictions are just another name for prejudice. And anywhere there is prejudice, there is a lack of respect and love. Start with respect, then comes understanding and the sky’s the limit from there.
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Thanks, Tim. And I like what Katherine and Alicia added. Thanks, y’all.
Science provides us the plain truth about what homosexuality IS and IS NOT.
From this IS we reason to the moral OUGHT; therefore, if one doesn’t get the IS right, then one will not get the OUGHT right either.
Now, I appreciate (but do not understand) that some use the Bible to ground their moral position. Foremost, I would remind them that they have a responsibility — not to leave their religious and metaphysical perspectives behind, but – to translate their position into arguments that can be understood by those of other faiths or no faith at all in our pluralistic society. I challenge them to do this. Furthermore, I challenge people to distinguish between cultural taboos in the Bible and the moral sense of scripture. I commend, then, Daniel Helminiak’s book: What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality. Alamo Square Press, 1994, 2000.
I appreciate that the Ugandan situation goes way beyond this moral determination and that some excuse themselves as only condemning the behavior and not the person. I can only suggest that you may very well STILL be culpable, at least in part, for not doing more to overcome your woeful ignorance regarding this moral reality because getting the moral significance of this human reality wrong is what makes the bigotry possible in the first place.
There you go, K.A., I’ve added the plain version to the story-telling. Thanks for the challenge! You are a princess of a person. As Tim says, different pages for different stages.
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Yes John. Some people need and response to stories. I do. However many people don’t prefer them and I get the distinct feeling that storying makes them feel suffocated in layers of metaphoricals. They prefer plain words. No guessing. That has been such a difficult thing for me as I love nothing better than yarning on. People closely related to me were saying “Don’t be silly.” So yes… different pages.
As to getting it wrong about HIV/AIDS as linked to sexual behaviors. !! The biggest growing group of people getting the condition are heterosexual. !! That to me is a HUGE red flag that the disease process has *most likely* nothing to do with orientation.
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It goes back to what if it was in your “house”. My gene pool has a strong tendency for alcoholism. Society has labeled it as a “disease” I guess it’s a little easier to accept than homosexuality. It affects all walks of life. I can either be aware of all of its implications if it was full blown in my life or just fall victim to it. I choose the awareness of it. Homosexuality goes the same way. If I’m homosexual and know what it is and what it does, then it’s a choice. Some will grow out of it, then others will continue on, knowing and fully accepting it for what it is. Then it becomes a lifestyle. If they are comfortable with it, and they are not hurting others, then it is /or should be acceptable.
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I would go on to say that I can somewhat understand why some would feel the need to eradicate this, but the means is unacceptable. Alcoholism rarely goes on without hurting someone. It usually destroys a family. And I would venture a guess that homosexuality does the same thing in some way. Feel free to redirect.
Alicia
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As the father of a homosexual son, I stand with you, Brian, and Andrew. When my son “came out”, it was a particularly difficult issue for my wife and I. In the years since 2000, My attitude on the issue has changed completely. Of course, my attitude on a multiplicity of issues has changed completely. Ideas about an anthropomorphical, monarchial, God-in-the-sky, view of Source, as well as most other ideas about religion, were among the changes that have recast my life as I began and continue on this journey.