The Evangelical Message on Homosexuality

I thought that the one article chosen by the Gender and Culture group on American Evangelicals spreading anti-homosexual messages in Uganda was very disturbing. The author of the blog, Brad Wilmouth, discusses the recently proposed bill in Uganda that would imprison any homosexual who marries another homosexual and could have consequences that lead to death for homosexuals, and he speaks specifically about a March 2010 piece on ABC linking American evangelical pastors to the anti-homosexual uproar in Uganda. Wilmouth mentions the flaws in the piece, noting that Rick Warren and many of the other pastors have spoken out against the bill, and his main point seems to be that the ABC news piece did not feature any other more “moderate” evangelical pastors, and it didn’t really mention how extreme these views were.

Personally, after reading the transcript of the news segment in the article, I think Wilmouth’s point is pretty weak. Evangelical Christians and mega-church pastors have been the biggest fighters against gay marriage and hate crime bills in the U.S. They denounce the “gay agenda” and stir up hatred for gays in their churches. They may say that they “hate the sin, not the sinner” and really don’t hate homosexuals as people, but what they do say about homosexuals is very damaging. What I thought was interesting was Scott Lively’s response to the quote about how the seminar in Uganda against homosexuality was like a nuclear bomb: “…I hope the nuclear bomb spreads across the whole world against the gay movement, against this attempt to overthrow family-based society and replace it with sexual anarchy. That doesn't mean I hate homosexuals. That doesn't mean that I want anybody to be thrown in jail.” What these evangelicals say and what they preach is very contradictory. Personally I have been to more modern evangelical churches during sermons about homosexuality and have been shocked at what I heard. No matter what they say, evangelicals are not tolerant of homosexuals. I think that is clear enough.

On another note, I thought it was bizarre that race was brought up towards the end of the conversation, with news anchor Dan Harris noting that one of the pastors thought that it was racist to say that the evangelical pastors at the seminar had stirred up all this hatred and inspired the bill against homosexuals in Uganda. The Ugandan pastor, Ssempa, said, “It's offensive to me that every time a black man does something good, you have to say that a white man told us to do it.” Clearly, that is not the issue at hand and that is not what’s really going on here. What’s really going on is that there is an anti-homosexual culture in Uganda, and the evangelical pastors simply stoked the fire. But how is that okay in any regard? What these pastors are saying in Uganda isn’t any different from what they’re saying in the U.S., but it doesn’t make it right or absolve them.