Saturday, January 26, 2013

I Take Comfort in Saul Become Paul

"That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria.  Devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him.  But Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison."

--Acts 8:1-3


"Money raised by evangelical Christians in the United States is fueling a violent antigay movement in Uganda, according to the “Gospel of Intolerance” by filmmaker Roger Ross Williams.

'American evangelicals are sending millions of dollars in donations to Africa to spread their message by funding Ugandan pastors and sponsoring missionaries, many of who do good work feeding the hungry and providing shelter to orphans,' Rev. Kapya Kaoma explained in the mini-documentary, which was published online Tuesday by the New York Times. “But some of that money just goes to feed a dangerous ideology that teaches that gays, lesbians, transgender, and bisexual people do not have a place in God’s kingdom and are a threat to society.”

Evangelicals from the United States have a strong influence in the deeply religious country, where antigay sentiments are mainstream. A number of Ugandans faced harassment and threats in 2010 after a newspaper published of list of alleged homosexuals. 

Kaoma said he was forced to flee the country after supporting LGBT rights.

Dolan, Eric W., "Film Exposes Link between U. S. evangelicals and violent anti-gay Ugandan movement."  2013. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/23/film-exposes-link-between-u-s-evangelicals-and-antigay-ugandan-movement/