A group of prominent Christian leaders from the US have put their names to a statement opposing the vicious Anti-Homosexuality Bill proposed in Uganda. In standing up unapologetically for the rights of gays and lesbians, they do what other Christian leaders, including Exodus, should have done long ago.
Below is the full text, entitled U.S. Christian Leaders’ Statement on the “Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009” Under Consideration by the Parliament of Uganda. Its signatories include the broadly evangelical luminaries Ronald J Sider, Jim Wallis, Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo.
Our Christian faith recognizes violence, harassment and unjust treatment of any human being as a betrayal of Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. As followers of the teachings of Christ, we must express profound dismay at a bill currently before the Parliament in Uganda. The “Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009” would enforce lifetime prison sentences and in some cases the death penalty for homosexual behavior, as well as punish citizens for not reporting their gay and lesbian neighbors to the authorities.
As Americans, some may wonder why we are raising our voices to oppose a measure proposed in a nation so far away from home. We do so to bear witness to our Christian values, and to express our condemnation of an injustice in which groups and leaders within the American Christian community are being implicated. We appeal to all Christian leaders in our own country to speak out against this unjust legislation.
In our efforts to imitate the Good Samaritan, we stand in solidarity with those Ugandans beaten and left abandoned by the side of the road because of hatred, bigotry and fear. Especially during this holy season of Advent, when the global Christian community prepares in hope for the light of Christ to break through the darkness, we pray that they are comforted by God’s love.
Regardless of the diverse theological views of our religious traditions regarding the morality of homosexuality, in our churches, communities and families, we seek to embrace our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters as God’s children worthy of respect and love. Yet we are painfully aware that in our country gays and lesbians still face hostility and violence. We recognize that such treatment degrades the human family, threatens the common good and defies the teachings of our Lord — wherever it occurs.
A PDF version of the document, with the list of signatories, can be found here.
An unambiguous statement against the proposed bill and even the spirit behind it, all without a hind of PR. That’s refreshing, to say the least. Re: Alan, Randy, and Julie Neils, this is how you do it. Though in Exodus’ case it would need a more direct apology for their early involvement.
I would like to know how Ron Sider can justify being a signatory to the Manhattan Declaration *and* this document at the same time. It strikes me as a deep level of cognitive dissonance which I wouldn’t have expected from him.
You’re right, Christopher, that is strange. I’m sure Wallis, Campolo and McLaren wouldn’t be caught dead signing the Manhattan Declaration, though.
I strongly applaud this statement. Now I would like to see progressive Christians deal with the fact that the Bible itself (for example, Leviticus 20:13) condones killing gay men. THAT would be especially important and impressive.
The answer is simple. Sider doesn’t want to kill us or imprison us, he just wants our lives to be as difficult and unpleasant as possible….
…and i would guess just SHORT of the Ugandan final solution.
Naahh. I’m being snarky. quoting myself:
Of course you don’t hate us and this isn’t about bigotry. you love us. It’s the christian thing to do. You don’t hate anyone. Honestly, you don’t. The Biblical message is all about compassion, about loving your neighbor and all that. You love homosexuals. You really do. You just hate our same-sex-lusting,public-fornicating, child molesting, disease spreading, marriage ruining, family wrecking, military compromising, religious freedom hating, god detesting, Christian disparaging, faith villifying, society-endangering ways.
And really now, where’s the hate in that?
Sider’s signature on this only adds insult to injury. One cannot rail against a community, make statements intended to foment anger and shame, and then ask for tolerance. Words have consequences and Sider is complicit in what is happening in Uganda.
I grew up in the conservative evangelical community (unfortunately) and I recognize NOT ONE single name from this list which hails from the conservative camp – at least not a name that is recognizable at first read (Sider is quoted above). Where are the leaders from conservative bible colleges and seminaries and popular authors in the conservative evangelical community? Where is Rick Warren’s name and where are the signatories from disgraced pastor Ted Haggard’s former denomination? Where’s the “legend-in-his-own-mind” Stephen Bennett at a time where he could show us once and for all that he’s not just a “religious fanatic” as O’Reilly pointed out? Kudos to the liberal evangelicals and nonevangelicals who supported this statement and shame on the conservative ones who are so blinded by their own dogmatic theology that they can’t recognize that “samaritan” but, like the priest, pitifully and self-righteously pass by on the other side. Makes me sick!!
I am not impressed by this declaration, though of course it beats the telling silence of people like Rick Warren. I note that the conservative religious blog getreligion.org has a posting by the egregiously homophobic Mollie Hemingway protesting the characterization in the mainstream media of this legislation as motivated by hate.
Hemingway writes: “I also fear that the article is framed with such a progressive worldview that it doesn’t even attempt to understand the cultural and ethical values of the Ugandans. I mean, I oppose capital punishment as a rule, but I also know that advocates of capital punishment don’t view said punishment as “hate” — as the article portrays it. They view it as a tool of punishment for particular crimes.”
Yeah, I suppose executing gay people is an example of Christian charity.