Ugandan MP David Bahati was “ecstatic” that American evangelical leader Lou Engle supported his Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009, according to journalist Jeff Sharlet.
The bill, which would effectively make homosexuality – and “aiding” homosexuality – a capital offense, was promoted heavily at Engle’s TheCall Uganda conference in May this year. More recently, Engle apologized and denied having anything directly to do with the promotion, claiming it occurred in his absence. But, as Warren Throckmorton has shown, the bill was promoted in Engle’s presence as well.
Now writer Jeff Sharlet adds more confusion to this web of inconsistencies and half-truths, saying he spoke to Bahati, who believed Engle explicitly supported the bill:
Both [Bishop] Oyet and Bahati told me that Engle had explicitly expressed his support for the bill, telling them that he had to lie to the Western media because gays control it.
The rest of Sharlet’s account throws doubt on other claims by Engle, including the suggestion that Christian leaders in Uganda are trying to soften the penalties in the bill. Bahati supports the harsh punishments, obviously, since he drafted the bill. It appears Bishop Oyet is now his right-hand man.
Throckmorton follows up Sharlet’s guest post with some pressing questions for Engle, whose words have been inconsistent at best, deceptive at worst. Read the full article here.
Please, let’s get our facts from the right source. Lou Engle went to TheCall Uganda for one agenda…to awaken a nation to prayer and the issues of justice. There was never any verbal support of the bill from Engle. It is a gross injustice that the church leaders in Uganda would support the extreme measures proposed in the bill and that they exploited TheCall platform to do so. Read Engle’s statement on his website. https://thecall.com/Publisher/Article.aspx?ID=1000068247
You don’t seem to have read the article as it appears above, mtrask. Dave is careful to report on the inconsistencies between Engle’s statement and what others have claimed. I’m less inclined to accept Engle’s account (since this is not the first time he’s appeared to be less than diligent about the truth) than I am about Bahati. Bahati may promote a campaign of hatred towards gay people, but at least he’s been transparent about it. Not so much Engle.