This blog has noted before the fact that extreme anti-gay "Christian" organizations have been organizing and funneling money to anti-gay groups in Africa that are backing horrific anti-gay legislation. The current nightmare for LGBT individuals in Uganda is a case in point. Now, a new study by Political Research Associates of Boston entitled "Colonizing African Values: How the U.S. Christian Right is Transforming Sexual Politics in Africa" connects the dots and names names. Among the American Christianists linked to the anti-gay jihad are Rick Warren (pictured at right) and local lunatic and douche bag, Pat Robertson. Also cited for their involvement are the Catholic Church and the Mormon Church. Both the Times of London and WHBT-TV 4 are carrying coverage on the study findings. Here are excerpts from the Times article:
Conservative U.S. Christian groups are setting up fronts in Africa to fight for anti-gay and anti-abortion legislation to promote their convictions, a report by a Boston-based think tank said Tuesday. It accuses evangelical stars such as Pat Robertson and Rick Warren as well as Catholic and Mormon groups of setting up institutions and campaigns in Africa that are "fanning the flames of the culture wars over homosexuality and abortion by backing prominent African campaigners and political leaders."
The report _ "Colonizing African Values: How the U.S. Christian Right is Transforming Sexual Politics in Africa" _ was presented by the Political Research Associates of Boston, a think tank that describes itself as "progressive" and focusing on what it calls attacks on civil liberties by the political and Christian right. Some of the Africans cited in the report as heading African organizations set up by the U.S. religious right maintain that they are just using funds from foreign friends who share similar beliefs.
Among them is Joseph Okia, nephew of President Yoweri Museveni in Uganda, where proposed legislation would invoke the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality." . . . Several Africans and Americans named in the report could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokesman for Pastor Rick Warren said he was too busy to comment.
The report's main author, the Rev. Kapya Kaoma, said that while such evangelical groups are in the minority in the United States, they are able to punch way above their weight in Africa . . . . "Those kind of lies, when presented in Africa, become factual, so we need to worry that they are misleading people with these lies," Kaoma, an Anglican priest from Zambia.
Kaoma's report identifies groups belonging to a loose network of right-wing charismatic Christians. They include Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), the Catholic Church's Human Life International (HLI) and the Mormon-led Family Watch International. All have launched or expanded offices in Africa over the past five years. . . . . "By hiring locals as office staff, ACLJ and HLI in particular hide an American-based agenda behind African faces, giving the Christian Right room to attack gender justice and (the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual people) as a neocolonial enterprise imposed on Africans and obstructing meaningful critique of the U.S. right's activities," the report said.
Amnesty International has reported an increasing intolerance in Africa that has resulted in "harassment, discrimination, persecution, violence and murders" against homosexuals in Africa. The report said the new campaigns also have caused more oppression of women by restricting their reproductive freedoms.
So-called "conservative Christians" have truly made Christianity into something hideous. Hate, bigotry, fear and ignorance are its chief hallmarks. I again and again can't help but believe that the world would be a far better place if this foul version of Christianity vanished from the face of the earth tomorrow.
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