African Bishops Embrace Ignorance and Threaten Schism

The one place in the world where conservative Christianity is growing is in Africa, since the continent has the conditions most needed for growth: a poorly educated and ignorant population.  But the ignorance isn't confined to the members in the pews.  In Africa, the bishops of the Anglican Communion - and I would argue the same applies to the Catholic Church - are so stupid they fail to realize that homophobia, not homosexuality, is a European import and they ignore modern medical and mental health knowledge on sexual orientation.  And that doesn't even begin to address the issue that the human genome project has shown that Adam and Eve never existed and that "The Fall" never occurred, thus eliminating the need for a messiah.  As they threaten a schism in the Anglican Communion, the question is are they really as ignorant as they seem or is this some sick power play for control over their ignorant followers.  Religion Dispatches looks at the looming show down between knowlege and modernity and ignorance and bigotry.  Here are excerpts:

“The issue of gay marriage is threatening to split apart the Anglican Communion ahead of an important summit in Canterbury in England next week,” according to the Christian Post, “with African and Asian leaders threatening to walk out on Archbishop Justin Welby.

Welby has been hoping to preserve the communion in the face of conservative outcry over the backing given same-sex marriage by liberal bishops, including leaders of the American Episcopal Church.

The Daily Mail’s Jonathan Petre reports:

The row has torn the Church apart for a decade – with conservatives accusing liberals of abandoning the word of God by backing openly gay bishops and marriages for gay couples – and the Archbishop wants to broker a deal to allow both sides to co-exist peacefully.

But insiders said a hardcore of eight to 12 conservative archbishops from Africa and Asia are preparing to quit the meeting on the first morning unless the liberal Americans ‘repent’ or the Archbishop throws them out.

In what would be a massive challenge to Archbishop Welby’s authority, the conservatives, who represent some of the biggest of the 38 individual Churches in the worldwide ‘Communion’, are then likely move to their own headquarters nearby for the rest of the meeting.

While they are unlikely immediately to break their historic ties with the Archbishop of Canterbury – the nominal head of the Communion – they would boycott future official meetings and set up a parallel church, drawing away traditionalists from the Church of England.

The Mail on Sunday has learned that feelings are running so high that the three most powerful leaders, the Archbishops of Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda, were last week on the brink of snubbing the meeting altogether, but were persuaded to attend by colleagues still hoping to force concessions from Welby.

Sources said they have lost patience with the Archbishop’s refusal to discipline the liberals for ignoring official policy urging them to refrain from creating gay bishops or approving gay marriage without widespread agreement.

Personally, my inclination if I were Archbishop Welby would be to let them walk and immediately cut off 100% of funding from the modern elements in the Anglican Communion.  Indeed, I would go further and have all western aid to reactionary religious institutions cut off as well.  The embrace of ignorance and demagoguery needs to carry a very heavy price.

More East African Anti-Gay Batshitery

One would think that with all of the economic and medical care problems that are unfortunately the norm in East African that the leadership of Kenya world would have better things to do than fan the flames of anti-gay hysteria. But sadly, such is not the case, the latest loud mouth disingenuous homophobe being Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga. That's right. The nation's per capita income is $1,200 per year and the typical life expectancy is only 47 to 55 years, but what's the nation's biggest worry: same sex relations. Indeed, Odinga stated that "Any man found engaging in sexual activities with another man should be arrested," and went on to say that lesbians should be arrested as well. Here are highlights from the Johannesburg Times:
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"Any man found engaging in sexual activities with another man should be arrested," Odinga said at a rally on Sunday, in the Nairobi slum of Kibera. . . . . "This kind of behaviour will not be tolerated in this country. Men or women found engaging in those acts deserve to be arrested and will be arrested," Odinga said to cheers and laughter in the crowd.
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It's beyond f*cked up, but no doubt the Christianists who are exporting the anti-gay agenda are pleased with their handiwork as reflected in Kenya.

How to Become a Millionaire - Become a Pastor

I have always been a bit leery of fundamentalist preachers - especially the ones who carry on about tithing and money while showing little Christian charity or humility. Obviously, in this country one need only think of Pat Robertson and other televangelists who have made their preaching into multi-million dollar empires and live like the wealthiest of Pharisees of old. It seems that this less than altruistic trait so popular with the professional Christian set in the USA has been exported now to Africa - along with homophobia and ant-gay obsessions. The Ecomomist looks at this development in East Africa where one can go from poverty to great wealth all by setting up as a pastor and fleecing the uneducated. To me, it's Christianity at its worst and is just as morally bankrupt as the Catholic Church hierarchy that lives the good life while preaching humility and sacrifice to those they live off of like parasites. Indeed, these folks make use car salesmen look ethical and paganism look attractive if this is the future of Christianity. Here are some highlights:
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AT A rally in Nairobi’s Uhuru Park on a Sunday afternoon last month, Bishop Margaret Wanjiru, parliamentarian, assistant minister for housing and one of the country’s foremost Pentecostal preachers, was passing around a paper bag for contributions from the crowd.
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Officially Pentecostals and other “charismatics” count for no more than 5% of the population. In reality, their ministers preach to about a third of the country every week. Their rise reflects an important trend across Africa. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, about 17m Africans described themselves as born-again Christians in 1970. Today the figure has soared to more than 400m, which accounts for over a third of Africa’s population.
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Ms Wanjiru has lived the Pentecostal dream. She is from a poor family of casual labourers and eked out a life as a housemaid and toilet cleaner before working her way up to a marketing job. She then experienced a vision from God calling on her to save Africa. These days videos, CDs and other accessories can be bought from her website using credit cards or phone credit. She makes good use of Facebook, Twitter and other social media. She is not afraid to court controversy, last year baptising the boss of the Mungiki organised-crime outfit, Maina Njenga.
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[T]here is also plenty of hucksterism. You will be blessed with health and wealth by God, congregants are told, especially if you give generously. As in other parts of the world, the new churches in Kenya and Uganda provide a place for the ambitious poor to get ahead. Yet the real competitive advantage of the new churches in east Africa seems to be their willingness to tap, at least subliminally, into traditional beliefs.
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However, the new churches may not be able to translate today’s assertiveness into permanent political power. . . . Then there is the question of class. Pentecostalism cannot quite shake off its impecunious roots. The cabal of civil servants, soldiers, and businessmen who dominate the golf and social clubs of Nairobi and Kampala, the capitals of Kenya and Uganda, are mostly Anglican and Roman Catholic and are unlikely to be swayed by any casting out of demons.
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Support for the anti-homosexuality bill in the Ugandan parliament has fallen away after Mr Ssempa and other preachers accused a rival Pentecostal, Robert Kayanja, of sodomy. Mr Kayanja, coincidentally a half-brother of the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, has himself been criticised in Uganda for milking the poor to live a luxury life. And the clear anti-Muslim sentiment scares politicians who want to win the sizeable Muslim vote.

Older White Women Join Kenya's Sex Tourists

I stumbled upon this article on Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2638979720071126) and thought: WTF? I then immediately thought of all the anti-gay Anglicans in Africa and figured this story should cause an outcry. Unless, of course they save their demands for chastity and celibacy for gays. In any event, I figured this story was off the beaten path of my usual postings and might generate some comments. It also indicates, I guess, that I needn't worry about dating younger guys. If these women can do it, so can I. :) So here are some highlights:

MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Bethan, 56, lives in southern England on the same street as best friend Allie, 64. They are on their first holiday to Kenya, a country they say is "just full of big young boys who like us older girls." Hard figures are difficult to come by, but local people on the coast estimate that as many as one in five single women visiting from rich countries are in search of sex. Allie and Bethan -- who both declined to give their full names -- said they planned to spend a whole month touring Kenya's palm-fringed beaches. They would do well to avoid the country's tourism officials.

The white beaches of the Indian Ocean coast stretched before the friends as they both walked arm-in-arm with young African men, Allie resting her white haired-head on the shoulder of her companion, a six-foot-four 23-year-old from the Maasai tribe. Grieves-Cook and many hotel managers say they are doing all they can to discourage the practice of older women picking up local boys, arguing it is far from the type of tourism they want to encourage in the east African nation.

"Old white guys have always come for the younger girls and boys, preying on their poverty ... But these old women followed ... they never push the legal age limits, they seem happy just doing what is sneered at in their countries." "It's not love, obviously. I didn't come here looking for a husband," Bethan said over a pounding beat from the speakers. "It's a social arrangement. I buy him a nice shirt and we go out for dinner. For as long as he stays with me he doesn't pay for anything, and I get what I want -- a good time. How is that different from a man buying a young girl dinner?"