Globalizing the Culture Wars: U.S. Conservatives, African Churches, & Homophobia
http://www.publiceye.org/publications/globalizing-the-culture-wars/index.php# The Anti-Gay Highway
# New Report Details Mutually Beneficial Relationship Between US Evangelicals and African Antigay Clergy
# By Kathryn Joyce
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/religiousright/2046/the_anti-gay_highway%3A_new_report_details_mutually_beneficial_relationship_between_us_evangelicals_and_african_antigay_clergy_Six Reasons Why Americans Should Care About What is Happening in Uganda - Rachel Tabachnick
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/10/14/154827/99A May 2010 Vanguard documentary, Missionaries of Hate, shows the impact of a conference in Uganda featuring Scott Lively and the "kill the gays" bill proposed in their Parliament, but it took more than one conference to demonize Uganda's gay population. For years there has been a multi-faceted effort by western politicians and evangelists to promote a politicized Christianity in Uganda. Jeff Sharlet exposed the role of The Family in his book by the same name and his newly released C Street House. Kapya Kaoma produced a report on western evangelical involvement in Uganda in The Public Eye. Charismatic evangelicals, now organized under the authority of apostles, have declared Uganda as a prototype in Transformation movies. The situation for gay Ugandans is dire, but for the groups who have helped to bring this about, Uganda is a prototype to be replicated in countries around the globe. Following are six reasons why we should be paying more attention.
1. Although this could mean life or death to some gay Ugandans, this issue is not limited to gay and lesbian citizens nor is it limited to Ugandans.
As seen in the Transformations movies, an ideology is being taught in which mini-utopias can be achieved in communities around the world through a process of identifying literal demons to be purged. Some may mistake this as spiritualizing a battle against societal ills, but it is not. In Uganda this spiritual warfare has advanced from the abstract (spiritual warfare against demons) to the concrete (targeting the people who are believed to harbor the demons). Once this worldview is embraced, it can be used to demonize any group which is viewed as an obstructing the "Kingdom on earth." These demons/individuals are described as an obstacle to achieving Christian dominion. They therefore become the reason that illness, poverty, corruption, environmental degradation and other societal ills, can not be miraculous defeated. In plain English, this means that gays and other demonized groups are claimed as the cause of the misfortune of others.
2. Uganda is viewed as a prototype for merging church and state.
Lou Engle Supports Principled Stand of Ugandan Anti-Gay Bill Promoters
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/sarahposne ...
Lou Engle Only One of Many of Sen. Brownback's New Apostolic Reformation Apostle Problems
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/10/17/11135/471/F ...
Transforming Uganda - video
http://www.vimeo.com/8749833Bios of American and Ugandan Leaders in "Transforming Uganda"
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/10/14/213822/52Six Reasons Americans Should Care About What Is Happening In Uganda
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/10/14/154827/99Resource Directory for the New Apostolic Reformation
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/1/20/131544/037Sam Brownback Under Fire For Ties To Controversial Evangelist Lou Engle
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/10/12/192218/65Elite Fundamentism - The Fellowship's gospel of Capitalist Power
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/religionreport/stories/2008/23Jeff Sharlet: Yes, exactly, and in fact they latched on to Museveni after Siad Barre the former dictator of Somalia died, and that was a relationship they'd forged through Senator Chuck Grassley, the conservative Republican from Iowa and still in office in the United States, and he went to see Siad Barre who was Muslim, and he said, 'Look, I want to talk to you', Barre had been a Soviet client and now he was looking to switch sides. He said, 'I want to talk to you, I can arrange meetings for you with the Pentagon, but first we need to talk about Jesus, we need to pray.' And these dictators were no dummies, they understood that the price was being exacted, which was an ideological one, a theological one, and guys like Soeharto, of course Muslim as well, were more than happy to pray to Jesus in exchange for this massive military aid. Museveni is really only the latest of these characters, who, it's pretty transparent the relationship. I write in the book about Museveni makes friends with a major family businessman, a guy named Dennis Bakke, who was at the time the CEO of AES, one of the largest energy corporations in the world, at a mid-'90s National Prayer Breakfast, and then gives Bakke a new big contract for a $500-million hydroelectric dam, which Uganda doesn't need. Well everybody's making money, they all think they're doing God's work, and they're being supported effectively by the American government, which is sort of subsidizing this kind of thing.
Stephen Crittenden: Just going back to Uganda, one public policy outcome of this connection with President Museveni is that through him, they were able to export a Christian fundamentalist abstinence program into Uganda's policy about how to deal with AIDS. In the 1990s Uganda was being held up for its ABC policy, Abstinence, Be faithful, use a Condom. Ten years later, the results are very poor.
Jeff Sharlet: It's one of the most dismaying tragedies in the fight against AIDS. Uganda was a country that had really turned around. It had a high AIDS rate, and through using this program had turned it around, had actually successfully rolled back the AIDS rate. But because it became so enmeshed with the American Christian Right, and the American Christian Right is part of President Bush's AIDS program, was able to put pressure on these countries to drop the 'C' from the ABC. So they still want Abstinence, they believe in abstinence, but they don't want Condoms. And indeed Uganda backed very sharply away from condoms, and as predictably as any scientist could have told you, the AIDS rate skyrocketed, and people are dying again. And the most horrifying part about that, for some of these people, that's not a problem. I spoke to Senator Sam Brownback about this, who has worked actually with Senator Clinton to change the laws governing US foreign aid to make it so that we can't give money to any organisation that works with prostitutes. The example Brownback's Chief Legislative Director gave me, he said he would rather a Thai prostitute die of AIDS than have her soul imperilled by using a condom. And it's just an absolutely horrifying vision of what the Gospel says.
God and the Fight Against AIDS
April 28, 2005
Helen Epstein
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2005/apr/28/god-and-the-fight-against-aids/?pagination=falseThe Less They Know, the Better
Abstinence-Only HIV/AIDS Programs in Uganda
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/uganda0305/index.htm