Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

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   “The curriculum had already drawn tensions among the county’s religious parents, with some worrying about appropriateness and arguing the material…

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   As someone who produced dozens of nativity plays as a teacher and a Sunday School leader, that title ‘A Gay…

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   The defence of a Christian view never seems to be settled by debate: exchange of facts, reference to historical events.…

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   But …… Rwanda is a safe place: Parliament says so.https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/8/contentsSafety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 S 2 Safety…

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   Religion can survive only on the most unquestionable assumptions. The statements made on Sundays on the BBC as if they…

WHETHER or not Uganda will become even more god-besotted than it already is is debatable, but what is certain is that the country could become a whole lot poorer as a result of President Yoweri Museveni, above, signing into law a revised version of an earlier anti-homosexuality bill.

This was made clear when President Biden yesterday (Monday) called for the immediate repeal of Uganda’s new Act and warned of possible sanctions against the country.

This shameful Act is the latest development in an alarming trend of human rights abuses and corruption in Uganda.  The dangers posed by this democratic backsliding are a threat to everyone residing in Uganda, including U.S. government personnel, the staff of our implementing partners, tourists, members of the business community, and others.

In his statement, Biden said he directed his National Security Council to evaluate implications of the law on U.S. engagement with Uganda, including whether the U.S. will continue to safely deliver services under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

And we are considering additional steps, including the application of sanctions and restriction of entry into the United States against anyone involved in serious human rights abuses or corruption.

Biden pointed to the nearly $1 billion the United States invests annually in Uganda, which by implementing this law has shown its utter contempt for human rights.

A less restrictive 2014 anti-LGBT+ law was struck down by a domestic court on procedural grounds, after Western governments had initially suspended some aid, imposed visa restrictions and limited security cooperation.

Interference by foreign evangelists

Scott Lively, left, and Paul Shinners

That law came about mainly due to pressure put on Ugandan lawmakers by a raft of hatemongers. The most slavering of these included American Scott Lively—a Massachusetts pastor and head of Abiding Truth Ministries—and Britain’s Paul Shinners, who threatened me with legal action after I revealed that he had travelled to Uganda to support what was then called the “Kill the Gays” bill.

Did Shinners make good his threat to sue me? No, for the simple reason that footage surfaced soon after which showed Shinners telling an ecstatic audience:

There is no other nation the world over that has such a plan and through this, Uganda is going to be blessed.

He also said:

Uganda is the first country to stand up for God.

Lively’s work in Uganda led to a lawsuit against him under the Alien Tort Claims Act, filed March 14, 2012, by Sexual Minorities Uganda, an LGBT rights group in that country, and the Center for Constitutional Rights in the U.S.

The lawsuit claimed thathe conspired with political and religious leaders in Uganda beginning in 2002 to incite anti-LGBT hysteria with warnings about the dangers of LGBT people to children and homosexuality to Ugandan culture.

Lively later claimed that he was not responsible for the bill, and attempted to distance himself from the damage he caused.

Religion News Service in 2014 quoted him as saying:

It’s a very insulting argument, that somehow an American evangelical pastor is so powerful that I’ve overwhelmed the intelligence of an entire government and turned them out to do my will. The Ugandans knew what they wanted to hear.

In the same RNS article Warren Throckmorton, a professor of psychology at Grove City College, said he said he would have expected a more opposition to the bill from evangelicals who have a stake in Uganda.

Evangelicals have missionaries there, televangelists have shows on TV there. There is a substantial American Christian presence there. From the Ugandans’ point of view, the bill was passed as a way to make Uganda a more Christian nation; evangelicals could’ve been more vocal by saying, ‘This is not how it’s done.’

Image via YouTube

Last month I reported that Fox Odoi-Oywelowo, above, was one of only two Ugandan MPs who voted against the Bill. country’s controversial and draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023 that was passed by Parliament this week.

He said:

Leading up to the first Anti-Homosexuality Bill in 2014, we knew that radical Pentecostal communities from the US were sponsoring the introduction of anti-LGBTIQ laws throughout Africa …I call them hate-mongers because that’s all they excel in, vending hatred in Uganda.

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If you spot any typos in this report please notify me at freethinkered@aol.com