Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

Search

Search

1. 

   You get drivel about aliens, abduction etc from all sorts of people, not just Christians – there are atheists, agnostics…

2. 

   […] last time I had had occasion to write about Rowan County clerk Kim Davis, above, was three years ago…

3. 

   Whatever is presented on the BBC, and I must admit I do not watch the TV, the fact is that…

4. 

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

5. 

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

ELISHA Mukisa, above, who became a poster-boy for the mainly Christian “ex-gay” movement in Uganda, is behind bars, ironically awaiting trial on charges of engaging in homosexuality.

Last October, in a video posted to YouTube by Family TV, Mukisa told of being “saved by Jesus from homosexuality”, but this cut no ice with the authorities.

A Monitor report last month said Mukisa rose to prominence “for his fervent anti-gay rhetoric” now finds himself entangled in a controversy involving Uganda’s first major case since the enactment of Uganda controversial anti-homosexuality law.

According to this report, under the new law, the death penalty is applicable in cases considered “aggravated,” which include repeat offences of homosexuality, sex that transmits a terminal illness, or same-sex intercourse with a minor, an elderly person, or a person with disabilities. Critics say that the law demonises gay people as immoral, disease-spreading sexual predators while further isolating the country’s already marginalized LGBTQ+ community.

Prosecutors allege that between the months of December 2022 and July 2023, within the jurisdiction of Kisaasi in Nakawa Division, Kampala, Mukisa engaged in a sexual act with Kitimbo Ramon Mwesigwa.

In March, Mukisa presented himself a as “a victim of homosexuality” before the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament which was scrutinising the then anti-homosexuality bill.

He was flanked by religious leaders including the president of the National Pastors’ Platform of Uganda, Pastor David Kiganda, another homosexuality “victim” Suleiman Kasolo, and Arising for Christ Ministries pastor Solomon Male.

Image via YouTube

Dr Frank Mugisha, above, a human rights activist, is quoted as saying.

The Mukisa story is one laden with irony. A typical example of those who live by the sword die by the sword. This is in no way a sense of schadenfreude but rather a sense of disillusionment in our political class.

Mugisha added:

The law in its entirety was based on cheap and unsubstantiated claims and his conspiracy theories … It befuddled me how he got an audience with some people at the helm of the Ugandan legislature to spread fear and hate that produced that law that has had grave implications on the country …

He blackmailed NGOs that have a bent on queer rights work. But like night follows day I knew the truth could not be hidden forever. I also unequivocally state that more than anyone else he (Mukisa) deserves to be tried with due process unlike what he wished for others.

Several other people have come out to speak about Mukisa’s detention including lawyer and activist Nicholas Opiyo.

Elisha Mukasa destroyed many people’s reputations with a litany of false accusations. He lent himself to the anti-gay campaigns that have chewed and now spit him out. But regardless of his previous actions, he, like all, deserves a fair trial. The only irony is that he’ll be tried under a law he so fervently promoted with disinformation and lies.

Please help me keep The Angry Atheist going with a donation.