You know that things are bad when the fact that the head (or soon-to-be-head) of the Anglican Church in Uganda believes that gay people should be imprisoned is
good news:
New Archbishop of Uganda called gays ‘unacceptable’ but opposed death penalty bill
by Stephen Gray
25 June 2012, 6:22pm
The new Archbishop of Uganda has been announced as the Rt Rev Stanley Ntagali, who has spoken out against the death penalty for people convicted of homosexuality in the African state while also calling the sexual orientation “categorically unacceptable”.
The Rt Rev Stanley Ntagali was elected the eighth Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Uganda in a secret ballot last week and will be consecrated in December.
He joined international concern over the death penalty provisions in Uganda’s infamous ‘Kill the gays’ bill in 2009 but has spoken out against homosexuality in the past and backed the prison sentences given for some kinds of gay acts.
Ugandan daily New Vision said at the weekend the new Archbishop’s anti-gay views were “well-known”.
He said in 2009: “Homosexuality is a big issue in Africa. The Bible says that only men of good standing, following the word of Christ can be leaders of the Church. We disagree with our counterparts in England and America, who ordain homosexuals as priests.”
Speaking in reaction to a draft law which would have seen the death penalty introduced for some offences related to gay acts instead of the severe prison sentences currently used, the then-Bishop of Masindi-Kitara said he opposed the death penalty.
The bill condemned for life imprisonment anyone who performed a gay sexual act. It would have given the death penalty to anyone who committed a gay act with a minor, their own child or someone with a disability. They would also be liable for death if they were living with HIV or if they had been convicted of a gay act before.
Bishop Ntagali said in reaction to the 2009 draft law that homosexuality was “categorically unacceptable.”
But, he added: “I think the death penalty is not acceptable. I think taking someone to jail for a period of time would be sufficient.”
That appears to be an improvement over the previous (or on-his-way-out) Archbishop of Uganda, Henry Orombi, as
described by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury -- the head of the entire Worldwide Anglican Communion:
Rowan Williams, Leader of the Anglican Church, Publicly Denounces Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill
by Steve Williams
December 13, 2009
7:00 am
In an interview with the British Telegraph newspaper, the leader of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has publicly condemned Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill that would literally enable the Ugandan government to hound gay men and women to death if the penalty of “aggravated homosexuality” is not removed.
In the interview, Dr. Rowan Williams talks about the schism facing the Anglican Church, his relationship with the Vatican, and also comments on legislation tabled by Ugandan MP David Bahati that has been dubbed the “Kill the Gays Bill”:
“Overall, the proposed legislation is of shocking severity and I can’t see how it could be supported by any Anglican who is committed to what the Communion has said in recent decades,” says Dr Williams. “Apart from invoking the death penalty, it makes pastoral care impossible – it seeks to turn pastors into informers.” He adds that the Anglican Church in Uganda opposes the death penalty but, tellingly, he notes that its archbishop, Henry Orombi, who boycotted the Lambeth Conference last year, “has not taken a position on this bill”.
While this is late in coming, it is an appropriately firm statement that leaves little room for doubt over the Anglican leader’s position as to the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
So the Anglican Church in Uganda wants merely to imprison gay people. And that is an improvement.
Disgusting.
Reason is valuable only when it performs against the wordless physical background of the universe.
