THE SALVATION ARMY - Clarification; Position on Homosexuality VI Will God's Twain Ever Come Together?

“With globalisation, religions are becoming less regional” - and “they are also becoming less hierarchal as lay leadership and initiative flourish. In so doing many are becoming less dogmatic and more practical. “Religious people today are more interested in ethical guidelines and spiritual disciplines than in doctrines.”

Harvey Cox, The 
Future of Faith

Africa - Introduction 

As more people learn to read and become educated many of the traditional beliefs will become unraveled. The human condition in Africa remains as daunting as ever. 

Homosexuality is taboo in almost all African countries and illegal in 37 (36 of Africa's 55 countries, according to Amnesty International), and punishable by death in some states, including Uganda, where rights groups say gay people have long risked jail.  Uganda’s  new legislation, rushed through parliament in December, broadens the scope of life imprisonment, and sparked a fresh crackdown across the continents.

Of the 34 countries on the UN list of Low Human Development indicators, all but four are in Africa. This inevitably means that illiteracy rates are high, infrastructure is inadequate, and health services are rudimentary. 

The international Salvation Army must face an inconvenient and potentially troubling truth. More than 75% of its worldwide members live in Africa, the most homophobic continent on the earth.

Religiosity and Views of Homosexuality

There is a strong relationship between a country’s religiosity and opinions about homosexuality. There is far less acceptance of homosexuality in countries where; religion and tribal spiritual traditions are central to people’s lives – It’s in part measured by whether they consider religion to be very important, whether they believe it is necessary to believe in God in order to be moral, and what religious traditions are upheld.

“The share of the sub-Saharan Africa population that is Christian climbed from 9% in 1910 to 63% in 2010”, says the Pew Research Centre. In those African countries where the Salvation Army membership exceeds 100,000 members (Senior Soldiers), Kenya, Zimbabwe and Southern Africa with 30,000, the percentage of Christians averages 76%.

Two weeks ago Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe threw his weight behind Uganda's draconian anti-gay laws and hinted at a crackdown on gays in his own country. 

The Zimbabwean Vice President is a Salvationist, Joyce Mujuru, who often wears her SA uniform even when serving in her official government capacity. She is one of more than 110,000 active Salvationist in the country.

Speaking of the rights of LGBT persons the President said: “The human right you have as a man is to marry a woman, not to get another man to marry, we refuse that", at a weekend wedding reception of his only daughter Bona. 

Mugabe has previously said homosexuality is un-African and described gays and lesbians as worse than pigs and dogs.

 "It's a terrible world we are in, a terrible world where people want to do things that they feel will enhance their own interests."

He said until recently he was not aware of the existence of an association of homosexuals in Zimbabwe, and warned he would want to know who belongs to the group. 

"I understand we have a group of homosexuals in this country. I didn't know until I was told the day before yesterday. So we want to check on who is in that group," Mugabe said –(the Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe; GALZ) 

Police have on several occasions raided the GALZ offices and prosecutors had laid charges against the association accusing it of operating an unregistered organisation. However, a magistrate dismissed the case last week in late February.

This counts for little at the altar of political expediency, however, according to Kapya Kaoma, an Episcopal priest from Zambia, and religion and sexuality researcher at the US-based thinktank Political Research Associates. Politicians tend to "blame the gays" to distract attention from their own failings, he says, casting them as the enemy within.

Mugabe peppered his speeches with praise of Adam and Eve and denunciations of homosexuals as animals, while electioneering last year. Kaoma said: "Religious fundamentalism is strong in these countries. That provides the militant reaction to LGBT rights. One of the fears for fundamentalists is losing grip of the country; they are told they have lost grip because of the gays. They say, 'We don't want to lose Nigeria or Uganda just as our brothers lost America to the gays. If it means killing, we will kill.'" He said homosexuality is a rare point of convergence for Christian and Islamic hardliners.

People are not paying attention to how world religions are taking advantage of globalisation. 

Those opposed to gay rights can connect very easily with African groups opposed to gay rights. In the past they had to travel; now they send an email and share tactics. Conservatives argue that gays are out to destroy 'traditional family values'; as Africans encounter fast-changing values, this language sounds very attractive."

There is, however, a paradox in the wave of oppression: the harsh laws being enacted may be a measure not of failure but of success, a reaction to gay and lesbians asserting their political identity and rights as never before. Graeme Reid, director of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights programme at Human Rights Watch, said: "I do see it as a backlash against the increasing visibility. Over the last 25 years there's been an unprecedented growth of LGBT movements across sub-Saharan Africa.

In January, Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan signed into law a bill criminalising same-sex "amorous relationships" and membership of LGBT rights groups. Last week Gambian president Yahya Jammeh declared: "We will fight these vermins called homosexuals or gays the same way we are fighting malaria-causing mosquitoes, if not more aggressively." Such statements strike a popular chord in swaths of Africa. ‘Anyone who has spent a fair amount of time on the continent is likely to encounter a warm, friendly, decent human being but who will stop them short with an outburst of homophobic prejudice. Newspapers, TV and radio often fan the flames.

End Part One - AFRICA

Sven Ljungholm

The Forest Hills Hotel -119 - Wonderful hiking trails, I'm told... 

Frodsham Village, UK - 

Wife attending SA Officers Councils (Theme: Life in a Meaningless World)