Why even include Rick Warren here?, you are not suggesting Mr. Warren alone is to blame for this bigotry and intolerance towards homosexuals in Uganda, or are you? Not necessarily, but the man's influence in Uganda is quite known, an influence Rick would no doubt be bragging about IF these uneducated religious morons wouldn't have taken his words to the extreme causing his work in Uganda to back fire on him, so much in fact he has tried distance himself from Uganda's leaders, even saying that his influence was exaggerated by the media. However, the Anglican pastor of Zambia told a different story, reporting that Warren had immense influence over high ranking leaders and has eaten with them, has met the first lady Janet Musevani and is aware of everything that goes on. But Warren's influence is not on trial here, having influence is not a crime, but his message is. This is a vivid example of what happens when you mix religion with the uneducated and poor. Most of them are not very well educated and tend to take superstition more seriously. They are poor and have great risks of dying young for lack of medical care, so they tend to cling to their religion much more strongly, which makes them much more dependent on it. They follow the religion the "white, rich and superior" man taught them to the letter, not only in hopes that their suffering will end, but also that they'll one day go to heaven, where they won't have to worry about whether or not they'll eat tomorrow.
In my opinion, giving money to a Christian charity for Africa is the equivalent of flushing it down the toilet. I don't know how much of that money goes to food and medicine (which is what they need the most), but you bet most of that money goes to Bibles, flying missionaries there so they can preach them about the Bible and building churches so they can teach the Bible. None of that saves a child's life, none of that feeds a child, none of that educates a child for a better future, it just pollutes their mind with fairy-tales, threats of hell-fire and horrible verses like; "Those who lay with a man as with a woman shall be put to death." This can only be justified by the belief that the word of the lord is better than food, because it magically refreshes the spirit and protects you from Satan, and blah, blah, blah. See how belief can become dangerous? They think a child is better off with a Bible on his hands than with a tasty sandwich. We are letting Christians decide for uneducated Africans what they need the most. I don't deny the great work some Christian charities have done for Africa, but they have also wasted money and time forcing religion down their throat, and this is the result.
When Mr. Warren preached in Uganda about how man on man was a "no, no", which verse do you think he used to demonstrate God was against it? As a preacher, aren't you supposed to base your teachings on the Bible? and if he didn't, is he THAT embarrassed of his own "holy" book? If God is against it, and homosexuality is an abomination and it clearly states there they should be put to death, why the hell are we not doing it? Is a simple logic that can be easily drawn, and Rick Warren hasn't done enough to prevent them from arriving to that dangerous conclusion. He gave them the book that specifically says these words, he taught them God was against it and it even made him angry. He preached and continues to preach gays are deserving of eternal fire in hell for the crime of being gay, is this not worst? Why Warren took so damn long to denounce the Bill politicians tried to push to punish homosexuals with the death penalty? I'm pretty sure Warren wouldn't have done or said a thing had it not been for the pressure put on him by the media and other vocal groups. His reason for taking so long?...he didn't want to interrupt with the politics of another country, which is an incredibly lame excuse. This is not a politics issue, Rick, THIS IS A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE, and if you cared about your fellow human beings as much as you care about selling your book with all your religious crap in it, you would have used every bit of influence you had to bring them to their senses. A lame video just won't cut it.
Gays in Uganda are horribly persecuted. Some of them are attacked, others have been imprisoned. To me it is inexcusable that Warren has done NOTHING to bring these people to their senses. He doesn't seem to understand (or care) about how all the religious hate-speech against homosexuals could have incited the violence gay people of the country now have to suffer. If I were him and I had his influence, I would fly to Uganda and do everything in my power to at least TRY to convince them to stop this non-sense. But of course, I'd do it because I care about my fellow human beings, doesn't matter whether they are gay, black, white, Christian, Muslim, atheist, straight, bi-sexual,etc...
So, it is with great dishonor that I thank Rick Warren for all the horrible killings, tortures, lives of shame and obscurity our fellow human beings will have to suffer as a direct result of his anti-gay propaganda. I think it's time for atheists, agnostics, secularists, rational Christians, rational Muslims, to be more outspoken against religious hate-speech against homosexuals and how it incites hate and violence. My humble suggestion is that every news report that comes out about discrimination against homosexuals, we put it side by side with the image of an anti-gay pastor. MAYBE this will bring some much needed SHAME to their face. If Rick wants to call Uganda "a purpose driven nation", we'll call every homosexual death "a purpose driven murder."
For more info on Warren's Influence in Uganda, watch this video;
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