When American Evangelicalism Spreads

Anyone who watches the Rachel Maddow Show knows more than they wanted to know about the D.C. Christian group The Fellowship (The Family, C Street, etc.; The Family from here on).

For those who haven’t heard about it, The Family is a fundamentalist Christian group focussed on, what else, domination of global politics.  And before you think that’s an exaggeration of their mission, know that they have absolute sway over at least eleven US Senators who owe their political careers to the church.  That’s at least 11% of the Senate.  Their 501(c)3 non-profit organisation description states,

To develop and maintain an informal association of people banded together, to go out as "ambassadors of reconciliation," modeling the principles of Jesus, based on loving God and loving others. To work with the leaders of other nations, and as their hearts are touched, the poor, the oppressed, the widows and the youth of their country will be impacted in a positive manner. It is said that youth groups will be developed under the thoughts of Jesus, including loving others as you want to be loved.

One of those, “leaders of other nations,” that The Family has worked with is David Bahati, an MP in the Ugandan Parliament.  Bahati introduced legislation in October that would further strengthen the nation’s sanctions against homosexuality by making homosexuality punishable by execution and, taking a page from Salem, Massachusetts circa 1692, making it punishable with up to three years in prison to know of a homosexual without reporting it to the authorities within 24 hours.

Before you write this off as an act of a tribal idiot who’s never seen any culture more sophisticated than a nomadic cattle herding community, Bahati was educated in Cardiff, Wales, where 10-15% of the people surrounding him at any given moment were probably openly gay.

Not only has Bahati visited with many Family members, according to Jeff Sharlet, the man who quite literally wrote the book on The Family, he is a member of The Family!

Another powerful Ugandan, Martin Ssempa, is backing the anti-gay bill.  Ssempa is a pastor in Uganda who has frequently been invited to speak in Rick “Saddlebacktracking” Warren’s church.  This news prompted Pastor Rick to make this statement:

"The fundamental dignity of every person, our right to be free, and the freedom to make moral choices are gifts endowed by God, our creator. However, it is not my personal calling as a pastor in America to comment or interfere in the political process of other nations."

He later said, on MSNBC:

"As a pastor, my job is to encourage, to support. I never take sides.”

Wrong!  Refusing to condemn proposed legislation that would kill thousands of innocent people is not “interfering” in any way that isn’t 100% morally right!

When I think of great pastors throughout history, pastors deserving of my respect, the first name that pops into my head is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor in Nazi Germany who was executed after years of work helping Jews escape Nazi capture, reporting Nazi secrets to the UK and US and contributing to a plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler before more people were slaughtered.  It was because Bonhoeffer “interfered” with politics (in ways much more effective than “commenting”) that he is one of the few Christian ministers I hold in such high esteem.

Rick Warren, due to his connections in Uganda and his sway over Evangelicals worldwide, has the power to help put a halt to this legislation that will kill many people, however, out of fear of alienating some lunatics in the Evangelical base who would (some in public, many more in private) agree with the premise of this bill, he won’t even say a single word against the bill!  Rick Warren is no Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Rick Warren is a coward, and the folks in The Family are egomaniacal instigators of genocide.

So now we see what happens when people elsewhere in the world take the anti-gay ravings of American Evangelicals seriously:  Gay men and women are slaughtered.  First, they prevent us from being equal to them.  Then they start taking away rights that we had.  Then comes imprisonment.  Then mass murder.  It almost definitely won’t go that far in the US, but in countries where the gay rights record is already bad or nonexistent, when the active fight against gay rights is spread from the American bigots to their foreign counterparts, many people will die.

First they came for the communists,
and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;

Then they came for the Jews,
and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;

Then they came for me—
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

- Pastor Martin Niemöller