Pastor Rick Warren today asked Ugandan pastors to oppose a proposed law that could bring death to Ugandans engaging in gay sex.

The Saddleback Church pastor had come under fire last week on the Internet and in the media for not taking a stand or issuing a condemnation of the proposed legislation.

In a video posted on YouTube, Warren asked Ugandan pastors to speak out against a proposed law by a Ugandan pastor who endorsed proposed legislation making gay sex punishable by life in prison or even in some cases death.

Read the whole article.

It’s hard to imagine that a nation not led by the Taliban is actually considering passing a law imposing the death penalty, and other harsh penalties, on gays and lesbians. But it’s true (though I’ve seen information in the past couple of days saying that lawmakers behind the legislation are considering abandoning the capital punishment provision). Andrew Sullivan reports that Sen. Tom Coburn, one of the most socially conservative members of Congress, has called for the Ugandans to come to their senses. Rick Warren has done the same thing.

Read it all and follow the links.

Uganda will drop the death penalty and life imprisonment for gays in a refined version of an anti- gay bill expected to be ready for presentation to Parliament in two weeks, James Nsaba Buturo, the minister of ethics and integrity, said.

The draft bill, which is under consideration by a parliamentary committee, will drop the two punishments to attract the support of religious leaders who are opposed to these penalties, Buturo said today in a phone interview from the capital, Kampala.

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The recent election in the Diocese of Los Angeles of a partnered lesbian as bishop suffragan raises the questions of covenant and communion within The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Anglican Communion once again. Leadership in the Diocese of Texas has consistently adhered to the request for gracious restraint and a moratorium put forth in the Windsor Report and supports the ongoing process of a Covenant within the global Communion and will continue to do so.

The Diocese of Los Angeles and the Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool, elected on December 5, must now follow a consent process. The implications of this vote are far reaching and it remains to be seen if more than half of TEC’s 109 diocesan standing committees and more than half of the diocesan bishops will approve her election. It may take up to four months for the consent process to unfold.

The Windsor Report, written following the election and consecration of the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, NH in 2003, requested a moratorium on the consecration of gay bishops and in 2006, The Episcopal Church agreed to refrain from electing additional actively gay bishops. This summer, the Church’s General Convention acknowledged there is great diversity of opinion within the Church on the issueof sexuality, marriage and ordination.

The Diocese of Texas is a diverse diocese and opinions among our clergy and our laity vary on the issue of sexuality. We have many gay and lesbian members across the diocese and week after week they join with the rest of our Church as faithful communicants to worship and work on behalf of Jesus Christ. We acknowledge the blessing of diverse opinions on scripture and sexuality, while as a whole the Diocese of Texas has continued and continues to offer a clear response to the wider Communion through a traditional teaching on marriage and ordination.

Even so, the Diocese of Texas has always supported both the Windsor Report and the Covenant Process which seeks to realize a Communion where everyone across the globe has a voice in the common life of the Church. We cannot isolate ourselves by listening only to the voices of any one province, or even the voices of any one diocese within our province. In the Diocese of Texas we are interested in our relationships locally and abroad, believing we are stronger when we listen to and partner with diverse cultures around the world.

As bishop of the Diocese of Texas I will continue to honor the request of my brother and sister bishops across our province and the Communion, and the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and will not consent to the Rev. Glasspool’s election.

While I will not vote to consent to this election, I am unified with others throughout the Anglican Communion around the issues of safeguarding human rights everywhere. We reject the pending Ugandan legislation that would introduce the death penalty for people who violate portions of that country’s anti-homosexuality laws.I believe that “efforts to criminalize homosexual behavior are incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ” (General Convention 2006, Resolution D005). This has been the position of Anglican bodies, including several Lambeth Conferences.

The Primates’ Meeting noted that, as Anglicans, “we assure homosexual people that they are children of God, loved and valued by him, and deserving of the best we can give of pastoral care and friendship” (Primates’ Communiqué, Dromantine, 2005). Recently, our Presiding Bishop has spoken out and our Archbishop has been meeting intensively with the leaders of Uganda to insure the dignity of every human being is honored as a creature of God.

–(The Rt. Rev.) C. Andrew Doyle is Bishop of Texas

The Archbishop of Canterbury has rarely been more impressive than in a speech he delivered in Rome just before his meeting with the Pope and just after the Roman Catholic Church had issued its astonishing offer of a home for Anglican Catholics unable to accept women bishops and other innovations. He spoke in characteristically human and erudite fashion of why there could be no going back on the ordination of women.

Just a few days later, he failed to condemn openly the new law to be enacted in Uganda that will condemn a large number of homosexuals to death. Yet when it came to the election as a bishop of a monogamous woman who has been in the same relationship for 21 years he was quick to judge. The problem was that this woman’s relationship is with another woman.

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On Monday, Archbishop Luke Orombi’s assistant for International Relations, Ms Alison Barfoot, described as “funny and unbiblical” the choice of Ms Glasspool.

“We believe the Bible condemns homosexual behaviour as immoral. So how can a homosexual be a bishop?” she said. “This decision of the Episcopal Church in America [the equivalent Anglican Church there] will only bring more problems and divisions.”

Canon Glasspool appeared unfazed by the criticisms, telling The Times newspaper of London in comments published on Monday: “Any group of people who have been oppressed because of any one isolated aspect of their persons yearns for justice and equal rights.”

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…[Archbishop Rowan Williams] does not have authority over other Anglican provinces and, even if he did, it is too late for him to get tough with them. Everyone respects him, but nobody listens to him. While Glasspool’s election needs approval from a majority of dioceses before the consecration can proceed, her victory shows how committed the Episcopalians are to same-sex relationships, in spite of vociferous opposition.

The conservatives are also pressing ahead with their vision of what an Anglican church should look like.

However one feels about the direction or values of either, neither can be faulted for their consistency, integrity and principles. If only the same could be said for the archbishop.

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Uganda may pass a law that could lead to the death penalty for homosexual behavior.

The proposed law is odious.

Due to the legacy of colonialism, Western people should be sensitive about interfering in sub-Saharan African politics and modest in making moral pronouncements regarding Africa, but this law deserves universal condemnation. Uganda experienced many evils under colonialism, including the loss of basic liberties.

Experiencing evil does not give a free pass to do evil and this bill is wicked.

It is not a close call.

No good can come of this bill and great harm will be done if it is passed.

This well expresses my basic sentiments on this matter. Read it all.

But what is the Pope offering disenchanted Anglican flock? Is it that “enticing”? The invitation to Catholicism for the Anglicans hasn’t yet been structured but there may be separate services held in Catholic churches. There may also be special prayer books and training centres but the chain of command will still lead to the Pope.

The migrant Anglicans may also have to accept all Roman Catholic doctrine and teachings and could use elements of Anglican tradition. However, this is the jewel in the Nile for most; married Anglican clergy can still be ordained as Roman Catholic Priests with a view to eventually providing pastoral care for other former Anglicans.

This is where the olive branch offered by the Pope becomes somewhat tainted. Celibacy is a requirement to join the Catholic priesthood and if so, won’t the ordainment of married Anglican clergy as Roman priests smack of opportunism by the Pope? Why tear up the rulebook to accommodate married Anglicans? Does that mean celibacy will in the future be a non entity for those wishing to be Roman priests? Are all Catholics happy with this cross fertilisation?

Read the whole article.

The pending Ugandan legislation that would imprison for life or execute people who violate that country’s anti-homosexuality laws would be a “terrible violation of the human rights of an already persecuted minority,” Episcopal Church House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson has said.

Anderson was responding to a Nov. 16 request that Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Archbishop Henri Orombi of Uganda and she speak out against the legislation. Anderson is the first to issue a statement.

Homosexuality in Uganda currently carries a penalty of up to 14 years imprisonment. If passed, the bill would extend prison sentences for homosexuals up to and including life imprisonment and introduce the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” which includes assault against people under the age of 18 and those with disabilities.

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Good morning. What I have been asked to do this morning is to report on where we are at this point of time in the Anglican Communion. It’s a fairly complicated picture so I hope I will be given the gift of clarity as I talk to you about this. Since the last time I reported to Synod on these matters, six things have happened. I want to delineate those six things and comment on them and then conclude by talking about a situation which at the moment is absolutely no threat to the Uganda Link but is a potential cause of difficulty in relation to our relationships with the Church of Uganda.

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The Church of Uganda has come under fire from gay activists in the UK for failing to speak out against a proposed law that would toughen the East African nation’s sodomy laws.

However the furore in church circles over the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” speaks more to the rift between the African and Western Anglicans than to the politics of the proposed legislation. The campaign mounted in the West to defeat the bill will likely change few minds in Uganda, while the Church of Uganda’s response will likely been seen in Britain as moral cowardice in the face of injustice.

One senior Ugandan cleric told The Church of England Newspaper, “The Church of Uganda is not passive about current issues, but we have chosen not to be publicly confrontational. People will work behind the scenes to influence current events and discuss issues with the players rather than go to the newspapers. For example, you will never know when the Archbishop meets with the President. This is the way we Ugandans do things, which is different from the West.”

Read it carefully and read it all.

Read it all.

(ACC News) The Anglican Church of Canada’s House of Bishops has issued this statement regarding the proposed Private Member’s Bill in Uganda called “The Anti-Homosexuality Bill”:

The House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada, along with the Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, express our dismay and concern over the draft proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill currently before the Parliament of Uganda.

The proposed Bill would severely restrict the human rights of Ugandan citizens both at home and abroad by infringing freedom of speech, peaceful assembly, freedom of organization, and legitimate advocacy of civil rights. It would impose excessive and cruel penalties on persons who experience same-sex attraction as well as those who counsel, support, and advise them, including family members and clergy.

We, the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada, affirm that our baptismal covenant requires us to “respect the dignity of every human being” and to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbour as ourselves.” We further note that 1998 Lambeth Conference Resolution 1:10 called upon all bishops to reject the irrational fear of homosexual persons and to create opportunities to listen to the voice and experience of homosexual Christians. We recall that the Primates Meeting in Dromantine, Ireland 2005 condemned all persecution and violence towards homosexual persons. Clearly, the proposed Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill fails to meet these standards.

We therefore call upon our colleagues in the House of Bishops of the Province of Uganda to oppose this Private Member’s Bill. Together with our colleagues in the Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, we call upon our own Government of Canada, through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to convey to the Government of Uganda a deep sense of alarm about this fundamental violation of human rights and, through diplomatic channels, to press for its withdrawal.

However, unless we are to succumb to cultural relativism, the proposed legislation cannot simply be ignored given its apparent support from a leading government minister, its incompatibility with Anglican teaching, its undermining of Anglican ministry and mission, and the danger it represents to many Anglicans and others in Uganda who are likely to face prosecution should it become law. We need therefore to:
*
Pray for David Bahati (the Bill’s sponsor) and the Minister for Ethics and Integrity (who is so supportive of it), for all those who will be involved in any Parliamentary discussion of it (due now in January 2010) and able to amend or defeat it, for all those who now feel even further threatened simply by its publication, and for all those in the Ugandan Church seeking to be faithful witnesses and salt and light in their country.

* Seek to understand more about what is happening and the wider context in Uganda eg most of us in this country would not know the answer to many, if any, of the following questions: (1) how likely is this to become law in its present form, what sort of amendments are realistically possibly, and what will happen if it does enter the statute book?, (2) how does it compare in terms of stringency and penalties to existing legislation in relation to other (hetero)sexual conduct viewed as wrong?, (3) what are the real social and criminal problems which it is a misguided attempt to address and how can they be better addressed? eg has there been a rise in sexual abuse of minors?, (4) is there any reason other than homophobic prejudice and scapegoating as to why the bill and signficant political leaders are particularly targeting homosexual people?, (5) how widespread are the attitudes the bill represents within Ugandan church and society and how can the Christians there and elsewhere in the Communion best reform that culture and its laws?, (6) how is the Church of Uganda ministering to GLBT people?, (7) what are the real threats to marriage and family life in Uganda that this bill claims to be responding to?

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Church of Uganda yesterday said Vatican’s open invite to disgruntled Anglicans to embrace the Catholic Church for spiritual relief will have no effect on its following. Ms Alison Barfoot, the Churches external relations officer, said there are no Anglican-Catholic members in their fold to heed the Pope’s call.

Critics say the Apostolic Constitution or decree that Rome made public last month appears calculated to exploit the intra-Anglican divide and trigger mass defections over the issue of homosexuality and consecration of women as bishops. “It seems the Pope created the structure [of Anglican Ordinariate] to allow the disaffected, especially Anglo-Catholic, to preserve their tradition of prayers and liturgy while allowing them to be Catholics,” she said, adding: “We don’t think it’s going to have any impact here.”

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Several weeks ago, the Rev. Canon Dr. Alison Barfoot was approached by a rector from the Diocese of South Carolina who wanted to build relationships between his parish and the Church of Uganda. It was the type of meeting ”” a “divine appointment,” she calls it ”” that moves her to awe and joy. When people ask how they can pray for her, she requests divine appointments, health and safety.

Dr. Barfoot, who completed a Doctor in Ministry from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1999, is Assistant for International Relations to the Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi, Archbishop of the Church of Uganda.

Why are these meetings important? While in Herndon, Va., for a missions conference sponsored by the Anglican District of Virginia and Anglican Global Missions Partners on Oct. 24, Dr. Barfoot said, “I’m a matchmaker.” While Americans typically use that term for arranging romantic relationships, Dr. Barfoot’s matchmaking is in the service of a larger goal: She wants to deepen relationships among Anglicans with the Church of Uganda.

“The call that God gave to me is to see eastern Africa as a missionary force,” she told conference participants. “A mission force for the unreached ”” that’s my passion.”

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Since the Vatican launched its bold bid Tuesday to make it easier for Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic Church, the question on everyone’s mind has been: How many will convert?

Will the much ballyhooed Anglican divide over the Church’s moves to accept openly gay and female clerics now cause hundreds of thousands of conservative Anglicans ”“ mostly in Africa and parts of the US ”“ to flock to Catholicism?

Early indications from African bishops are that most Anglicans, despite their fierce opposition to homosexuality, will be saying “thanks but no thanks” to Rome’s new offer, largely because of the autonomy that they enjoy within the Anglican church.

“I don’t think that priests in Uganda are going to leave and join the Roman Catholic church,” says Bishop Stanley Ntagali, head of an Anglican diocese in the east African country of Uganda. “Uganda is [already] a separate region from the Church in Canterbury. They are able to do things their way, and we have to do things our way.”

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Unless Uganda begins to address the poverty, ethnic divisions and social unrest in its midst, the country’s future will be blighted, Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda has warned.

Police report that 24 people died in two days of rioting in and around Kampala that began on Sept 10 after the government forbade King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, the leader of Uganda’s largest ethnic group, the Baganda, from touring the Kayunga region near Kampala.

Kayunga is a part of the Baganda kingdom, however, only a minority of its residents are Baganda. The government forbade the king from visiting the region after it said he declined to meet with separatist groups.

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THE Anglican and Catholic Churches in Kayunga district conducted a joint service on Sunday in St. Stephen’s church of Uganda Namagabi. They prayed for the talks between the central Government and Buganda kingdom to produce good results.

The service was led by the Catholic priest of Namagabi parish, Emmanuel Walakira, with the help of the Anglican priest of St. Stephen’s church Daniel Balabyekubo.

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The year was 1973, the place: Uganda:

Then [Idi] Amin ordered his soldiers to execute some of the people they had arrested. They were to take the prisoners to their home towns. The towns’ people would be ordered to watch the soldiers shoot the prisoners.

Three of the men were to be shot in the stadium in Kabale, the town where Festo [Kivengere] and [his wife] Mera lived.

“I should go to the president. I should talk to him about what is happening. Maybe he will listen to me,” Festo said to Mera. “He thinks we’re trying to overthrow his government. We need to convince him we’re not.”

Now, this was a very brave thing to do! To walk right into the palace and face the cruel president was risky, to say the least. After all, Amin was killing and torturing Christians and other leaders. He might kill Festo, too!

Festo went anyway. He drove to the president’s palace in Kampala, with Hark riding nervously in the backseat.
The president greeted Festo warmly. (Hark was surprised by this. And so was Festo!) Then Amin told lies.

“It is all right,” he said. “You are quite safe. Yes, some of the soldiers are doing bad things. But I am punishing them when they do. So don’t worry about it,” he said with a smile.

“Mr. President,” Festo said, “I hear you have told everyone in Kabale to come to the big stadium to watch three men be shot. Please let these men live. Forgive them for what they have done.”

Hark saw a big scowl on Amin’s face. Oh dear, Hark thought, now he’s mad.

Festo wasn’t allowed to stay any longer. Sadly, he (and Hark) left the palace and headed home.

“How terrible,” said Mera when she heard about it. “You mean thousands of people have to go to the stadium to watch the executions?”

“Amin thinks it will stop people from trying to overthrow him,” Festo replied. There was nothing for them to do but what the president demanded. When the day came, they went to the stadium.

Three thousand people were forced to attend the shooting. No one was speaking. Dark fear filled people’s hearts. Festo turned to two of his pastor friends.

“Let’s see if we can speak to the three men before they are shot,” he suggested.

“The soldiers will never let us,” replied his friend.

“Well, let’s ask anyway,” Festo said.

“Please, sir,” said Festo approaching the soldier in charge. “I am a minister. I’d like to speak some words of comfort to the three young men before they die.”

No one expected the soldier to agree. But to Festo’s surprise, he said gruffly, “All right. You can talk to them in the arena just before they are killed!”

Festo began to pray. Hark could hear the quiet prayers (angels can, you know). He wrote them down carefully.

“Please, Lord,” prayed Festo, “give me the right words to say to these men.”

A truck drove into the arena. The soldiers unloaded the three prisoners in the middle of the stadium. They were in handcuffs. Their feet were changed together. The firing squad stood at attention, their rifles ready.

In the stands, the silent people sat as still as statues. There was a horrible feeling in the air. Festo and his friends walked across the huge arena and came up behind the prisoners.

“Oh, dear Lord Jesus! What shall I say? What shall I say?” Festo said out loud. The three prisoners heard him and turned around to face the church leaders.

“Oh!” gasped Festo when he saw their faces. They seemed so peaceful!

Festo didn’t have to say anything. As he approached the prisoners, one of them suddenly thanked Festo for coming! The man told Festo he knew Jesus had forgiven his sins. Then he asked Festo to tell his wife and children he would be waiting for them in heaven. He hoped they would accept Jesus, too, so he could be with them there.

The second man said the same thing. He raised his hands in joy and smiled bravely at Festo. Then the third man said, “I am at peace!”

Festo looked at the wonderful smiles on the men’s faces. “Why,” he said to his friends, “we need to talk to the soldiers in the firing squad, not to these men!”

Festo explained the prisoners’ words to the soldiers. When they heard what Festo said, they were shocked. For a moment, they didn’t seem to know what to do!

The three prisoners stood tall, smiling at the huge crowd of people. Then they raised their handcuffed arms and waved. Everyone waved back! People who were near had heard the brave words the prisoners had spoken. They saw the peace of God on the men’s faces.

Then the shots rang out, and the three men fell.

Now they’re safe in heaven with Jesus, thought Hark, standing beside Festo.

Then everyone went home.

–Jill Briscoe, The Man Who Would Not Hate:Festo Kivengere (W Pub Group, 1991), which was read by yours truly in this morning’s sermon

(Church of Uganda) The House of Bishops of the Church of Uganda, in its regularly scheduled meeting on 23rd June 2009, made several resolutions concerning the state of the Anglican Communion and the future of global Anglicanism.

The Bishops reaffirmed their commitment to the Anglican Communion and to the GAFCON movement as a force of renewal within the Communion, and pledged to continue to be a voice of orthodox faith, which is the biblical and historic faith of Anglicanism.

The Bishops were deeply concerned that the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) refused to seat the Church of Uganda’s duly appointed clergy delegate, Rev. Phil Ashey, and deprived the Church of Uganda from the representation to which it is entitled. The Bishops said, “The Church of Uganda’s prerogative to choose who should represent us was abused by the ACC by refusing to seat our delegate. We consider this to be a profound violation of our rights by the Joint Standing Committee and the ACC.”

The House of Bishops also reaffirmed its commitment to not receive funds from the Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Anglican Church of Canada, revisionist TEC and Canadian dioceses and parishes, and funding organs associated with them. The Bishops also chastised and called to account those Bishops among them who have violated this collective and long-standing decision.

Finally, concerning the formation of the Anglican Church in North America, the House of Bishops resolved that it warmly supports the creation of the new Province in North America, the Anglican Church in North America, recognizes Bishop Bob Duncan as its new Archbishop, and declares that it is in full communion with the Anglican Church in North America.

Likewise, the Bishops resolved to release, effective immediately, the Bishops, clergy and churches in America under its ecclesiastical oversight and to transfer them to the Anglican Church in North America. The House of Bishops further resolved to continue its partnership and friendship with them in mission and ministry, extends its hand of fellowship, and wishes them well.

Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi said, “This really is the moment we have been waiting for. We have been longing to be able to repatriate our clergy and congregations to a Biblical and viable ecclesiastical structure in North America, and that day has now come. To God be the glory.”

One cannot help gain the impression of an unfair lack of even handedness while making up the rules as they go along.

The unseating of Rev Ashey is linked with the decision to be made about who can adhere to the Covenant. Those who have consistently defied the Communion for the last five years are in a position to lobby and vote to exclude provisions in the Ridley Draft Covenant whereby other entities ( dioceses in TEC or ACNA) can sign up to the Covenant while TEC itself wants to spend 5 years considering the question. They are also allowed to retake their seats in order to engage in such lobbying while in defiance of requests of the communion about abandoning lawsuits, while those who have defied the request on cross border jurisdiction (soon to become a dead letter when ACNA is formed in six weeks time), are denied the right to exercise their own choice of who their delegate at the meeting is.

We see here what appears to be a lack of fairness, evenhandedness and consistency applied to the advantage of those who have caused the current problems by departing from the teaching and practice of the Communion in faith and morals and to the disadvantage of those who have adhered to the teaching and practice of the Communion in faith and morals. And the former will this week try to prevent the latter from even being able to adhere to the Covenant process.

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The primate of the Anglican Church of Uganda, Henry Luke Orombi, has written a strongly-worded letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, protesting the decision by the Joint Standing Committee (JSC) not to allow an American priest who was appointed as the clerical representative of the Ugandan church to the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) meeting here.

Archbishop Orombi called the decision “unjust, unbiblical, unconstitutional, ”¦short of imperialistic,” and appealed to Archbishop Williams in his capacity as president of the ACC “to help the Joint Standing Committee understand the limits of their authority.”He asked Archbishop Williams to recognize the appointment of Philip Ashey, a former priest of The Episcopal Church, who is now the chief operating officer of the Anglican American Council (AAC). The AAC is part of the Common Cause Partnership, which is advocating for recognition as a separate province in North America.

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The Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, the Most Rev’d Dr. Daniel Deng Bul Yak, has this week sent a petition, on behalf of his Church, the Church of Uganda and the Anglican Church in north eastern DR Congo, to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

In the letter, the Anglican Church leaders of the region affected since Christmas by repeated attacks by the self-styled Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) ”“ Southern Sudan, northern Uganda and north eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ”“ appealed to the British Government for assistance.

The request was specifically two-fold: firstly to put diplomatic pressure on the LRA leaders, leaders in Sudan, Uganda and Congo, and leaders of the UN peacekeeping missions in Sudan and Congo to do more to bring an end to the brutal attacks on unarmed civilians by the LRA, which have seen many Congolese and Sudanese towns swamped with refugees and displaced people since December. Secondly, the prelates pleaded for more international assistance for the relief effort in supporting these displaced people ”“ most of whom are now dependent on their and other churches.

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“You can’t understand Africa without understanding religion,” said Emmanuel Katongole, a Catholic priest from Uganda. As he led a tour of Kampala, Uganda’s capital, it was soon clear what he meant. Slogans such as “Jesus cares” and “Try Jesus” adorn taxicabs. Ads for a Catholic bank named Centenary print the letter T as a cross. Businesses have such names as “Holy Light Clinic,” “Born Again Bankers” and “Holy Hair Care.” “There is no Western-style division between secular and sacred or public and private here,” Katongole said.

But the infusion of religion into everyday life has not made Uganda a peaceful land. “We have a culture in Uganda of taking power by the point of a gun,” said Archbishop John Baptist Odama. The archbishop’s see, based in the town of Gulu in the north of the country, has been the scene of a vicious civil war for the past 22 years. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), led by Joseph Kony, has waged an antigovernment insurgency, savagely attacking rural villages and abducting children, who are turned into soldiers or sex slaves. An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 children have been kidnapped over the years.

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(ACNS) Anglican Bishop Nelson Onono-Onweng of Northern Uganda has told a delegation of the World Council of Churches (WCC) to the region that a rebel war with the government is finally over despite some recent reports of flare ups.

“We are now in a different environment. We are now in a situation of rebuilding lives. We are in the process of reconstructing this place,” Onono-Onweng told the WCC group that is part of a program to visit situations of conflict in different parts of the world.

Still, other church leaders the delegation met said they are concerned the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army led by Joseph Kony is delaying the signing of a final peace agreement.

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Leaving the Episcopal Church was about more than just leaving a denomination, Gene Prevatt says.

It was also about rejecting “the corruption of the church.”

“One does not have to look too far to see the continuing erosion of our freedoms, rising paganism, and an increasing hostility to the Gospel,” Prevatt wrote in an April church newsletter to fellow members of Christ Church in Savannah.

“God has called us out, and to those who are moving away, we have said, ‘No. We will not go with you.’ This is our turning point in history.”

For Christ Church in Savannah, that turning point began just over a year ago when leaders voted to sever ties with the Episcopal Church, claiming the denomination has failed to honor the authority of the scriptures.

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