There have been a number of times during my hiatus that I’ve wanted to pop back in and comment on something or another going on in the world, but I decided those things will keep, and stuck to my guns.

But this Uganda thing is bothering me so much, I’m poking my head out here because whenever this kind of bullshit goes down in the name of “Christianity” I feel like I gotta say something.

In case you haven’t heard about it, here’s a summary. And here.

Throughout Advent I’ve been doing the Book of Common Prayer readings every day. That has made me spend a lot more time in the Old Testament than I’m used to, and as you may know a lot of us modern Christians have an uneasy relationship with the O.T.  There are a lot of harsh, weird rules about things. People who think the Uganda laws are a good idea may use some of those rules to justify their position. But in my readings, I have really been struck that the overwhelming message of the O.T. isn’t this harsh weird thing that is the opposite of what Jesus talks about. The overwhelming message is that God is pissed, yes, but the reason he’s pissed is his people have not loved justice, shown mercy, been humble. They’ve been corrupt. They’ve been too comfortable. They’ve sat in their palaces while people starve in the street, they’ve oppressed the poor, they’ve taken self-serving advantage of  their power instead of using it to take care of widows and orphans, and after being freed from slavery themselves, they’ve re-entered a culture of slavery by enslaving and oppressing others. They have failed to trust God, and have failed at what Jesus later tells us are the two most important commands: love God, love others. This is the overwhelming message from the prophets.

If Ugandan Christians want to love justice—yes, prosecute those who engage in sex tourism and sex trade that exploits children and the poor, sex crimes against children, rape, abuse. A sex crime is a sex crime, no matter what body parts are involved. According to wikipedia, over 75% of Ugandans live below the international poverty level. How about some justice and mercy there. There is a history of government corruption, civil war, mass murder, and genocide. Good reasons to show humility.

And while U.S. Christians are speaking out against the Uganda policy, it is a good opportunity to look at how well we’re doing at speaking for human rights here in our own land of the free.

Okay, retreating back into hiatus. Peace on earth.