Exporting Hate: American Evangelicals in Uganda

If you’re like me, you’ve been keeping up with American evangelical organizations’ role in a Ugandan bill that would criminalize LGBT citizens and strip them of their rights. If you haven’t, this is an issue you might want to know something about. Either way, I think you’ll find this short video important and informative:

When Uganda first moved to impose the death penalty on LGBTQ individuals, many of the exact same American evangelical leaders and organizations that had been actively spreading homophobia in Uganda recoiled and tried to distance themselves, insisting that that’s not what they meant. I’m not sure, though, that it makes any sense to preach that “the homosexual agenda” is out to destroy the family and prey on children and then act surprised when people respond by moving to stamp out homosexuality like some sort of scourge.

Also, it might interest you to know that this isn’t the only way American evangelicals have been exporting hate and harmful fundamentalist religious ideologies abroad. Michael Pearl’s abusive child rearing manual, To Train Up A Child, has been translated into numerous languages and sent into other countries, and the same is currently being done with Debi Pearl’s abusive marriage manual, Created To Be His Help Meet. Bill Gothard’s Advanced Training Institute, for its part, runs orphanages in Russia. It’s really hard for me to see harmful and abusive practices not only perpetuated here in the United States, but also actively exported to other countries and regions.