La guerra delle chiese africane contro le vite delle persone LGBT

Articolo pubblicato sulla versione in lingua francese del sito Africanews (Francia) il 20 ottobre 2021, liberamente tradotto da Nadia Di Iorio

Negli Stati Uniti, così come in Europa occidentale e in molti altri Paesi, alcune delle Chiese protestanti più radicate hanno a cuore l’inclusione delle persone LGBTQ; invece in Africa questo non accade: tranne che per alcune rare eccezioni, le Chiese anglicane, metodiste, presbiteriane e luterane si oppongono all’inclusione.

Nel Ghana, terra che raccoglie un ventaglio di religioni, i dirigenti delle principali Chiese sono coesi nel denunciare l’omosessualità come una “perversione”, e vogliono far approvare una legge che, qualora venisse adottata, imporrebbe contro le persone LGBTQ delle politiche tra le più severe e discriminanti che siano mai esistite in tutta l’Africa.

In Nigeria l’organo che raccoglie le Chiese cristiane ritiene che le relazioni omosessuali siano “un male che merita di ricevere le lunghe pene carcerarie previste dalla legge in vigore”.

In molti Paesi africani alcuni vescovi appartenenti alla Chiesa Metodista Unita mondiale si preparano a scindersi in una denominazione dissidente per poter continuare rifiutare di riconoscere i matrimoni omosessuali e l’ordinazione dei pastori LGBTQ.

Pene carcerarie

"All traditionalist churches are convinced against" he declares Caroline Omolo, associated pastora of the Cosmopolitan Affirming Community of Nairobi, in Kenya, a rare example of The african church that serves a majority congregation composed of lGBTQ People: “They are always coalized against us to keep silent or to make us Disappear. they don't want our Church to appear anywhere ".

Ghana, in general, is considered the country more respectful of human rights of all over Africa, however it is now targeted due to a bill that would impose prison penis who can go from three to ten years for those who feel LGBTQ, or for those who support this community. THE militants for human rights they denounced this bill, but the Ghanaian religious leaders approve it.

"It is clear that their role is to perpetuate queerphobia and transphobia, and this is very worrying and dangerous" abena Hutchful Says, a ghanaian woman who identifies herself as queer and who recently organized one manifestation against the bill in New York.

"The undoubted defenders of the bill believe they act in the name of religion" graeme Reid, director of the LGBT Rights Program of Human Right Watch. According to the director, this legislative rule would be a "Case of unheard of cruelty".

Influential religious leaders

The supporters of this bill declare that they have consulted some influential religious leadersAt the time of his editorial staff. Among those who have approved it appear the Cristiano del ghana Advice, the Conference of the Catholic bishops of Ghana and the chief imam of the country: "We don't accept the killers, why should we accept someone who practices his sexuality in a sinful way?" he declares Archbishop Philip Naameh, president of the Episcopal Conference: "If you adopt a position that clashes with procreation, this choice goes to undermine the very existence of the Ghanaian state".

The Christian Council, composed of the Methodist, Lutheran, Anglican and presbyterian churches, considers homosexuality as a "Perverse and abominable act", according to his secretary general, the reverend Cyril Fayose, belonging to the Presbyterian Evangelical Church: "Homosexuality is not a man's right and we reject it without uncertainties".

Demonstration of tolerance

In the most populous African country theCristian association of Nigeria has threatened to sanction every Church that prove tolerance towards relationships between people of the same sex. for The methodist bishop stephen Adegbite, Director of the association's national issues, this acceptance "It will never be there".

Regarding the law that criminalizes the relationships between people of the same sex, with penalties that can go up to fourteen years of prison, Stephen Adegbite is of the notice that there are no alternatives: "The Church cannot be compromised".

Comments of this type afflict i nigerian militants LGBTQ as Matthew Blaise, who told the Associated Press that he had been beaten by a Catholic priest: "Instead of using love as a means of communication, The church was horrendous when it comes to lGBTQ Issues".

According to the Catholic archbishop Alfred Adwale Martins, if the Catholic doctrine "recognizes the dignity of every human person", but also teaches those who have a relationship with a person of the same sex leads "A disordered way of living" and it should change behavior.

Social attitudes

Nigeria Is the country of origin of one of the methodist bishops, John Wesley Yohanna, who claimed to want to detach himself from the Methodist Church united to join the Reformed world methodist church. This new name was born from an alliance between American methodists and other countries that do not accept inclusion policies favored by numerous methodists in the United States. Also the bishops Samuel J.quire Jr. in Liberia and Owan Tshibang Kasap, of the South District of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they have explicitly explicitly joined the dissent.

The reverend Keith Boyette, a former methodist american which presides over the Global Methodist initiative, recalls that the point of view of the African bishops reflects social attitudes and cultural widely shared on the continent: "The homosexual orientation is perceived in a negative way, whether these people are of christian, muslim confession or an indigenous religion".

Empathy towards gay people

In Uganda, where many LGTBQ people remain in the shade for fear of the violenceAnd of arrests, a retired Anglican bishop was forbidden to preside over religious celebrations because he expressed his empathy towards gay people. After decades of the ministry next to people LGTBQ in difficulty, Christopher Senyonjo said he learned that sexuality "It is a profound and important part of our identity, and we should leave people free to be what they are". Also recognized that “Ignorance is a big problem in all this. When there is ignorance, there is a lot of suffering ".

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in 2014 one signed one hard anti-gay law which, in its original version, provided for the death penalty for some homosexual acts. In that same year, due to a intense international pressure, a judicial committee canceled the law for a technical detail, however a law remains in force, dating back to the colonial era, which criminalize sexual acts "Against the natural order".

Homosexual wedding

The famous ugandan gay militant Frank Mugisha describes religious leaders such as the "The main driving force of homophobia in Africa". According to him, some executives of the Anglican Church they have refreshed theirs hostility towards LGTBQ people in order not to lose faithful for the benefit of the Pentecostal churches, which prove to be aggressively anti-LGTBQ.

Throughout Africa only one nation, south Africa, has made marriage legal among people of the same sex, but also in this case gay and lesbian couples have difficulty being accepted by the churches, and even more in religiously celebrating their marriage.

"People tell me: i grew up in this Church, but now i'm no longer accepted" he said Nokuthula Dhladhla, a pastora of Global Interfaith Network, which defends LGBTQ rights in the religious sphere. According to her, some religious leaders they support the homosexual marriage in private, but they hesitate to do it openly for fear of being marginalized by their homologous, more conservatives.

Pandemia di Coronavirus

The Anglican South African archbishop Desmond Tutu, known all over the world for his opposition to apartheid, is a fervent defender of lGBTQ Rights: "I would never love a homophobic God. I would refuse to end up in a homophobic paradise. No, I would say: "I'm sorry, but I far prefer to go to the other side." ".

According to Caroline Omolo, Nairobi's militant pastora, some religious leaders of Kenya accuse LGTBQ people of being responsible for the Pandemia di Coronavirus: "When we say that we also serve God, they believe it is impossible". Nonetheless, underlines the fact that some professors and students of Kenya theology schools they support his lGTBQ Church, which counts approximately 300 members: "When we have the students from ours, tomorrow's leaders, nothing can be afraid of us".

Original text: Les églises africines toujours vent debout contre les droits des LGBTQ