Rick Warren Denounces Anti-Homosexuality Bill, Addresses Ugandan Pastors

Rick Warren released a detailed statement today, addressed to Ugandan pastors, strongly denouncing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009. He also provided a video address via YouTube. Given the misreporting about Warren and his views regarding the bill, it was high time he cleared it all up.

Here is his statement:

Dear fellow pastors in Uganda,

I greet you in the name and love of Jesus Christ as I send this encyclical video (http://www.youtube.com/saddlebackchurch) to the pastors of the churches of Uganda with greetings from your fellow pastors around the world. May grace and peace be with you this Christmas season.

We are all familiar with Edmund Burke’s insight, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” That is why I’m sharing my heart with you today. As an American pastor, it is not my role to interfere with the politics of other nations, but it IS my role to speak out on moral issues. It is my role to shepherd other pastors who look to me for guidance, and it is my role to correct lies, errors and false reports when others associate my name with a law that I had nothing to do with, completely oppose and vigorously condemn. I am referring to the pending law under consideration by the Ugandan Parliament, known as the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

As a pastor, I’ve found the most effective way to build consensus for social change is usually through direct quiet diplomacy and behind-the-scenes dialogue, rather than through media. But because I didn’t rush to make a public statement, some erroneously concluded that I supported this terrible bill, and some even claimed I was a sponsor of the bill. You in Uganda know that is untrue.

I am releasing this video to you and your congregations to correct these untruths and to urge you to make a positive difference at this critical point in your nation.

While we can never deny or water down what God’s Word clearly teaches about sexuality, at the same time the church must stand to protect the dignity of all individuals – as Jesus did and commanded all of us to do.

Let me be clear that God’s Word states that all sex outside of marriage is not what God intends. Jesus reaffirmed what Moses wrote that marriage is intended to be between one man and one woman committed to each other for life. Jesus also taught us that the greatest commandment is to love our neighbors as ourselves. Since God created all, and Jesus suffered and died for all, then we are to treat all with respect. The Great Commandment has been the centerpiece of my life and ministry for over 35 years.

Of course, there are thousands of evil laws enacted around the world and I cannot speak to pastors about every one of them, but I am taking the extraordinary step of speaking to you – the pastors of Uganda and spiritual leaders of your nation – for five reasons:

First, the potential law is unjust, extreme and un-Christian toward homosexuals, requiring the death penalty in some cases. If I am reading the proposed bill correctly, this law would also imprison anyone convicted of homosexual practice.

Second, the law would force pastors to report their pastoral conversations with homosexuals to authorities.

Third, it would have a chilling effect on your ministry to the hurting. As you know, in Africa, it is the churches that are bearing the primary burden of providing care for people infected with HIV/AIDS. If this bill passed, homosexuals who are HIV positive will be reluctant to seek or receive care, comfort and compassion from our churches out of fear of being reported. You and I know that the churches of Uganda are the truly caring communities where people receive hope and help, not condemnation.

Fourth, ALL life, no matter how humble or broken, whether unborn or dying, is precious to God. My wife, Kay, and I have devoted our lives and our ministry to saving the lives of people, including homosexuals, who are HIV positive. It would be inconsistent to save some lives and wish death on others. We’re not just pro-life. We are whole life.

Finally, the freedom to make moral choices and our right to free expression are gifts endowed by God. Uganda is a democratic country with remarkable and wise people, and in a democracy everyone has a right to speak up. For these reasons, I urge you, the pastors of Uganda, to speak out against the proposed law.

My role, and the role of the PEACE Plan, whether in Uganda or any other country, is always pastoral, not political. I vigorously oppose anything that hinders the goals of the PEACE Plan: Promoting reconciliation, Equipping ethical leaders, Assisting the poor, Caring for the sick, and Educating the next generation, which includes the protection of children.

Please know that you and the people of Uganda are in my constant prayers. This Christmas season I pray you will experience the three purposes of Christmas as announced by the angel at the birth of Christ. First, the angel said, “I bring you good news of great joy.” Christmas is a time of celebration – Jesus is the Good News for the whole world. God came to earth to be with us! Next, the angel said, “For unto us is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!” Christmas is a time for salvation. If we didn’t need a Savior, God would not have sent one. Finally, the angel said, “Peace on earth, good will toward men.” Christmas is a time for reconciliation. The message of Christmas is good cheer, good news and good will for the whole world.

It is my prayer that the churches and people of Uganda will experience all three of these this season. May God bless you; and may God bless the nation of Uganda.

Key Facts Concerning Recent Media and Blog Reports on Rick Warren’s Position on Uganda

1. Do you support the death penalty for homosexuals?

Absolutely not. ALL life, no matter how humble or broken, whether unborn or dying, is precious to God. My wife, Kay, and I have devoted our lives and our ministry to saving the lives of people, including homosexuals, who are HIV positive. It would be inconsistent to save some lives and wish death on others. We’re not just pro-life. We are whole life.

2. Do you support life imprisonment for homosexuality?

Of course not. I oppose the criminalization of homosexuality. The freedom to make moral choices is endowed by God. Since God gives us that freedom, we must protect it for all, even when we disagree with their choices.

3. Are you a friend of the President of Uganda?

No. I’ve never met him, and never had any kind of communications with him or with any member of the Ugandan Parliament.

4. Didn’t the President of Uganda say he wanted his country to be Purpose Driven?

No, he didn’t. That was said by the President of Rwanda, not Uganda, at a national rally in Rwanda in 2005. Years later, the Anglican Archbishop of Uganda made a similar comment so people are confusing Uganda with Rwanda, the country next to Uganda. While we have just begun to train pastors in Uganda, we are very involved in Rwanda, creating a nationwide PEACE Plan at the invitation of the churches there. Over 1,000 Saddleback members have served on humanitarian projects in Rwanda.

5. What did you do when you heard about the proposed Ugandan law?

I wrote to the most influential leader I knew in that country, the Anglican Archbishop of Uganda, and shared my opposition and concern. He wrote me back, saying that he, too, was opposed to the death penalty for homosexuals. There are thousands of evil laws enacted around the world that kill people (For instance, last year, 146,000 Christians around the world were killed because of their faith.). In this case, I knew the Archbishop in Uganda, so I did what I could, but my influence in that nation has been greatly exaggerated by the media.

6. Is Uganda Pastor Martin Ssempa an associate who represents you?

Not at all. At each of our Global Summits on AIDS (on World AIDS Day) we’ve invited speakers from a wide spectrum of religions, beliefs, political views and health care expertise. We’ve had believers and atheists; liberals and conservatives; gays and straights. Ssempa was just one of over 200 speakers we’ve invited. At each Summit we make it clear that no speaker represents us, and that we don’t control, endorse or agree with all that is said. Our desire is to encourage everyone to work together in ending HIV/AIDS and caring for those infected and affected. Ssempa was one of many speakers in 2005 and 2006. In 2007, when we learned that Ssempa’s beliefs and actions were vastly different than ours, we disassociated ourselves from him.

7. Did you say that homosexuality is not a human right?

Absolutely not. What I said in an interview in Uganda was that there is no civil right to gay marriage guaranteed by the United States Constitution. All Americans, and I believe all people, are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” as spoken by the United States Declaration of Independence.

8. Do you know Scott Lively?

No, I do not know Scott Lively and have had no contact with him regarding Uganda or any other issue. I would certainly not associate with anyone who denies the Holocaust, one of the greatest tragedies in human history.

9. Are you and Peter Wagner attempting to rid the world of homosexuals?

Absolutely not. Peter Wagner was a seminary professor of mine, but not my doctoral dissertation advisor. I have not had contact with Peter Wagner for many years and am certainly not conspiring with him for any purpose. Additionally, the event chronicled at Angels Stadium in 2005 has been grossly misrepresented. I was simply arguing that Christians could have a tremendous effect for good in the world if they had the same dedication as the followers of Mao. I would never argue that anyone should emulate or espouse the views of Mao, Hitler or Lenin.

Two New Developments in Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill Controversy

Bloomberg reported yesterday that the life imprisonment and death penalty stipulations are being dropped from Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill. That’s a step in the right direction, but the bill still presents some major problems.

One is the obstacle to ministries or churches that want to provide outreach or counsel to struggling gays. There is no allowance for confidentiality. The other is HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. Time magazine interviewed a doctor treating HIV-infected patients in Uganda who asked not to be named in the report for fear of being arrested for “aiding and abetting” homosexuals unless he turned his patients in to authorities.

This admission by the Uganda Media Centre that the bill reaches too far is also a bit of promising news. Perhaps Uganda’s Parliament will put the brakes on and rethink this horrendous piece of legislation.

While one can sympathize with the strong African desire to protect and preserve the family, it is apparent that many more problems other than homosexuality are facing Africans. The same is true of the embattled family here in the U.S.

UCLA HIV Adult Stem Cell Research Shows Promise

Researchers at UCLA have announced preliminary success with experiments on mice utilizing adult stem cells to attack HIV cells. The results were announced in the journal PLOS One. The study still has a way to go before any human trials can be conducted, but it is encouraging news.

At least one HIV-positive leukemia patient has been treated with adult stem cells, causing the virus to go into remission for two years.

White House Finds ‘Room in the Inn’ for Baby Jesus

So, have you heard how the infamous, glam, social secretary for the White House, Desirée Rogers, caused heart palpitations by suggesting that the White House would not display its historic crèche in the East Room this year? She lost.

But the fact that it was going to happen reveals a level of political tone-deafness in the current administration that is staggering. To most average Americans — who did not grow up in an Ivy-League, inside-the-Beltway hothouse governed by the rules of the French Revolution — the idea of keeping Jesus out of “the people’s house” at Christmas evokes disturbing images of the Holy Family being turned away from the Inn, or worse yet, images of Herod. But to a super-secular White House afraid to offend anyone — except for average Americans — it probably just seemed like another fab “progressive” innovation.

If President Obama wanted to fuel the fears of every serious Christian in America and actually prove that he is every bad thing they’ve ever heard about him on every crazy Web site, the idea of symbolically taking Jesus out of the White House at Christmas would be just the ticket!

LA Episcopal Diocese Elects Lesbian Bishop

While her selection remains to be affirmed by a church majority, Rev. Mary Glasspool is the second openly gay Episcopal member of the clergy to be put forward for consecration as a bishop in the venerable denomination. Bishop Eugene Robinson preceded her in 2003.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, had this to say:

“The election of Mary Glasspool by the diocese of Los Angeles as suffragan bishop elect raises very serious questions not just for the Episcopal church and its place in the Anglican communion, but for the communion as a whole.

The process of selection, however, is only part complete. The election has to be confirmed, or could be rejected, by diocesan bishops and diocesan standing committees. That decision will have very important implications.”

The Marin Foundation Needs Help

Andrew Marin has announced that the Marin Foundation is in financial straits. He has made a very rare appeal for funds via his blog. Those who follow my blog will know that his ministry is a unique one of building bridges between the Church and the gay community. His spiritual gifts are a rare blend of mercy, discernment and teaching. To lose this ministry would be a very sad thing for the Kingdom.

If you have any giving still planned before year’s end, would you consider making a donation to The Marin Foundation? Click the link either above or in the blogroll at the right.

Please consider passing this on. And pray. Thank you.

Kevin Jennings, GLSEN ‘Queer’ and Porn-Up Education

More disturbing news about Kevin Jennings, the man who is unfit by any stretch of the imagination to hold the “safe schools czar” post in the Department of Education. Warning: Some of the material covered in this report is explicit and disturbing.

Scott Baker and Breitbart.tv reviewed a number of books on GLSEN’s
recommended reading list for students (K-12) and found the content highly inappropriate and even pornographic:

We were unprepared for what we encountered. Book after book after book contained stories and anecdotes that weren’t merely X-rated and pornographic, but which featured explicit descriptions of sex acts between pre-schoolers; stories that seemed to promote and recommend child-adult sexual relationships; stories of public masturbation, anal sex in restrooms, affairs between students and teachers, five-year-olds playing sex games, semen flying through the air. One memoir even praised becoming a prostitute as a way to increase one’s self-esteem. Above all, the books seemed to have less to do with promoting tolerance than with an unabashed attempt to indoctrinate students into a hyper-sexualized worldview.

New York Rejects Gay Marriage

In a 38-24 vote, with all Republicans voting against it, New York’s gay marriage bill was defeated today in the state Senate. Here is one of many news articles.

New Jersey is the next state in line expected to take up the gay marriage issue in the coming weeks.

The Kindness that Hurts

Yesterday was World AIDS Day. I tend to get in trouble with gays and lesbians if I dare to mention the inconvenient truth that most of those suffering from AIDS here in the U.S. are not in anywhere near the same category as most AIDS sufferers in Africa. AIDS orphans or children born with AIDS are a relatively rare occurrence here. In Africa, they are an all-too-common sight.

In South Africa alone, there are 1,400,000 AIDS orphans, according to a recent report from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. UNESCO estimates that 44 million children in sub-Saharan Africa will have lost their parents to the AIDS pandemic by the end of this decade.

Numbers of orphaned children in the U.S. whose HIV-infected mothers had died have decreased dramatically in the U.S., according to a 2000 report from the National Institutes of Health. The U.S. numbers of AIDS orphans are somewhere in the tens of thousands, as can best be determined.

Just in South Africa, more than 14,000 infants died from AIDS-related causes in 2000. In the U.S., the numbers of infants born with HIV has dropped dramatically since the mid-1990s, according to a 2007 report from the Health Resources and Services Administration.

White infants born with HIV declined by more than 80 percent, black infants born with the virus decreased by 65.6 percent and Hispanic infants born with HIV dropped by 40.6 percent. In 2005, 111 infants tested positive for HIV after being born to HIV-infected mothers, the report confirms.

Those numbers speak for themselves. Nearly 14,000 HIV-related infant deaths in just South Africa (not counting the many children under the age of 5 still living with HIV/AIDS) as opposed to only 111 infants born with HIV in the U.S.

When I speak of our comparative wealth as a nation against any third-world country, or if I mention that many in the U.S. who are living with HIV/AIDS have, in effect, “volunteered” for their illness through willful sexual promiscuity — they rolled the dice and lost — I am taken to task for my “unkind” words. How dare I point out that people actually suffer from self-inflicted wounds or that sin has unintended consequences?

Do you suppose our sovereign God loves us enough to put out stop signs in life to help us see and avoid the things that can hurt us? Might He even speak directly to our hearts with a firm but loving course correction if we are about to jump off a cliff? Oh yes, He does.

How we sometimes bristle in the face of such a warning! We can choose to ignore it and go merrily on our way, living in denial. Does God spare us the consequences of reaping what we sow? No, He does not. That is a universal law that applies equally to all.

If we see a generation running headlong toward a cliff with no parachute, what is the kindest response? We can yell a warning or run and tackle them. Or we can be so fearful of offending them that we may just let them take the risk of falling off. Sometimes the school of hard knocks is the only way we learn. Sometimes, we don’t get the chance to learn from our mistakes. One screw-up may cost us our very life.

Kindness (love) rebukes when necessary. It teaches personal responsibility. It is life-giving, not life-taking. It is compassionate and forgiving when people fail or wound. It does not condemn or keep account of wrongs suffered (1 Cor. 13).

It’s hard to muster the godly love necessary to forgive those who talk out of both sides of their mouths and take cruel and dishonest pot shots at us. Sometimes God uses these very people as His “hot iron of affliction” or rod of correction. That’s even tougher to take.

Today, I am choosing to forgive. God knows who the wolves in sheeps’ clothing are. He is big enough to handle them.

Kevin Jennings and ‘Brewstergate’: What the Media All Failed To Report

Amid a bizarre series of reports since this past summer, Kevin Jennings has managed to hold onto his Department of Education “safe-schools czar” post, despite implicating himself in a failure to follow state-mandated reporting procedures, stemming from a 1980s incident of possible child sexual abuse or harm while he was teaching at a private school in Massachusetts.

Now known as “Brewstergate,” the alleged incident that got Jennings in hot water (among others) involved a sophomore male student (“Brewster”) who told Jennings he’d missed class because he had been out late the night before with an older man he’d met in a bus station restroom and had gone home with. Brewster said he was gay. So was the mystery man, supposedly. Brewster was depressed and told Jennings his life was not worth living. Should Jennings have suspected child abuse? By his own later statements, he clearly presumed the student was having sex with this older individual. He says he’d told the boy he hoped he’d used a condom.

Fox News and others felt they needed to retract some of their reporting about the incident because a man claiming to be Jennings’ Brewster came forward and produced his old Massachusetts driver’s license, which showed he would have been 16 and not 15 at the time of the alleged incident. That, in itself, is a tad suspicious. Do state DMVs keep drivers’ licenses that old? Maybe so. I have a query in the works. That would have made Brewster old enough, under Massachusetts law, to be able to consent to sex. Yes, well this is Massachusetts, remember.

“Brewster” also claimed, however, that he did not have sex with the man, even though he supposedly went home with him. Maybe he got scared or maybe they only played Monopoly. Or maybe they had “outercourse,” which organizations like Planned Parenthood claim is not sex. Whatever.

There is still one wee problem with the “facts” in this alleged incident (which may have been drummed up or amalgamated from separate incidents into one incident by Jennings to make a point about depressed gay youth). Was this kid still an at-risk student, possibly still a victim of abuse at the hands of a legal adult? And was the incident, if it happened as Jennings says it did, still reportable under Massachusetts law?

To clear up one part of the matter, here is what the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families “Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting” guidelines for mandated reporters says in its opening paragraph:

Under Massachusetts law, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) is the state agency that receives all reports of suspected abuse and/or neglect of children UNDER THE AGE OF 18. State law requires professionals whose work brings them in contact with children to notify DCF if they suspect that a child is being abused and/or neglected.

The state takes this stuff pretty seriously, as evidenced by the possible punishments for those failing to report suspected incidents of abuse:

Any mandated reporter who fails to make required oral and written reports can be punished by a fine of up to $1,000.

Effective July 1, 2010, any mandated reporter who willfully fails to report child abuse and/or neglect that resulted in serious bodily injury or death can be punished by a fine of up to $5,000 and up to 2½ years in jail, and be reported to the person’s professional licensing authority.

In addition, effective July 1, 2010, all mandated reporters who knowingly and willfully file a frivolous report of child abuse and/or neglect can be punished by a fine of up to $2,000 for the first offense, up to 6 months in jail for a second offense, and up to 2½ years in jail for a third offense.

So, had Brewster — a kid under the age of 18 — become so depressed that he took his own life or had he contracted AIDS from the mystery man (supposing this all really happened and was not a hoax), Jennings’ failure to report the incident to the state, as mandated, could have earned him some pretty stiff penalties. If Brewster was real, he was still under the age of 18 when the alleged event occurred. The incident, if real, still should have raised red flags and should have been reported. Jennings could not have known what actually took place or whether the man was predatory or HIV-positive. He would have had to err on the side of caution and protection of the boy.

No one knows if there really was a Brewster. Anyone can claim to have been him. If he was real, no one really knows if he did incur harm from that alleged incident or any other. It was not innocuous. No one knows how many other students under Jennings’ purview while a teacher may have been at risk, that risk being minimized by Jennings.

Safety? At-risk students? Does anyone really feel confident that Kevin Jennings is the man who ought to be in the role of setting policy for public schools aimed at protecting (or not) students from the clear risks of sexual promiscuity, gay or straight? I don’t. Of course, anyone who can find words of praise for Harry Hay, notorious supporter of NAMBLA, is not likely to believe there is any harm in minors having sex with adults.

Home school, anyone?