"God Loves Uganda" Premiers at Sundance
Frederick Clarkson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Thu Jan 17, 2013 at 07:08:37 PM EST
God Loves Uganda, a documentary film about the Christian Right's influence in spreading homophobia premiers a the Sundance Film Festival this week.  The film features, among others, the notorious American antiabortion and antigay demagogue, Lou Engle of The Call.  It also features my colleague Rev. Dr. Kapya Kaoma of Political Research Associates and author of two related reports on Africa, Globalizing the Culture Wars and Colonizing African Values.

UPDATED to include the official film trailer:


Here  a blurb from the Sundance web site:

A battle rages in East Africa, where crosses replace guns and shouts of prayer roar louder than missiles. American evangelical Christians have chosen Uganda, with Africa's youngest and most vulnerable population, as their ground zero in a battle for the soul of a continent. American missionaries and religious leaders are working with African pastors in a radical campaign to eradicate sin through the most extreme measures. The stakes are nothing less than life and death.

Here is an excerpt from the God Loves Uganda web site:

It features Lou Engle, the creator of The Call which brings tens of thousands of believers together to pray against sexual sin. It provides a rare view of the most powerful evangelical minister in Uganda, who lives in a mansion where he's served by a white-coated chef. It goes into a Ugandan church where a preacher whips a congregation into mass hysteria with anti-gay rhetoric.

It records the culture clash between enthusiastic Midwestern missionaries and world weary Ugandans. It features a heartbreaking interview with gay activist David Kato shortly before he was murdered. It tells the moving story of Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, a minister excommunicated, ostracized and literally spat on for being tolerant and his remarkable campaign for peace and healing in Uganda.


Here is an excerpt from the Indiewire discussion with director Roger Ross Williams:

While shooting in Uganda in 2011, the conservative evangelical pastors I was filming -- the most ardent supporters of the country's now infamous Anti-Homosexuality Bill -- discovered that I myself am gay. One began circulating emails suggesting that I be killed. I left the country immediately, and hoped I'd never have to go back.

Cut to a year later. I'm with my editors at the Sundance Documentary Edit lab and it is becoming abundantly clear that we needed more footage from Uganda. We needed to spend more time there to do justice to this very complicated, and very important story. And the only way to get it right meant I had to go back. Either I sacrificed, or the story would have to.

And so I went. I spent three terrifying, thrilling weeks in Uganda, knowing full well that this would be the last time I was in a country I've been filming for the past three years. And I'm happy to say that without the footage we captured on that last trip, `God Loves Uganda' probably wouldn't be premiering at Sundance."




Display:
From "Colonizing African Values", executive summary, third paragraph:

"Political Research Associates provided early warning of the campaigns in its 2009 report, "Globalizing the Culture Wars: U.S. Conservatives, African Churches, and Homophobia," and singled out the true instigators of the hateful legislation in Uganda: U.S. Christian Right figures including the internationally prominent Baptist pastor and bestselling author, Rick Warren; Scott Lively, the anti-gay, Holocaust revisionist; and Lou Engle, head of the revivalist group, The Call, and a leader in the right-wing New Apostolic Reformation movement."

Neither Lou Engle nor his The Call ministry are mentioned in Kaoma's first PRA report, "Globalizing the Culture Wars: U.S. Conservatives, African Churches, and Homophobia".

In fact, I broke the story on Lou Engle's plan to take "The Call" to Uganda, in a December 2009 story right here at Talk To Action - the fact that I'd broken the story was noted at the time by Richard Bartholomew, Jim Burroway, and Warren Throckmorton (who have paid the closest attention to Uganda's mounting antigay crusade.)

Here's my December 2009 TTA story:

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2009/12/20/224021/61

by Bruce Wilson on Fri Jan 18, 2013 at 09:26:50 AM EST

namely, Anglicanism, and the various US breakaway ex-Episcopalians who joined up with Uganda and Nigeria.
He published in the Episcoblogosphere on Ugandan Anglican issues before joining PRA.

by NancyP on Fri Jan 18, 2013 at 02:43:27 PM EST
Parent
I didn't want to put it so bluntly, but this isn't about denominational concerns; it's about basic factual accuracy. To put such a false claim in a publicly released nonprofit exec. summary is to my mind quite bizarre. To what end ?

by Bruce Wilson on Sat Jan 19, 2013 at 04:14:52 AM EST
Parent




WWW Talk To Action


A Talk to Action Anthology on Nullification and Secession
Over the past few months a number of posts have addressed the growing movement advocating the nullification of federal laws and even secession of......
By Frederick Clarkson (1 comment)
Thomas E. Woods, Jr. And the Right to Oppress
In the last several posts we have examined an element of the Catholic Right  comprised of neo-Confederate apologists who openly advocate both the state......
By Frank Cocozzelli (5 comments)
Freedom From Foolishness?: Texas Gov. Misconstrues Religious Liberty
Whenever I hear someone - especially a politician - say that the First Amendment protects freedom of religion, not freedom from religion, I just......
By Rob Boston (9 comments)
What is Christian nationalism?
Author Michelle Goldberg one of the early regular contributors to Talk to Action, posted an announcement and preview of her excellent book, Kingdom Coming......
By Michelle Goldberg (45 comments)
Fresh Religious Supremacism from the Rev. Dr. Albert Mohler
The Rev. Dr. Albert Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has fired another salvo in the war of attrition that has been......
By Frederick Clarkson (5 comments)
Bench Press: Atheist Group Wins Right To Display Monument In North Florida County
By the end of the month, the courthouse in Bradford County, Fla., will be home to a large granite bench covered with quotes from......
By Rob Boston (8 comments)
How the Catholic Bishops Outsmarted Washington Voters
Across the U.S., religious healthcare corporations, called "healthcare ministries" by the Catholic Church, are absorbing once secular and independent hospitals. In the process they......
By Valerie Tarico (1 comment)
Sen. Lautenberg's Stand Against David Barton - More Than Just a Stand for Church/State Separation
With a career spanning three decades, Sen. Frank Lautenberg will be remembered by many different people for many different reasons. Upon hearing of his......
By Chris Rodda (0 comments)
Thomas Jefferson's Twilight Reminder About Religious Equality
Last year I was honored to write a story for The Islamic Monthly, a magazine operated by American Muslim writers and scholars.  I see......
By Frederick Clarkson (0 comments)
The NeoCon War Against the Mainline Protestant Churches, Continues
The recent smear of prominent Christian journalist Cynthia Astle by a staffer at the nefarious Institute on Religion and Democracy was a stark reminder......
By Frederick Clarkson (0 comments)
Refuting Nullification, Part Two
In this series we have been discussing the emerging influence of Thomas E. Woods and other Catholic Right neo-Confederates, who are advocating that states......
By Frank Cocozzelli (2 comments)
How to Respond to a Bully
We are honored to welcome Cynthia B. Astle as a guest front pager. She is project coordinator for United Methodist Insight, where this post......
By CynthiaAstle (1 comment)
Prayer Wars: When It Comes To Religion, The Majority Does Not Rule
As many of you know, the U.S. Supreme Court decided last week that it will hear an appeal of an Americans United case challenging......
By Rob Boston (4 comments)
The Church Child Sex Abuse Scandal Widens and Deepens
In a recent post, I discussed the apparent lack of sufficient seriousness with which the Southern Baptist Convention and the Catholic Bishops still treat......
By Frederick Clarkson (4 comments)
Refuting Nullification, Part One
The emerging influence of Thomas J. Woods and other neo-Confederate ideologues within the Catholic Right was the focus of the first post in this......
By Frank Cocozzelli (1 comment)

Democrats in Mississippi win big
Despite (or perhaps because of) endorsements made by Gov. Phil Bryant (R) and other Republican state officials, voters in Mississippi elected a surprising number of Democrats in several hard fought mayors races. ......
COinMS (0 comments)
Pat Robertson has a sad over PFAW calling him out
cross-posted at dKos Pat Robertson apparently knows that People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch project has frequently made him a target.  And he doesn't like it.   Yesterday, Robertson led off the......
Christian Dem in NC (0 comments)
Christian Hate For Hire
The Chairwoman of Republican Liberty Caucus of Washington (the Ron Paul formation), is Sandi Brendale, wife of Philip Brendale–a featured speaker at the regional Anti-Indian Conference held in Bellingham on April 6. Sandi Brendale,......
Jay Taber (3 comments)
Mississippi high school forces students to attend Christian lectures: lawsuit
Reposted from Raw Story: A high school in central Mississippi allegedly forced students to watch a Christian video and listen to church officials preach about Jesus Christ. The American Humanist Association's legal center filed......
COinMS (0 comments)
PA Candidate Max Myers Advocates Theocratic Church Governance
I'm working on a story to go with this video, but for now here's just the video. For context, see Rachel Tabachnick's story, NAR Leader Running for Governor in Pennsylvania - As a Democrat......
Bruce Wilson (1 comment)
Former Maranatha Pastor Stars as Thomas Jefferson in Fox and Friends Segment
I wasn't planning on playing Seven Degrees of Maranatha Campus Ministries this evening, but was instead perusing my usual array of news and opinion websites when I found this gem on Talking Points Memo:......
ulyankee (5 comments)
American Family Association launching drive to influence 2014 elections
CBN's David Brody has learned that the American Family Association is greasing the wheels for an effort to influence the 2014 elections.  The American Renewal Project, an AFA-affiliated group that helped push Prop 8......
Christian Dem in NC (2 comments)
Kevin Swanson encourages Christian educators to break law and push religion on kids
cross-posted at dKos Kevin Swanson of Generations Radio was in rare form on his podcast yesterday.  He decried the numerous Supreme Court decisions that have resulted in government-mandated prayer being barred from the public......
Christian Dem in NC (1 comment)
Far-right religious group behind 'Path to 9/11' film continues to infiltrate mainstream media
‘Path to 9/11’ director David Cunningham, who was outed a few years ago as a member of the far-right group Youth with a Mission, has been toiling away on a number of media projects......
unholyalliances (1 comment)
S. 3526: Military Religious Freedom Act of 2012
My senator, Roger Wicker, has introduced the Military Religious Freedom Act of 2012. A couple of things here: 1.) It's very interesting that it bears the exact same name as the Military Religious Freedom......
COinMS (2 comments)
West Point cadet drops out to protest influence of fundamentalist Christianity
Blake Page was a senior at the United States Military Academy, slated to graduate in May.  He was due to be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army, and once he left the......
Christian Dem in NC (2 comments)
Brownback endorses major fundie/dominionist prayer rally on Saturday
Those of you in the Kansas City/Topeka area, be on alert--there's going to be a major invasion of fundie lunacy in Topeka on Saturday.  And it has the endorsement of none other than Kansas'......
Christian Dem in NC (2 comments)
Why is the religious right defending an unrepentant con man who preyed on minority communities?
All indications are that the religious right is rallying to the defense of Jews Offering Alternatives for Healing (JONAH), the "pray away the gay" outfit that is facing a lawsuit from four former clients......
Christian Dem in NC (1 comment)
Mike Bickle's Sexually Charged "Bridal Mysticism" IHOP Teachings
I've been picking through Mike Bickle's teachings on Bridal Mysticism and the Song of Solomon - which Bickle seems to view as allegorical for the end-time relationship of the church (the Bride of Christ)......
Bruce Wilson (19 comments)
Rick Joyner and Bob Jones delude themselves into thinking Obama will help them
Two days ago, I mentioned that Rick Joyner hosted a post-election "webinar" with another NAR leader, Bob Jones.  In it, Joyner and Jones actually laughed about the damage wrought by Hurricane Sandy because......
Christian Dem in NC (3 comments)

More Diaries...




All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments, posts, stories, and all other content are owned by the authors. Everything else © 2005 Talk to Action, LLC.