As storm clouds brewed in the near distance, about 1,300 people gathered at the grassy Makerere University sports grounds here for a special Sunday afternoon rally and prayer service that, its organizers said, was to discuss homosexuality, witchcraft, corruption and the fear of violence leading up to the country’s pres…idential election next year.

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The guest of honor, Lou Engle, an American evangelical from Kansas City, bowed up and down from his knees at the front of the stage. Mr. Engle, who helped found TheCall Ministries, a prayer group that focuses on moral issues, arrived last week in Uganda, where TheCall has opened a new chapter. His trip comes amid a heated debate throughout the country over a bill that would ban advocacy of gay rights and suggests the death penalty for homosexuals who have AIDS and engage in sexual relations.

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For much of Sunday’s service, the topic of homosexuality was slipped in between mentions of corruption and witchcraft; evils that Ugandans were told they should wish away. Unlike at other rallies, gay activists did not picket or protest. Instead they roamed the grounds quietly, watching from a distance. Though not originally linked to the Ugandan legislation, Mr. Engle has long been a controversial figure in the United States for his views on homosexuality. During California’s referendum on same-sex marriage in 2008, he called homosexuality a “spirit of lawlessness.”

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Before arriving here last week, Mr. Engle came out with a statement condemning the harsh penalties proposed in the bill, and said that his ministry could not support it. But when he took the stage late on Sunday afternoon, with Ugandan politicians and pastors looking on, he praised the country’s “courage” and “righteousness” in promoting the bill.

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“NGOs, the U.N., Unicef, they are all coming in here and promoting an agenda,” Mr. Engle said, referring to nongovernmental organizations. “Today, America is losing its religious freedom. We are trying to restrain an agenda that is sweeping through the education system. Uganda has become ground zero.”

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The bill’s sponsor, David Bahati, who attended Sunday’s service, said in an interview that it was likely that some of its harsher provisions, including the death penalty, would be taken out before its passage, which he said he expected soon. But, he said, the goal of the bill would remain the same. The turnout for the free prayer service, and the support from Mr. Engle, were a good sign, Mr. Bahati said.

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Moments after Mr. Engle and his entourage filed off of the athletic grounds, Uganda’s minister of ethics, James Buturo, another of the bill’s supporters, came on stage and told those assembled: “These are desperate times, but we will not accept intimidation. It is our business to do what God wants. Pray for Bahati, and pray for the bill.” And then the rains came.

Read More Here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/world/africa/03uganda.html

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A group of clergy in Kansas City this week criticized a local evangelist for attending a church rally this weekend in Uganda.

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The country is considering legislation that would allow the death penalty for homosexuals.

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The clergy group, called the Kansas City Coalition of Welcoming Congregations, urged Lou Engle, a co-founder of TheCall ministry based in Kansas City, not to spread a homophobic message.

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“Engle is known for his message of God’s wrath and has a track record of referring to gay people as having demons,” according to a statement by the coalition.

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Engle did not respond to requests for an interview, but in a statement posted on TheCall’s website he said he was unaware of the legislation when the rally was planned and “will not promote this bill.”

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He said his ministry supported Christian church leaders in Uganda who sought to protect “traditional and Biblical family foundations” but it does not promote hatred toward homosexuals.

Read more:

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/04/30/1915317/local-evangelist-is-criticized.html

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Dr Brown….. I don’t expect you to agree with me on this for a moment — it sounds far out and wacky unless you believe in these kinds of things — but I’m quite sure about the spirit and intent of Jesse’s work in San Francisco, and those that got to know him would find him to be a compassionate and caring young man.

Yes, you are definitely right about that; I don’t believe in fairy tales about demons or demonic powers.

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But more to the point I don’t think that those you imbue with this rhetoric necessarily discern any difference between a person being ‘demon possessed’ as Engle claims and a person being demonic. Being demonic – of or relating to a demon – doesn’t seem to be much of a distinction from Engle’s (demonic) ‘homosexual spirits.’ Especially whenn Engle says “the homosexuals boast the dominion of darkness” in the Castro. Most of them likely haven’t had class one in theology or even mythology.

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So you likely end up doing exactly what you seek to do, demonize a class of people whose ‘sin’ or ‘possessing spirit/demon’ is seen to be one which completely sets them aside from you and your followers. It all adds up to an act of degradation, to a consideration of us as less than human in most minds. So it comes back to you being absolutely right, I and many like me don”t believe in your fairy tales.

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I believe in angels and demons, but not in the way you do – I am also a Christian but you and I obviously differ in our beliefs regarding the faith – fyi 🙂

We don’t believe that any one group of people is possessed by demons, and I’m quite sure that what we’re speaking about is different than you what you understand when you hear the same words, but as I said to Lynn David, I don’t expect you to take talk about demons (or angels, for that matter) seriously unless it’s part of your own belief system or spiritual understanding.