intolerance is a problem in the world at large.
I have expressed a few thoughts about this here, in our most sexually
liberated Sweden...:
On Apr 25, 1:38 pm, Hetty ter Haar <oldave...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> Nigeria's gay church is reborn amid a climate of fear
>
> House of Rainbow church offers underground prayer and preaching to
> Christians ostracised by rampant homophobia
>
> Shyamantha Asokan in Lagos
> Monday April 25 2011
> The Guardian
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/24/gay-nigerians-church-serv...
>
> When Ade's aunt learned he was gay, the then 16-year-old Nigerian was
> made to go through an exorcism to expel "the demon of homosexuality".
>
> "The priest came to the house with candles, holy water and anointing
> oils. I had to kneel down, holding candles in my hands," recalls Ade,
> now 25, as he sits in a cafe in Lagos. He does not wish to reveal his
> full name. "He kept shouting 'Come out! Come out! Come out!' in a
> fevered voice... I was allowed to go back to church after that but I
> had to pretend to be straight."
>
> In a country where homosexuality is punishable by up to 14 years in
> prison, it is no surprise that many of Ade's friends - those who, like
> him, are both gay and religious - stay away from church altogether for
> fear of being outed.
>
> However, an alternative could soon be at hand. Ade is helping to
> resurrect a religious refuge for himself and his friends. He is part
> of the team restarting House of Rainbow, the country's only gay
> church, which was forced to close in 2008 after a witch-hunt stirred
> by exposés in local newspapers.
>
> The Rev Rowland Jide Macaulay, the gay minister who founded the
> church, is leading the comeback even though he remains in self-imposed
> exile in London.
>
> "Religion is a backbone to life in Nigeria, so we all want to go to
> church," he says. "But we don't want to lie to God about who we are."
>
> Macaulay first set up House of Rainbow in 2006, when he openly held
> Sunday services in a Lagos hotel hall decked out with rainbow flags. A
> public backlash culminated in members being beaten as they left
> church. Macaulay fled to the UK after death threats.
>
> This year, he has recruited a small team that includes Ade as his
> local leader in Lagos. In his voluntary role, Ade started holding
> prayer sessions and Bible study groups at his house at the end of last
> month. A full church might be set up again if it is considered safe.
>
> The project could even spread beyond the borders of Africa's most
> populous country. Macaulay has recently recruited a local leader in
> Accra, the capital of nearby Ghana. He is considering applications
> from Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
>
> Religious groups are central to Nigeria's culture of homophobia.
> Pentecostalism, an evangelical school of Christianity thought to have
> started in America just over a century ago, has blossomed in southern
> Nigeria and across Africa in recent decades. The "megachurches" in and
> around Lagos can attract tens of thousands of worshippers to a single
> service.
>
> Pentecostal pastors often see gay desire as the work of demons. "You
> might start casually but, once you get into it, you will be possessed
> by the spirit," says Emmanuel Owoyemi, a pastor in Lagos.
>
> Meanwhile, in Nigeria's mostly Muslim north, 12 states have adopted
> sharia law over the last decade. Gay sex carries the death penalty
> under sharia, although no executions have yet taken place. A national
> anti-gay marriage bill, which pushes for jail sentences for anyone who
> even assists gay marriage, has been before Nigeria's parliament since
> 2009.
>
> Being gay is regarded as an offence across much of Africa. Uganda's
> parliament continues to debate a proposed law that would introduce the
> death penalty in some cases. Malawi's president only pardoned a gay
> couple last year sentenced to 14 years in jail after an international
> outcry.
>
> Apart from being on the wrong side of the law, many homosexual
> Nigerians say exclusion from church is one of the hardest parts of
> being gay.
>
> "We are brought up to believe that you should belong to a religion. We
> feel that, if we don't go to church, God will not answer our prayers,"
> says a young gay man in Abuja, Nigeria's capital. "When I recently
> told a friend I was having financial difficulties, he said, 'When did
> you last go to church?'"
>
> In oil-rich Nigeria, where corruption robs many of even basic
> services, religious groups provide more than spiritual assistance.
> Muslim movements such as Izala have built schools in the north, while
> southern pentecostal groups such as the Redeemed Christian Church of
> God run universities. "[We] lose out on all these services," says the
> young man.
>
> Some argue that African homophobia is slowly waning. Marc Epprecht, an
> expert on sexuality in Africa at Queen's University in Canada, says
> the continent's growing number of gay rights groups are challenging
> negative stereotypes.
>
> He adds that despite the bad press it attracts, African homophobia is
> not markedly stronger than that of poor or patriarchal parts of the
> Middle East and South America.
>
> Macaulay, however, is not taking any chances this time. Prayer
> sessions are being held in secret locations. No unknown newcomers are
> being admitted. He continues to preach via YouTube from London - he
> thinks it would be unwise to return home. "We have learnt our lesson,"
> he says. "It is a hostile situation."
>
> guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2011
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