A Loss For Words

I have been feeling really good lately, because of the growing interest in biochar. It seems that the more people that I tell about it, the greater the response has been. Recently I spent some time writing back and forth to a fellow in Uganda, helping him to use char in his efforts to produce more on his land. It is amazing to know that we can use the digital realm to reach further and share more information with a wider array of people than ever before. Even the need for books and printing presses to teach others has been reduced, but last evening, I saw a grave report from that same nation that is so disturbing that I wish I could have done more, not only for this man, but for his friends and neighbors, the people of his larger community and the entire nation of Uganda.

It seems that white foreigners, mostly from the U.S.A. have dubbed Uganda their Jerusalem, a state that can be "named, claimed and tamed" in the name of their religion. Missionaries from IHOP (the International House Of Prayer), based in Kansas City, Missouri are sending groups of missionaries to Uganda to sway government leaders there as well as ordinary citizens to their abusive and demented form of X-tianity. The country claims to be a X-tian nation and has about an 80-20 mix of self identified X-tians and Muslims but in the film that aired on PBS called Independent Lens last night, the vast majority of people that I saw the representatives of IHOP working to "convert" seemed much more enlightened than those trying to convert them to their religion.

The stark poverty that ravages communities around the globe beg for non-governmental organizations to get involved, however, providing safe water and protection from the elements seems a far better way to help people than teaching them to speak in tongues or flail about to amplified music, or to stand on street corners trying to convert others to their particular flavor of religion. In my own way, I too am a missionary, although I am not motivated by any higher power. My efforts are not sanctioned by a "church" and that church is not led by folks who are millionaires who trek the globe in their private jets, raising money for "the cause". My pantheon, as well as my beliefs are less important than what I have chosen to be a stand for. Instead of trying to bring my beliefs into cultures around the planet, or capitalizing on the desperation of others, I seek to share what I have seen work.

We know from experience that condoms control the spread of AIDS much more effectively than abstinence education and that whatever claims are made for "conversion therapy", trying to "pray away the gay", as so many pseudo-religious cults try to do, is utter hokum. Many people who do not fit neatly into the male and female genders as defined by IHOP and their "god" have been murdered by overzealous "converts" to their brand of X-tianity and for this the organization needs to be prosecuted. Whipping up anti-gay furor around the globe is a heinous and deceitful act perpetrated against humanity by a small group of thugs. My father was bi-sexual, that is not what made him a millionaire. He also was not a missionary in the traditional sense. He took all of his money with him when he left the country and established a homestead for a poverty stricken family in the Philippines. The transformation of the community he adopted lives on even after his death and his motivation had absolutely nothing to do with holy books or prayer. He just brought money and compassion to a people who had been discarded and abused by capitalism.

In the film, there were several telling stories about the principles of this effort. They typically have extremely lavish homes in both the U.S. and Uganda. While the people they profess to wish to "save" from "the devil" live under threat of malnutrition, violence and are ravaged by disease, and lack of education, often without access to safe drinking water, the local church leaders as well as the missionaries are able to maintain their own way of life because of their massive influx of cash from the other side of the world. At this point it is well to realize that there have been efforts based on doing the "right" thing as well, like opening orphanages and building large churches in the region, however, these efforts pale when compared to the hate filled rhetoric that they preach in regard to anyone who does not fit into their idealized sense of right and wrong. This "church", primarily funded by American tax exempt dollars has whipped up enough furor over homo-sexuality that local political figures in Uganda have made it a criminal offense. In Uganda, much like here, people delight in pointing fingers and acting as judge, jury and executioner of all they deem immoral. In my estimation, this is no different than allowing people in Islamic states to kill others for offenses against sharia law. When we devolve into a state in which victims of rape, incest and other sexual abuses are treated as the enemy or tell them that this is god's punishment for transgressions, we are just running cover for criminals. If we tell people that their god-given sexuality is a social disease, it says far more about our own monstrous nature than their act of, or desire to love another person.

When the Bishop of a nation has to flee for fear of their life for simply preaching that the god that he believes in values love and compassion more highly than fear, hate and the lies that homophobia is based on, it is time to question whether all the money and all the "missionaries" are really doing enough good to make their transgressions worth the effort.

In the final analysis, trying to convert others to our own religious beliefs can only be the result of one of two things. Just like the roots of jealousy only having two possible sources, one branching out from either a feeling that we are capable of cheating, so our partner must be as well, or that we are simply not good enough to deserve fidelity. The urge to convert is either based on not being sure ourselves, or a deep feeling of being insignificant in "god's" eyes unless we bring others to "his word". It is stories like these that make me not just suspicious of missionaries but of any system that allows rich whites to run amok amongst the rest of us.