David Kato was buried today in Uganda. The 42-year-old was among Uganda's most outspoken activists for LGBT rights. Mr. Kato was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in his home on Wednesday.
Human Rights Watch researcher Maria Burnett was at the funeral today. In a recording she made after the event, she described coming up family and friends gathered to mourn. They cooked food and sang songs, and eventually closed Mr. Kato's casket. The scene was peaceful, she says, until the preacher got up and began condemning homosexuality, saying that not even animals behaved as gay people do. Burnett says David's friends gathered around the preacher and insisted that he stop, and in the end police separate the two groups and took the preacher into a nearby house.
She continues:
It was clear, it appeared, that the preacher was not willing to bring David's body down to the burial site, which was a couple hundred meters away for a service there. But it didn't affect the situation in the end. The community members and many of David's friends carried his casket down the burial site, where David was laid to rest.
We'll have much more tonight on the show.
(Image: The Advocate)
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I don't understand. Was the family not aware of the preacher's stance beforehand? why was the preacher even allowed to speak? Are funerals state sponsored events? This is too bad.
I don't know what the laws are in Uganda or what the particular situation was, but sometimes you don't always know what the preacher is going to talk about before he preaches. When I buried my grandfather in Kansas I hired the preacher who lead his church (which until very recently happened to be the only church in that small town) to talk at his funeral. The preacher, instead of giving an homage to my grandfather or giving comfort to grievers, went on a rant about sin and hellfire. I ended up refusing to pay him because I was so disgusted with his service and his lack of respect. I had no idea, at the time I hired him, what his positions or values were and at the time I hired him it wasn't really a concern of mine. Again I don't know what David's family was going through, but I don't know necessarily that things like that are always clear-cut.
The minister of the church my partner's mother had attended for many years didn't give a "hellfire & brimstone" speech, but he hardly mentioned her at all and he did not once use her name.
Preachers do that a lot at funerals, I've noticed. Rather than celebrating the life of the person, they seem to want to use it as an opportunity to convert more people, or in the case of Kato, use it as a really twisted object lesson of "this is what happens when you lead a life of sin."
I'm reading Elmer Gantry right now, and between that book and the above story about the funeral, I'm kind of disgusted with preachers in general right now.
Uganda is a largely Catholic and Anglican country. Both groups, as with every major religion that I know of, even Buddism, look upon homosexuality as a serious sin (insert joke about Catholic priests) and the promotion of it by gay rights activists can only be looked upon by people who REALLY follow those religions (not me) as a grave sin. Most Catholic priests will just ignore it and not say anything here in the U.S. and in the U.K. but that isn't necessarily the thing they are supposed to do IF they believe what they are selling. The family should have been well aware that this could happen but the idea of burying him without a funeral would probably be a worrisome prospect for his family if they are believers themselves. They were probably stuck between a rock and hard place.
@MickeyM, good idea not to pay him!
@CoraH, I loved that book but I think it is something more than an attempt to convert as most people at a funeral are in the fold already or not going to be converted by a funeral oration.
It certainly felt like that is what he was attempting to do- to convert people to his ministry. The funeral was held inside of his church, so there is a possibility he intended to include a collection plate addendum at the end. I don't really know or care, I stopped his sermon because it pissed me off so much.
PeterMac-2617575 ... look upon homosexuality as a serious sin (insert joke about Catholic priests)....Sorry to have singled you out, but I've stopped letting these type of perceived innocent comments go by without pointing out the negative seriousness of it. I don't really think you meant harm here, but please just reread what you wrote, it puts homosexuality once again in the light as a perverted lifestyle, which of course it is NOT... The sexual perverted molestation of children by priests is NOT a homosexual problem...it is a problem of pedophilia, defined as a person who desires sex with children. Pedophilia is not classified as heterosexual or homosexual, and pedophiles will deliberately seek out children...as camp counselors, teachers, boys and girls club counselors, and priests. Anywhere there are children. I suppose one of the reason's we seem to think that this is a male on male crime, and also why religious leaders have gotten away with pointing to homosexuality as the reason for child molestation, is because until the last couple of decades females were barred from serving as altar boys, so the availability of female children to priests were lower than male availibility...and the first to come forward were males, but, statistically just under half of the priests victims' are female...I realize we have as a society become desensitized to female victims of sexual crime, but please, lets not forget them entirely. Not to mention, slightly more female children are molested than males in this country....only slightly. This really isn't off topic, because in Uganda, the number one reason they want to pass the "kill the gay's" bill is that they claim they are protecting their children from homosexuals. You also state that these types of people take homosexuality as a serious sin, and I agree. Isn't it funny that out of the ten commandments homosexuality isn't mentioned, but MURDER IS....and even though I am not a subscriber to any religious text, and have read most of these religious text(I'm very very old and have had enough time to read them...lol)...I have found more referrences in them to loving thy fellow man as opposed to hating him....
Rachel plans to have a GREAT deal to share on this tonight. Stay tuned. It has roots here.
There are idiots in every culture. It's too bad they don't read the Bible about being nice and accepting of others.
Here's an even better idea, Arbolesco. How about we NOT read the bible at all? Even though Jesus Christ-who never walked the face of the earth, he's a 'savior' that has been recycled over and over again-never expressly said one word about homosexuality, those who contributed to this closed minded diatribe of hate condemn it. How soon many christians forget "Do unto to others as you would have them do unto you" and "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me". Why all of us stop reading any religious text and simply think. I once got a fundamentalist co-worker to indulge me this: pretend it has been proven that god does not exist. Proven unequivocally. As such, Jesus Christ did not exist. If such, give me one reason why the United States should not have same sex marriage. He conceded there is no reason. You could float all the ships on earth on the blood that has been shed in the name of religion, and virtually all of them on the three worst offenders: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
satelite7: EXACTLY!!!
Culture wars just weren't good enough! Now we have to have a religous war flare up on the progressive front...
We do lunge for bait mighty quickly, we progressives... as the American flagship on the world stage swirls down the drain.
;-)
Disgusting. Sounds like his friends and family loved him very much and that's all that matters. And as for the preacher, my mom always says "god will get you".
When is the human race going to look beyond the persons life style and deal with each other in a civil non hurtful way
As awful as this is, I'm hardly surprised. When people try to put a "Kill the Gays Bill" through Parliament, it's hardly surprising that a gay person would get murdered in their home. It just shows you what the human rights tone still is in Africa.
And the sickest thing about all of this is that the "Kill the Gays" promoter will come out saying that, "Oh, well this isn't what I meant by the bill." Yeah, I'll just bet it wasn't.
This is another in a long line of disgraces towards gay people in Uganda. I'm afraid that this is only the first such victim of the government sanctioned hatred towards gays.
Now where is the statement from the Evangelical Christians who helped fan the fire of bigotry and hatred?
How about the publication Rolling Stone (Ugandan version, NOT American version) that printed these activists names and addresses and circulated it with the intention of bringing these people harm. I mean, seriously, what other reason would there be for doing such a thing, right? They certainly have blood on their hands and should be help liable for the death of a man whose only crime was fighting for equality and against ignorance and fear.
Scott Lively, one of the American Evangelicals has issued a statement. Does it surprise any of us that he's saying there is no proof it was a hate crime, because money and clothing was missing? Because, you know, no one has ever made a murder look like a robbery to mask the true motivation before.
Another, Don Schmerier, has said that he really feels like a victim here because of hate mail he's received since his visit to Uganda. His actual words:
Yup, he really said that.
Those of Schmerier's ideological persuasion love to wallow in unwarranted self-pity.
reminds me of some New Jersey judge, who refused to "civil union" a couple because it violates his "freedom of choice".
bull. pucky.
The "you" I referred to was YOU. Tried to do it as a reply, but it posted as a separate comment. Thanx for you answer!:)
This is for Phxkenster. computer buttons do not seem to be functioning for me today.
Sad , too sad-after murder the minister had to desecrate his memory at his funeral...lump in my throat after reading this.
"my mom always says "god will get you"." said medicmom
-I always say...karma's a biotch!
That poor man. :( What a selfish thing for that preacher to do. Even if he disagreed with the man he should at least shown some respect for him at his funeral.
"The scene was peaceful, she says, until the preacher got up and began condemning homosexuality, saying that not even animals behaved as gay people do."
I am pretty sure that is not true. There is homosexuality in nature every where. It is completely natural.
Also, the Bible barely even mentions homosexuality. There is just a line or two that mentions something that could be interpreted that way, but pretty much all of the Bible can be interpreted however one wants to.
Satellite7, very good post! "Do unto others as you'd have done to you." Should be something that every person lives by.
I think it is high time the so called western world learnt the values we africans cherish. First we have poverty and corruption eating away the african and all you think is impose so called sexual minorities on we africans.
It is a shame that anyone should die in such a manner but we who live in Uganda know we embrace all in what ever kind they come. Short, tall, black, white, gay, straight
Let us divert our energy to fighting the real problems in africa like poverty, corruption, poor governance, HIV/AIDS.......
God forgive him and rest his soul in peace but may he also convert those numerous children who took the wrong path in life due to Kato
Today Uganda. Where next? When will we have to flee for our lives from our own shores? And when is all of this mindless hatred going to finally STOP?!
It is a shame that this happened but I am not at all surprised. Ugandans are pretty religious and they don't accept homosexuals and are not likely to any time soon. Considering the history of the place and their host of other problems, it is not something to hope for. I was once neighbor (in London) to a very nice family of Indian descent who were chased out of the country and their son, who I was told by the sister was gay, was murdered there in '72. He was mutilated horribly, or so I was told.
An excellent argument against religion!
I don't know, Edgar. I am not a religious person at all but I do know that much of the humanist approach is religiously influenced and when that goes, so might the supposedly better concepts that go with it. Atheistic societies (as far as they have existed) haven't been known for their love of human rights or equality or for their acceptance of homosexuality. In the end, I think religion does more good than harm, even in a place like Uganda. It is as much cultural as religious there.
I do know something and have some experience with "Humanism" and I discovered that the "movement" is infested with right-wing ideologues. There is always at least an undercurrent of "Yes, religion is false, but if it didn't exist, we'd have to invent it!" among such people. They make noises about the unfortunate aspects of religion, but they are usually aghast at the horrors of "atheistic" societies, which in reality always seem to based around some sort of quasi-religion, such as the cult of the god-like national leader. It's quite possible that the human race in general is not capable of doing without some sort of supernatural being or process.
Rachel made a sort of faux pas; she misleadingly said, "US politicians went to Uganda to talk about the evils of homosexuality" but they didn't! They went there promoting Christian doctrine, i.e. false premise. These stupid Conservative ideas about the 'evils' gayness are bogus, hence, these politicans went to Africa talking nonsense about 'falsely perceived evils' not 'evils'... there should be a distinction made otherwise some average fool channel flipping would easily see/hear that clip & say, "oh, so even she believes there are evils of homosexuality... I mean, she just said so". It did seem that way & Maddow has done this before (a bad trend); stuff like, "Republicans want to do whats good for them", but that isn't quite true (in that context they were working with false pretense so they falsely think they're doing is the best thing, not, "they're doing what is best for them").
Even at his funeral... I feel ill... RIP David Kato.
karma will come for them.
Amazing! Instead of acknowledging these people's pain he brings them more grief. I hope there is a special place in hell for all of these self-righteous monsters.
Preacher will "Preach" any chance they are given. You must have an understanding with them prior to whatever service they are providing for you.
Yet another example of how religion infects society and political structures leading to the inevitable persecution of any group that the majority disapproves of – organized religion inevitably becomes a political tool used to persecute minority groups – women, LGBT, etc – any group that has less political and economic power in a society. I was struck by a recent NPR piece I was listening to the other day regarding the remarkable and advanced feminist movement in Tunisia (in many ways, far more advanced and progressive than the US feminist movement) – I was struck by the following quote from a long time Tunisian feminist activist:
"The force of the Tunisian feminist movement is that we've never separated it from the fight for democracy and a secular society…We will continue our combat, which is to make sure that religion remains completely separate from politics."
This is very sad but not so surprising. For thousands of years religious people of every sort have killed people who they thought didn't believe or live as they did. It's a great excuse to do evil things. Religion is invented in every culture in order to have an excuse and scapegoat when something bad happens, to explain what they don't understand and to give meaning to their lives. It also helps keep the people down in a culture when life is tough by telling the masses that life will be wonderful when they die and go to "heaven" so just put up with it now and follow these rules. Those people who don't follow those rules, i.e. gays, atheists, other religions but your own, etc. are a threat to them. I feel very sorry for the family of this man. They should not have had to listen to that vitriol. I don't see it ending however. On the contrary, things seem to be heating up all over the world.
Kaija,
all the three major religions Christianity, Judaism & Islam forbid homosexuality which is considered a sin.
Bible is very clear on punishement for Homosexuality, Fornication, Adultery etc. which is death and by stoning too.
Deut.22:22, Exodus.20:14,Leviticus.20:10. Even in the New Testament Romans, Corinthians, Genesis and others.
Sodom & Gomorrah.
It was only as societies evolved, especially in the West, separation of religion & state came about and personal freedom & liberties took precedence that we became tolerant.
In Uganda & many other countries religion is taken seriously as to its dogmas.
Christ, in his own words, was a major voice for tolerance. What had clouded the issue in the New Testament was the epistles of Paul. Previously Paul had been a pharisee who's personal mission had been to seek out and execute every Christian he could find. After his Damascus road conversion, he remained a homophobic bigot and misogynist. The life of Christ was a repudiation of the Old Testament, hence the New Testament. But through Paul the ethos of the Old Testament was reinstated. Hence the marked parallel between the Baptists and the Pharisees.
Christ, however, was right on. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, you have to remember that Samaritans, as a Jewish sect, were despised by the mainstream. Today the parable would read like The Good Black Man. The Good Homosexual. Paul talked a good game about love, but the Good Samaritan was not a message he delivered.
Well, in that case if we all did as the bible says, we'd have the death penalty for adultery. That would solve the population problem and the unemployment problem once and for all. Since about 1/3 of the population would be put to death, there would be lots of jobs to go around among the remaining people including gathering all the stones, stoning, burying, etc.
Seems like it would be more than 1/3, but, think about all the good politicians and preachers
we'd lose.
mrz - I hope that was tongue in cheek!
Intriguing.
However thank the Lord that we have our Constitution to protect our rights & freedom and hopefully it would remain intact,inspite of the Bible thumpers, wing nuts, religious zealots, Obama bashers and other loonies gleefully talking of a revolution here.
Scott Lively has been at it again - something has to stop this kind of hate from spreading.
x
check out www.menopausalmaniac.blogspot.com for background on Scott Lively