God Loves Uganda
Directed by: Roger Ross Williams
Written by: Richard Hankin, Benjamin Gray, Roger Ross Williams
Documentary - 83 min
Written by: Richard Hankin, Benjamin Gray, Roger Ross Williams
Documentary - 83 min
According to God Loves Uganda, The United States started a war in Africa. It is not a covert operation sponsored by an intelligence agency or even the unintended consequences of a government policy. It is the invasion of U.S. evangelicals proselytizing the Good News. Unfortunately, the Good News consists both of God’s love for you and His hatred of homosexuals. The anti-homosexuality agenda is spreading like wildfire across Uganda, a country already majority Christian, but very susceptible to outsiders with dangerous messages.
There is money to be made in demonizing homosexuals as all that is wrong in Uganda. Local preachers noticed when they amp up the verbal rhetoric, more Western money flows in. When the Ugandan Parliament introduced a bill punishing homosexual acts with the death penalty, donations from Western religious foundations tripled. The film insinuates a direct correlation between these donations and the fact that two influential pastors are some of the wealthiest men in Uganda; naturally, they split their time between Kampala and Las Vegas.
Director Roger Ross Williams takes us to where many of the missionaries trickle out of, The IHOP – International House of Prayer in Kansas City. The congregation of the IHOP mega-church is not passive. They are outward-focused, far-reaching, and prepared to spread their beliefs to a named entry point on the African continent, Uganda. The Ugandan converts and acolytes frequently preach/scream the Gospel at the common folk stuck in downtown Kampala traffic.
Another American export to Uganda is Scott Lively. This man has no following in the states, but for whatever reason, wields disproportionate power in Uganda. He preaches nothing but hate and is a major impetus behind the Anti-Homosexuality Bill; he is also being sued in U.S. Federal Court for a crime against humanity for his actions. Uganda needs many things: medicine, schools, and industrialization. Why instead does the United States pump out scornful religious fanatics to infest a country already buckling under its own problems?
Williams scores interviews not only with those Ugandans attempting to soften the invasion, but also with the missionaries themselves, and even the millionaire preachers. Showing all sides and viewpoints of what is going on in Uganda helps Williams try and claim an unbiased film, but the missionaries throw stakes into their own pure intentions by telling the camera how they ‘used to be’ addicted to porn or have dabbled in homosexuality in their past. Perhaps there is some transference of deeply repressed feelings lurking about here.
God Loves Uganda is frustrating. The missionaries claim to preach only God’s love yet they almost always end up spouting what they believe He hates. The locals resort to publishing names of suspected homosexuals and there are a few murders resulting from it. Hopefully, Williams’s documentary will spread some awareness of what exactly some Americans are exporting to Africa.
There is money to be made in demonizing homosexuals as all that is wrong in Uganda. Local preachers noticed when they amp up the verbal rhetoric, more Western money flows in. When the Ugandan Parliament introduced a bill punishing homosexual acts with the death penalty, donations from Western religious foundations tripled. The film insinuates a direct correlation between these donations and the fact that two influential pastors are some of the wealthiest men in Uganda; naturally, they split their time between Kampala and Las Vegas.
Director Roger Ross Williams takes us to where many of the missionaries trickle out of, The IHOP – International House of Prayer in Kansas City. The congregation of the IHOP mega-church is not passive. They are outward-focused, far-reaching, and prepared to spread their beliefs to a named entry point on the African continent, Uganda. The Ugandan converts and acolytes frequently preach/scream the Gospel at the common folk stuck in downtown Kampala traffic.
Another American export to Uganda is Scott Lively. This man has no following in the states, but for whatever reason, wields disproportionate power in Uganda. He preaches nothing but hate and is a major impetus behind the Anti-Homosexuality Bill; he is also being sued in U.S. Federal Court for a crime against humanity for his actions. Uganda needs many things: medicine, schools, and industrialization. Why instead does the United States pump out scornful religious fanatics to infest a country already buckling under its own problems?
Williams scores interviews not only with those Ugandans attempting to soften the invasion, but also with the missionaries themselves, and even the millionaire preachers. Showing all sides and viewpoints of what is going on in Uganda helps Williams try and claim an unbiased film, but the missionaries throw stakes into their own pure intentions by telling the camera how they ‘used to be’ addicted to porn or have dabbled in homosexuality in their past. Perhaps there is some transference of deeply repressed feelings lurking about here.
God Loves Uganda is frustrating. The missionaries claim to preach only God’s love yet they almost always end up spouting what they believe He hates. The locals resort to publishing names of suspected homosexuals and there are a few murders resulting from it. Hopefully, Williams’s documentary will spread some awareness of what exactly some Americans are exporting to Africa.
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