“The historical role of the Christian religion in the world can also be measured by such inhumane laws.” This was emphasized on Tuesday morning in Berlin by the President of the Humanist Association of Germany, Frieder Otto Wolf, on the occasion of the signing of a draconian criminal law reform against homosexuals in the African Republic of Uganda.
Despite international protests, head of state Yoweri Museveni signed a law on Monday that provides for even harsher penalties than before for homosexuals and other non-heterosexuals. From now on, all acts that can be considered homosexual behavior will be punishable by up to life imprisonment. However, anyone who supports homosexuals or fails to report homosexual behavior will also be punished. The tightening of criminal law is partly due to the efforts of Christian organizations of US origin and is now supported by the vast majority of the population. According to the Federal Foreign Office, around 80 percent of the country’s population belong to a Christian religious community, while around ten percent are followers of Islam. Frieder Otto Wolf said that homosexuals in Uganda are not the only group affected by the extreme disregard for general human rights. “The sometimes blatant poverty and lack of education has many roots, from which women and children in the country also suffer in a particular way,” Wolf continued. He therefore spoke out against making cuts to German development aid in these areas. However, he said that no one should lose sight of the sources of the law reform signed today. “Threats, torture, death and marginalization are very real for many people in Uganda and with regard to the roots of this criminal law reform, it must therefore be clearly stated: This law is a law with Christian roots.” Of course, all people should see it as their duty not to simply accept human rights violations, even in distant regions. “However, believers in this country also have a special responsibility for the suffering of people in Africa. All those imprisoned and killed by the consequences of this terrible law must be seen as consequences of Christian beliefs.” Frieder Otto Wolf called on the members of all monotheistic religious communities in Germany to face up to these facts and work together effectively and visibly to ensure that their faith can no longer be used as a basis for inhumane laws such as the Ugandan tightening of criminal law. According to Wolf, the question must be asked: “How can believers in Germany sleep peacefully when such cruel consequences are still being meted out to people elsewhere in the name of their religion?” Wolf called on non-religious and secular-minded people to work on sustainable structures to realize and secure humanization in regions of the world that are further away from Europe. “Because it is not only homosexuals or women and children who have to suffer from the belief in witchcraft or human trafficking who are affected by the consequences of such unenlightened religious ideas – even those who simply express doubts about such dogmatic beliefs or reject them for themselves are discriminated against, persecuted and punished with prison or death in numerous countries. It must therefore be demanded of our fellow citizens with religious affiliations that they engage particularly clearly and actively in combating the inhumane forms of their religion.”
