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A Biblical defence of marriage:
Africans take the lead
December 2009 - January 2010
While Western society is being torn apart by homosexual
lobbyists and their camp followers aiming to redefine marriage to include
homosexual liaisons, salutary voices are being heard from Africa.
In Uganda and Kenya, where polygamy is common, Christians
are defending the Bible but in the US any references to the Bible or Christianity
are forbidden in connection with government services or on government
property. Even a Cross in a park commemorating World War I veterans is
being challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The view from Africa is very different. At a women’s
conference in Kampala, Uganda, a pastor asked how many women lived in
polygamous households. The majority lived in homes where there was one
husband and two or more wives. One husband had eight wives. The pastor
quoted 1 Samuel, describing the pain Hannah experienced living with her
husband’s second wife, Peninnah. The Ugandan women were comforted
that God understands the oppression and abuse of polygamy, and were encouraged
to hear marriage clearly defined as a covenant relationship between one
man and one woman, as in Genesis. In Kenya a heated debate is occurring
over polygamy. One of several bills proposed in September would keep polygamy
legal, but would require a first wife to grant written permission to her
husband to marry additional wives. There are many ways in which husbands
could pressure first wives to “give” such permission. How many
Western women would sign such a consent form? Kenya’s Muslims, who
believe a man has a right to take as many as four wives, have vehemently
opposed this change in the law, but Christian leaders have fought for
years to end the pain caused by polygamy. One leader is Judy Mbugua, continental
coordinator of the Pan African Christian Women’s Alliance, which
tackles other tough issues including female genital mutilation, domestic
violence, “wife inheritance” (requiring a relative to marry
a woman if her husband dies), and the AIDS epidemic, which affects millions
of African women when unfaithful husbands spread the disease to them,
sometimes through rape. Since Dr Mbugua started PACWA in 1987, she has
supported African women across the continent to strengthen belief in Biblical
marriage. She published a document stating African Christian women believe
polygamy is wrong — not because it differs from Western traditions
but because “God’s design for marriage is monogamy.”
Homosexuality is strongly discouraged in Africa, despite
attempts by international organisations to encourage it. African bishops
have rebuked Episcopalians in the US and Anglicans in England for suggesting
God endorses homosexual unions. Nigerian Anglican leader Oluranti Odubogun
was not trying to win a popularity contest when he went on record saying,
“Homosexual behaviour is deviant, unbiblical, un-Christian and unnatural.”
He expressed what most African Christians believe. More and more Africans
are looking to the Bible to define marriage as one man and one woman at
a time when Muslims and tribal activists are defending polygamy. Ironically,
at the same time some Western politicians and liberal religious leaders
want to redefine marriage to include two men or two women. One culture
is moving forward and the other backward, depending on how one defines
progress.
In Africa, where Christianity is growing, the churches
rely on the Bible to transform society, but in the West the Bible and
its values are often mocked in the public square while many Christians
avoid the marriage debate so they won’t offend anyone. The issues
come full circle in countries like Canada and Australia where polygamy
is illegal, but is more or less acknowledged in the social security system
where a Muslim man has one legal wife, but other “de facto wives”
may receive the single mother’s pension.
In California the homosexual lobby is challenging Proposition
8, defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman, which passed
at a referendum, and has used the courts to try to overturn the vote on
the basis that the result is “unconstitutional”. The reverse
is happening in Maine, where voters approved a referendum proposal challenging
the law that legalised same-sex marriage. “What happens in Maine
will have an impact on what other state legislatures do,” said Tony
Perkins of the Family Research Council.
Another circuitous route homosexual activists use to
force recognition of same-sex marriage where states have overwhelmingly
voted against it, is via divorce courts. A Dallas judge, Tena Callahan,
ruled her court has jurisdiction to hear the “divorce” case
of two men “married” in Massachusetts in 2006 and now living
in Texas. The momentary recognition of same-sex “marriages”
just enough to grant divorces is one way for the homosexual lobby to eventually
force full recognition of same-sex “marriage”.
At last there is some good news from the UN with a Russian-led
resolution adopted in October by the UN Human Rights Council calling on
the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to convene “a workshop
for an exchange of views on how a better understanding of traditional
values underpinning international human rights norms and standards can
contribute to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental
freedoms.” The intention is to resist UN member states which seek
to overturn traditional family values based on morality under the guise
of protecting “human rights”. These states aim to establish
internationally recognised “sexual rights” overriding the rights
of parents and families.
Babette Francis is the National & Overseas Co-ordinator
of Endeavour Forum Inc.
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