As we reported last week, British Prime Minister; Theresa May told 53 leaders of various commonwealth states at their annual summit, that she “deeply regrets” the Same Sex prohibition laws, adding that it is time to overhaul “outdated”, colonial-era legislation that treats members of the LGBT community as criminals. In response to her statement, The Christian Association of Nigeria appealed to president Buhari and begged him not to bow to British pressure on the issue. Their statement also went on to tag Homosexuality as “Satanic”.
While the statement given by the Special Assistant (Media and Communications) to the CAN President; Pastor Bayo Oladeji doesn’t come as a surprise. I would like to outline the effect of their stance on this issue in relation to how it is majorly responsible for the dehumanization, jungle justice, violence, death, incarceration and discrimination suffered by LGBT persons in Nigeria.
In the statement, Pastor Bayo says;
“If we may remind the British authorities, the same-sex marriage contradicts the position of the Scripture and any human law that contradicts the Bible cannot stand. God is the author of marriage and He stated it clearly that it involves a man and a woman. In addition, the Bible states: “A man will leave his father and his mother and he must stick to his wife and they must become one flesh.”
I would like to address the fact that this statement reflects strongly in comparison to the Jesus’s story about the good Samaritan.
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
“We contend that on no account should our government bow to pressure by making Nigeria capitulate while embracing strange culture that allows barren amorous relationship between same sex not in tandem with Mother Nature,” he stated.
While it is clear that The Christian Society of Nigeria sees 2 men in love as a strange and abominable culture, it is also clear that they see the killings, jungle justice, violence and discrimination of LGBT persons as a befitting way to advance their hatred for gay people. It is definitely no surprise that a few days after this statement was released, two men were beaten to a bloody state for being perceived as gay in Imo State.
Nigeria has the largest Christian population of any country in Africa, with more than 85 million persons in Nigeria belonging to the church with various denominations. For a body that has this many followers to justify the killings, brutality and injustice suffered by LGBT persons as a righteous act is nothing short of hypocritical. It is even more surprising that CAN chooses to disregard the significant account of male pastors who molest young men but stand by a law that dangerously affects the victims of these pastors and other men and women guilty only of of LOVE!!!
It is understandable that CAN cannot support gay marriage but the fact that they are standing by, stone in hand, with a blind eye while lending their voice to a law that is single-handedly responsible for the violence and injustice suffered by LGBT persons means they are equally responsible for all the bloodshed and violence.
