News Tidbits

Associated Press: Pope's abuse accountability tribunal going nowhere fast

BBC News: Pope imposes new rules for saint-making after 'abuses' of system

The Evening Sun: Pennsylvania: Loud protesters divide Confederate Flag Day attendees

Salt Lake Tribune: After Mormon church ‘balance’ statement, LGBT bills swept aside

Washington Post: This church’s cancer-curing elixir is really bleach, federal authorities say

The Tennessean: Rev. James Lawson: Pro-life movement is attempt to dismantle equality

Raw Story: Anti-abortion group cheers as flood waters threaten Louisiana abortion provider

LGBTQ Nation: Rafael Cruz: ‘Gay marriage shall destroy society’

Washington Blade: Tony Perkins calls lesbian-themed musical ‘sexual propaganda’

Ghana Web: Lion nearly killed prophet after botched miracle

News Tidbits

Wall Street Journal: Anti-Gay Americans Preach in Downtown Sochi

Philadelphia Gay News: Pennsylvania Pastors Network forms antigay coalition

The Lancet: Ghana's mental health patients confined to prayer camps

Jerusalem Post: ‘Kerry has declared a war on God,’ write hard-line rabbis in letter

Reuters: French conservatives march against government 'family-phobia'

Edge Boston: Mormon Church to Weigh in on Gay Marriage Ban

On Top Magazine: Michigan RNC Candidate Promotes Bible Passage Calling For Gays To Be Put To Death

South Bend Tribune: Vouchers, creationism raise questions

Gay Star News: Singapore anti-gay pastor behind petition targeting health ministry

News Tidbits

Religion News Service: This year’s March for Life reaches a new group: evangelicals

Reuters: Pope, in nod to conservatives, calls abortion "horrific"

Associated Press: Vatican to Polish Prosecutor: We Don't Extradite

Huffington Post: Sally Kern Slams Oklahoma Gay Marriage Ruling: 'Homosexuality Is Not A Civil Right'

Huffington Post: Rick Santorum Book Blue Collar Conservatives To Be Released This Spring

LGBTQ Nation: Mormon church reminds local leaders they are still opposed to homosexuality

Edge Boston: Christie Named By Hate Group As Co-Defendant In Appeal On Conversion Ban Decision

Washington Blade: Trans rights bill, ‘ex-gay’ therapy ban top Maryland legislative agenda

Gay Star News: UK Christian therapists ban ‘gay cures’

Louisville Courier-Journal: Noah's Ark biblical theme park project risks collapsing without more bond buyers

Pink News: Utah man says he went on hunger strike ‘to expose the hatred of the homosexual movement’

Gay Star News: Gays are ‘sick’ like witches, says Ghana church leader

News Tidbits

The Republican: Anti-gay minister Scott Lively running for Mass. governor

Edge Boston: Right Wing Coalition Targeting Trans Youth Protections

MPR: University of Minnesota Students Draft Ban on 'Gay Conversion Therapy'

Buzzfeed: U.S., U.K. Activists Urge Jamaicans To Keep Same-Sex Intercourse Illegal

The Telegraph: Book on 'submissive wives' becomes hit in Spain

Ghana Web: Gays destroying Ghana, says, Pastor Opambour

News Tidbits

East Brunswick Patch: Hobby Lobby doesn't cater to "our people"

Religion News Service: Hobby Lobby apologizes for Hanukkah flap

Lincoln Journal Star: Two Nebraska conservative groups merge

Interfax: Russia will defend national identity, based on religious values, says Putin

Courthouse News Service: Santorum's Film Company Decries Saboteurs

Ghana Web: Reinhard Bonnke to win souls in Ghana

News Tidbits

The Telegraph: Top US cardinal Timothy Dolan 'paid off abusive priests'

Reuters: Documents show Milwaukee archdiocese shielded pedophile priests

USA Today: White evangelicals the most patriotic, poll finds

On Top Magazine: James Dobson: Gay Marriage Rulings Confuse Children About Their Gender

Huffington Post: Mike Huckabee: 'I'm Neither A Homophobe Nor A Hater,' But Gay Marriage Is Just Like Polygamy

ABC News: Dominican Religious Groups Reject Gay U.S. Ambassador Nominee

Edge Boston: Some U.S. Conservatives Laud Russia's Anti-Gay Bill

Radio XYZ Online: Ghana clergyman calls homosexuality "satanic"

Gay Star News: Ethiopia paper warns a ‘satanic’ gay ‘disease’ is spreading

News Tidbits

The Advocate: Debunked Antigay Parenting Study Commissioned to Sway Supreme Court

National Catholic Reporter: Access to clergy sex abuse site limited at Vatican

Raw Story: Family Research Council: Functioning societies ‘punish’ single people for having sex

Washington Blade: Gay Vatican suicide now documentary film

Philadelphia Gay News: Philly only archdiocese in nation to sponsor antigay D.C. event

Edge Boston: Appeal By Photographer in Gay Bias Case is Heard

Time: In China, Christian Fundamentalists Target Tibetans

AllAfrica: Pastor Cautions Ghana Against Homosexuality

Pink News: London: Anti-gay marriage protest to take place in Trafalgar Square by French activists

The Daily Aztec: Preacher brings own brand of fire and brimstone to SDSU

The Religious Right Around the Globe: Ghana's Religious Right Criticizes Oye Lithur

Nana Oye Lithur, a human rights lawyer and activist in Ghana, was recently appointed to the position of Ghana's Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection. Oye Lithur, executive director of Ghana's Human Rights Advocacy Centre and a regional coordinator for the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, has been recognized as a diligent supporter of women's rights and LGBTQ rights in Ghana. According to Ghana Web, representatives from various legal groups such as International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Ghana), African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA), WILDAF Ghana, and ABANTU for Development voiced confidence in Oye Lithur's capabilities.

Unfortunately, her appointment has also drawn criticism from anti-gay clergy. According to a January 14th article in Citi FM Online, a Christian group calling itself Concerned Clergy Association of Ghana has opposed the appointment of Nana Oye Lithur to the post of Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection. The group also opposes the appointment of Dr. Raymond Atuguba to the position of executive secretary to the president. The Concerned Clergy Association of Ghana criticized the appointments on the grounds that Oye Lithur and Atuguba support LGBTQ rights, fearing that the two may use their positions to pass LGBTQ-friendly legislation.

In an interview with Citi FM's Eyewitness News, Concerned Clergy Association spokesman Bishop Prince Benny Wood insisted that the group did not oppose Oye Lithur as a person, but is rather "protecting the sanctity of the future of this nation." Wood claimed that LGBTQ equality in the name of human rights was "destroying the world."

"You can't define human rights with that kind of immorality. That kind of position we take, always in the name of human rights, is what is destroying this world."

Wood denounced homophobic violence but also refused to support "evil".

"We are not saying that people should take cutlasses and sticks and go and kill people. We are saying that someone is doing something that isn’t right we should be able to tell them that it is wrong and if the person needs helps we should give him or her help instead of hiding behind human rights and supporting evil."

Nana Oye Lithus has been a vocal advocate for LGBTQ human rights in Ghana. In 2011, after Ghana's then-president John Atta Mills made anti-gay comments, Oye Lithus stressed that the human rights of LGBTQ persons in Ghana must be respected. Ghana Web quotes her thus.

"We are guided by our 1992 Constitution that states that we are all equal before the law and every person in Ghana possess human right. So if we have homosexuals in Ghana once they are human beings they have human rights ... Not even the President of Ghana can deny anybody human rights irrespective of the person’s sexual orientation, ethnic group, gender and what have you. These are guaranteed in our constitution and everybody in Ghana has an obligation to respect that constitution."

Oye Lithur has also expressed concern over hate speech in Ghana. According to a 2011 article in Modern Ghana, she feared that increasingly hostile rhetoric against gays could foment violence against suspected gays, and urged religious leaders to preach tolerance instead of hatred.

The Concerned Clergy Association has come under fire from the national coordinator of Ghana's Domestic Violence Coalition, Adolf Awuku. According to Ghana Web, Awuku reminded Oye Lithur's critics that Ghana is not a theocracy, defending Oye Lithur's advocacy for the LGBTQ community.

“I am surprised that they will come at her at the time they are coming at her. What wrong did she do? Going to the rescue of human beings who were being lynched, who were being evicted from their homes for choosing to live differently from us ... The fact that majority of us are Christians does not mean only Christian views are be respected in this country. We are in a democracy. We are not in a theocracy and I don’t think the best way to elevate God is to go persecuting and attacking people who we don’t think are living right."

Awuku's warnings about theocracy were refreshing, and would have been just as relevant if addressed to the American Religious Right as to Ghana's Religious Right. Religious homophobia has no place in any democratic society, and homophobes' claims that they merely want to "help" gays ring hollow in Africa or America. Oye Lithur's appointment, while controversial to the Concerned Clergy Association, is also an auspicious move for Ghana's LGBTQ community.

(Hat tip to Gay Star News)

News Tidbits

Washington Blade: Uganda headed toward passing draconian anti-gay legislation

Washington Blade: U.S. envoy meets Ugandan leaders over anti-gay bill

The Guardian: Jesus wept … oh, it's bad plumbing. Indian rationalist targets 'miracles'

San Francisco Chronicle: Hobby Lobby appeals morning-after pill decision

Religion News Service: Oklahoma judge defends sentencing teenager to church even if it’s not legal

KKTV 11: Focus on the Family President Working to Change Ministry's Image

Christian Science Monitor: In world's most religious country, Ghana's humanists rally for secular space

Disturbing Conditions in Ghana's Christian Prayer Camps

Human Rights Watch released a report earlier this month documenting human rights abuses in Ghana's pentecostal and evangelical prayer camps. "Like a Death Sentence": Abuses Against Persons with Mental Disabilities in Ghana discusses the plight of persons with mental illness in Ghana's psychiatric facilities and residential prayer camps. For the purpose of this blog, I'd like to focus on Ghana's prayer camps and the problems reported therein.

The report describes these prayer camps as privately owned Christian institutions tied to pentecostal and evangelical denominations, often run by self-styled "prophets." The camps exist to to provide communities with counseling, spiritual healing, and charitable endeavors (i.e., orphan and elder care). Some camps attempt to heal people with mental health problems through prayer and traditional remedies, even though the "prophets" and staff often have little or no mental health care training. In a country where most citizens cannot afford psychiatric care, prayer camps provide a less expensive -- albeit problematic -- alternative.

Several hundred prayer camps exist, although the exact number is unknown because the camps are not regulated by the state. The Ghana Evangelism Committee has reportedly undertaken a survey to count the camps. Many of the camps are under the authority of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC), which oversees Ghana's 122 churches and evangelical organizations. However, the report states that the GPCC's oversight of the prayer camps is limited. GPCC guidelines prohibit prayer camps from chaining or imposing fasting on ill residents, and dissociated from at least one camp (Edumfa Prayer Camp) for violating other standards.

After visiting eight Ghanan prayer camps between November 2011 and June 2012, Human Rights Watch found that people with mental illness often suffer human rights abuses such as involuntary admission, inadequate shelter, unhygienic conditions, chaining, forced fasting, and denial of medication. Even children were subjected to abuses such as chaining and forced fasting.

Most of the people with mental health problems interviewed at prayer camps by HRW were taken there involuntarily because they allegedly demonstrated confused, restless, or aggressive behavior. HRW found that at four prayer camps, residents were chained to floors, trees, or other structures until the religious leader in authority confirmed that they were "healed." Some respondents told HRW interviewers of forced fasting at the prayer camps. Staff and religious leaders at seven prayer camps insisted that fasting was necessary to starve evil spirits and facilitate divine healing.

At some prayer camps (i.e., the Jesus Divine Temple), staff and the "prophet" did not allow people with mental health problems to take prescription medication. One respondent said that this was because angels allegedly do not allow medication. Only one of the eight camps observed allowed medical care for residents with mental health problems.

Ghana has made efforts to improve the lives of persons with mental health problems. Ghana's 2012 Mental Health Act and ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities are positive steps. However, no system currently exists to monitor prayer camps, the report states, so monitoring and stopping abuses at the camps remains problematic.

Human Rights Watch is not the first voice to decry human rights abuses at Ghana's prayer camps. According to a 2008 article in Modern Ghana, an investigation of Ghana's prayer camps by the Commission for Human Rights Initiative confirmed that many camps in the Volta and Central regions provided proper shelter, water, sanitation, and electricity. Unfortunately, it also found that many camps chained, physical abused, and denied food to mentally ill residents. These human rights abuses were justified by people at the camps as means of exorcising evil spirits.

A 2009 article in Global Health also stated that mentally ill residents at Ghana's prayer camps are sometimes chained, especially if they displayed aggression, wandered off, or behaved disruptively. Two Christian pastors argued that chains were necessary to restrain violent persons, while another claimed that he used chains because he could not afford to build structures to house mentally ill residents  at his camp. However, the article was quick to add that chaining and shackling are not always means of restraining violent persons, but also as a means of punishment, since mental illness is commonly seen as a product of immoral behavior. Beatings of mentally ill residents served a similar punishing purpose.

In a commentary at the Ghanaian Chronicle, Helena Selby explained that many people in Ghana believe that evil spirits inflict mental illness, leading them to seek spiritual treatments for mentally ill loved ones. She lamented the poor conditions of prayer camps she visited, which included isolation and chaining. Selby decried the superstitions undergirding such prayer camps and called for greater public education regarding mental illness.

"The existence of numerous prayer camps in Ghana and their extreme stressing of their teachings on superstition have resulted in people veering away from the reality of mental illness. People get confused everyday as to what causes mental illness. If that be the case, perhaps public education by the government and stakeholders of mental health can help people have a better knowledge about mental illness."

These Christian prayer camps remind us of the dangers of labeling mental illness as a spiritual pathology, a tendency not limited to Ghana. I recall Pat Robertson's 2011 comments about mental illness, when he attributed depression to a lack of faith in God. I recall Therese J. Borchard's frustration with religious leaders who assured her that only faith is needed to dispel depression. Attributing mental illness to some spiritual shortcoming does a grave disservice to persons struggling with mental health issues. Mental illness does not stem from demonic possession or moral failings, but from organic and psychological causes.

However, the abuses taking place at prayer camps need to be understood in their Ghanaian context. Prayer camps' abuse of mentally ill residents seems to stem from superstition, mental illness stigma, and a dire lack of affordable, comprehensive mental health resources. These factors must be taken into account in order to craft an effective response to the prayer camps.

Pentecostal and evangelical leaders, both in Ghana and abroad, need to condemn human rights abuses in Ghana's prayer camps. Chaining, physical abuse, forced fasting, and other abuses are being perpetrated in the name of these faith traditions, which should alarm its adherents. Additionally, they must strive for public education on mental illness and funding for medically sound mental health services in countries such as Ghana. Ghanaians struggling with mental illness deserve no less.

News Tidbits

Rockville Patch: Anti-Abortion Demonstrators Greet Frost Students

XFM 95.1: Christians hold anti-gay demo in Ghana

The Advocate: Ad in El Paso Times: Gays Are Putrid

American Independent: Maryland anti-marriage-equality advocates continue with claim marriage is not a civil right