Right-Wingers Look Askance at Pope Francis' Environmentalism

On June 18th, the Vatican officially released Pope Francis' encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si, which called for heightened environmental consciousness. Before the release of the encyclical, several right-leaning voices in politics and entertainment criticized Pope Francis, accusing him of Marxism and of meddling in matters beyond his authority.

Republican presidential contender and Catholic convert Jeb Bush looked askance at the Pope's environmentalist sympathies at a town hall gathering in New Hampshire. "I hope I’m not going to get castigated for saying this by my priest back home, but I don’t get economic policy from my bishops or my cardinal or my pope,” Bush said, according to the Guardian. “I think religion ought to be about making us better as people and less about things that end up getting in the political realm.”

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum told WPHT-AM 1210 that the Catholic Church is jeopardizing its credibility by talking about science. “The Church has gotten it wrong a few times on science, and I think we’re probably better off leaving science to the scientists and focus on what we’re really good on, which is theology and morality. When we get involved with political and controversial scientific theories, then I think the Church is probably not as forceful and credible," Santorum told WPHT radio host Dom Giordano.

At a recent Heartland Institute conference on climate change, Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) delivered a talk on "the myth of global warming", according to the Guardian. During the conference, he sneered at the Pope's call for environmental consciousness. The pope ought to stay with his job, and we’ll stay with ours," Inhofe said.

Fox News commentator Greg Gutfeld was far harsher. "He is a Malthusian. He is in bed with Malthusians ... He believes that the earth is overpopulated," Gutfeld said during the June 16th edition of The Five. Gutfeld mocked the pope as a hippie seeking respect from liberals. (Hat tip to Media Matters.)

"The most dangerous person on the planet is somebody who's seeking strange new respect from their adversaries, and that is what the Pope is doing. He doesn't want to be your grandfather's pope. He wants to be a modern pope. All he needs is dreadlocks and a dog with a bandanna, and he could be on Occupy Wall Street."

Rush Limbaugh was unkind as well, calling the pontiff a "Marxist". During the June 16th edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show, he had this to say. (Hat tip to Media Matters.)

"Early on, he started attacking capitalism using Democrat Party language like "unfettered capitalism." I said this guy sounds like a Marxist, and remember the ruckus that that caused? ... But he doesn't even disguise it, folks, in this encyclical. Doesn't even disguise it. Every other word seems to be about how unfettered capitalism is destroying the world, and how the rich countries have to give more money to the poor countries to make amends."

Right-wing commentators seem to be stunned that Pope Francis, the head of a rigidly conservative religious institution, would adopt a sane position on the environment. Could it be that all this global attention to environmental issues is making them uncomfortable and challenging their assumptions? The realities of climate change have grown too big to ignore, forcing some right-wingers out of their comfort zone.


To read additional commentary, visit the following links.

What Would JT Do? Catholic Channel at Patheos: Pope is infallible when speaking ex cathedra ... but not on global warming!

Media Matters: How Fox News Covered Pope Francis' Action On Climate Change

Mother Jones: The Pope Says Climate Change Is Real. Catholic GOP Candidates Disagree.

New York Times: Pope’s Views on Climate Change Add Pressure to Catholic Candidates

Ugandan President Rejects Anti-Gay Bill (UPDATED)

As mentioned in a prior post, Ugandan parliament passed a draconian anti-gay bill in December 2013, which would mandate life imprisonment for same-sex sexual acts. On Friday, January 17th, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni refused to sign the bill, according to BBC News.

The Daily Monitor reports that Museveni criticized Parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, a supporter of the legislation, for passing the bill without a quorum of MPs. “How can you pass law without the quorum of Parliament after it has been pointed out? What sort of Parliament is this? How can Parliament be the one to break the Constitution and the Law repeatedly?” he wrote in a December 28th letter to Parliament.

Museveni's refusal to sign the anti-gay bill should not be interpreted as evidence of a pro-LGBTQ stance, however. In a copy of President Museveni's letter posted by Warren Throckmorton, Museveni described homosexuality as an instance in which "nature goes wrong", likening it to albinism, epilepsy, and sterility. According to the Daily Monitor, Museveni referred to gays as "abnormal", rejecting the idea that non-heterosexual orientations are normal variations of human sexuality. "You cannot call an abnormality an alternative orientation. It could be that the Western societies, on account of random breeding, have generated many abnormal people,” he stated. Museveni also claimed that some people become gay or lesbian due to "sexual starvation" or for "mercenary reasons", the Daily Monitor reported. Museveni's solution involves increasing economic opportunities in his country so that Ugandans will not be tempted by financial enticements to become gay for "mercenary reasons".

Museveni, like his more hardline colleagues in Ugandan parliament, embraces false stereotypes about LGBTQ persons. He refuses to countenance homosexuality as a legitimate sexual orientation, attributing it instead to pathology, sexual frustration, or financial enticement. Museveni's attitude does not bode well for LGBTQ rights in Uganda, even if his refusal to sign the anti-gay bill was a sound decision.

LGBTQ activists have welcomed Museveni's decision while admitting that more needs to be done. According to Pink News, African LGBTI Out & Proud Diamond Group's director, Edwin Sesange, welcomed Museveni's decision but added, "we are urging him to do more by publicly declaring the anti-gay bill unlawful."

"President Museveni should come out and tell the public that he doesn’t support it. He should also tell the public that he doesn’t support sections 145, 146, 148 of the penal code – which stipulates that homosexuality should be criminalised as ‘unnatural offences’.

He should also ask the MPs to vote against the bill when it goes back to Parliament. The President should work towards striking down both sections of the penal code in order to achieve equality and justice for the LGBT people in Uganda."

The Washington Blade reports that a delegation of U.S. lawmakers, led by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), is scheduled to meet with President Museveni in Uganda later this month. (Sen. Inhofe condemned Uganda's anti-gay bill in 2011, according to Red Dirt Report.) The delegation will reportedly address armed conflict in central Africa, although whether U.S. lawmakers will discuss the anti-gay bill is unknown. However, the Washington Blade added that the delegation rejected an offer to meet with Ugandan LGBTQ rights advocates during their visit.

The future for LGBTQ persons in Uganda is uncertain. Will Ugandan parliament try to push the legislation through in spite of Museveni's decision? Will international pressure alter the course of the bill? What role will the Religious Right play in the bill's future, given that U.S. Religious Right leaders have encouraged homophobia in Uganda? Uganda's LGBTQ community and LGBTQ rights supporters across the globe will watch the situation closely.

UPDATE: According to a press release from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights, a delegation of human rights advocates met with President Museveni today to discuss the anti-gay bill. The press release stated that Museveni pledged to reject the anti-gay bill in its current form, branding it "fascist".

Museveni reportedly plans to consult with his party and propose new legislation protecting minors from coercive sexual activity. In response, the RFK Center argued that the Ugandan government should enforce its current laws outlawing sexual abuse of minors and refrain from introducing bills that discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity. (Hat tip to Box Turtle Bulletin.)


To read additional commentary, visit the following links.

Reliefweb: Prosecution and persecution: Anti-gay legislation in Nigeria, Uganda endangers LGBTI refugees, too

The Bilerico Project: Uganda's Anti-Gay Bill: What the West Should Know

Anthony B. Susan: When Shaping Culture Means Shaping Hate

Rush Limbaugh and the Lord's Resistance Army

ABC News reports that President Obama has authorized the deployment of approximately 100 U.S. forces to Uganda, with the purpose of helping regional forces to capture or kill Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony and other LRA senior leaders. According to PBS News, Kony has been indicted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. An October 14th press statement by the U.S. State Department said that U.S. military advisers will assist with information-sharing and planning, and will not engage LRA troops unless it is necessary for self-defense.

The Lord's Resistance Army is a militant group which has sought to overthrow the Museveni government in Uganda. The LRA has been described as a quasi-Christian group and is one of several militant groups operating in central Africa.* Human rights observers have documented the countless human rights violations perpetrated by the LRA, including massacres of civilians, abductions, rape and forced marriage of women and girls to LRA combatants, and forced conscription of child soldiers. Many internally displaced persons in Uganda were forced to become "night commuters," fleeing their homes or camps at night to escape the depredations of the LRA.

The LRA has inflicted unspeakable atrocities throughout central Africa, so who could possibly defend such thugs? Who indeed.

On the October 14th edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show, Limbaugh framed Obama's measure as an attack on a Christian group that is fighting Muslims. According to a transcript of the show, Limbaugh had this to say. (See
www[dot]rushlimbaugh[dot]com/daily/2011/10/14/obama_invades_uganda_targets_christians)

"Lord's Resistance Army are Christians.  They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan.  And Obama has sent troops, United States troops to remove them from the battlefield, which means kill them.  That's what the lingo means, "to help regional forces remove from the battlefield," meaning capture or kill. So that's a new war, a hundred troops to wipe out Christians in Sudan, Uganda ... Lord's Resistance Army objectives.  I have them here.  "To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people." Now, again Lord's Resistance Army is who Obama sent troops to help nations wipe out."

Limbaugh later asked a caller "how do you react to the news that Obama has dispatched a hundred soldiers to fight radical Christians in Africa?"




According to Media Matters, some of Limbaugh's fans, perhaps unaware of the LRA's history, expressed outrage that the Obama administration had supposedly sent troops to kill African Christians.

Fortunately, people are challenging Limbaugh's insensitive statements. On October 18th, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) read a statement on the Senate floor in which he clarified that the U.S. was not going to war with the LRA. Sen. Inhofe also provided a brief history of the LRA and its many atrocities, including torture, maiming, and use of child soldiers.

Evelyn Apoko, a survivor of LRA violence, was so disturbed by Limbaugh's words that she recorded a video entitled "Dear Mr. Limbaugh."

"I am a former abducted child. My heart breaks when I hear your message about the LRA. I experienced first-hand the pain and hatred of humanity in the LRA. I know that there is nowhere in the Bible that says Christians should treat humans like animals. I have witnessed the spirit of Joseph Kony and it is not from God. Abducting young people from their homes and forcing them to become something that is not meant to be, working day and night without food or drink, children dying of hunger, with no one to tell them it's going to be okay, brainwashing children and murdering innocent people."

Dear Mr. Limbaugh: Evelyn's Appeal from Strongheart on Vimeo.

The LRA's atrocities are not a secret. The news media has been reporting on them for years, and a quick internet search on the LRA will pull up ample information. Rush Limbaugh had no excuse for failing to do research the LRA before speaking on his show. I sincerely hope this incident was rooted in ignorance, rather than an effort to stir controversy.

Limbaugh's comments were out of line. He owes the LRA's victims an apology.

(UPDATE: Truth Wins Out's commentary on military intervention in Uganda is well-worth the read.)



For additional commentary, visit the following links.

Human Rights Watch: Dear Obama: A Message from Victims of the LRA

Media Matters: Limbaugh's Latest Smear: Obama Is "Target[ing] Christians" In Uganda

The Atlantic: Why Speak Up When Rush Limbaugh Lies?


* The civil strife in central Africa has a long and complicated history, which I will not delve into here. For more information on armed conflict and militant groups in the region, I recommend the book Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa by Jason Stearns.