LGBTI in Africa: Welcoming the other

The editorial team of Pambazuka News is agreed that the LGBTI situation in Africa is an important and urgent issue, noting the large number of individuals who continue to suffer gratuitous discrimination, intimidation, repression and violence. The effects of the prevalence of such discrimination, intimidation, repression and violence is not restricted to the LGBTI only, as evidenced in what has become known as the ‘Vienna Declaration.’

The organisation, Religions for Peace, in their Ninth World Assembly, convened in Vienna, Austria, in November 2013, came up with the theme: ‘Welcoming the other’ as their multi- religious vision for peace in the coming years. Religions for Peace is convinced that working for peace is a calling. This calling is embedded in the religions that each of their members belongs to. Peace is an important part of all religions.

Religions for Peace committed themselves to this call of ‘Welcoming the other,’ sensing the levels of depression and violence caused by unwelcoming attitudes that render peace unattainable. They argued that each of the diverse faith traditions represented in the previous summits had reached a conclusion that there were more uniting elements than divisive ones within religions. They thus committed themselves to common action of ‘Welcoming the other’ as the heart of their multi-religious vision of peace, perceiving the deeply held and widely shared values as a firm foundation to build upon.

Faith traditions share the value of peace. The Assembly reaffirmed the positive elements of Peace shared by the respective religious traditions and recommitted to the call to solidarity with the most vulnerable, and to promote just and harmonious societies.

Religions for Peace leaders and representatives of people of faith gathered in Vienna opened their Declaration by confessing the fault of individual believers who have betrayed the peace teachings of their faiths. This suggests that peace teachings are there in all religions and are shared as the common value. This value, however, is often betrayed.

This betrayal was evidenced by some religious leaders during President Obama’s visit to the Continent of Africa. Some religious leaders in Africa are said to have strongly rebuked President Obama’s call to decriminalise same-sex relationships. President Obama had suggested that African nations grant equal protection to all people regardless of their sexual orientation. He upheld this as a principle that applies universally. This is said to have rubbed religious leaders the wrong way, some of whom hail from countries that consider homosexuality a crime.

President Obama advanced shared well-being, but got rebuked. What is noticeable is that even faith traditions whose adherents never sit around the same fire seem to converge on the collusion of a vehement denunciation of the GLBTIs, not on shared well-being. The betrayal, again, becomes evident here.

The betrayal is more starkly evidenced by the religious leader who coordinates the Interfaith Action for Peace in Africa. He asserted that President Obama represented outside forces who want to impose their will on Africa. He maintained that the duty of faith leaders is to speak out in such instances, more so in the face of homosexuality, which ‘defies God’s command’. This religious leader is clearly betraying the peace that he claims to be coordinating. Which command of God is being defied by homosexuality remains hard to say. Could this not be based on some narrow interpretations of the Bible?

To facilitate the inquiry, the Viewpoint by Christina Rees in the Tablet magazine of 19 October 2002 is made use of. There it is noted how Scriptural interpretations and understandings impact on behaviour. Narrow interpretations and understandings could lead to disgraceful behaviour that militates against the core Scriptural values, as well as weaken the Body of Christ and the ministry, mission and witness of the church.

Narrow interpretations often emanate from confusion between the authority and interpretation of Scripture. While Scripture is authoritative, it does not follow that there is only one faithful and valid interpretation on any issue. After Jesus had ascended, the disciples themselves came to new understandings about dietary rules, circumcision, and the huge issue of being willing to accept that the offer of salvation of Christ extended to everyone, including the despised Gentiles. In this day and age, the offer of salvation includes the despised GLBTIs.

Christians believe in the Holy Spirit, as the third Person of the Triune God. It hampers the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in the church to insist on unalterable and unchallengeable understanding of some humans in their interpretations of Scripture. The church, above all, needs to listen to God, if it is to retain its identity as a beacon of light, which is one of the prime reasons for the existence of the church.

Confessing that some religious believers betray the peace teachings of their faiths, the Religions for Peace delegates continued to commit themselves to a culture of Peace that advances shared well-being, grounded in common healing, common living and shared security. The Assembly expressed a deep concern and called attention to what they deemed a new threat to Peace, namely, the rising hostility toward the ‘other.’ This they perceived to be an extension of intolerance, which too often takes the form of violence.
Respective religious communities can become centers of education on ‘welcoming the other,’ thus reversing the rising tide of hostility toward the ‘other.’ Social hostility toward individuals and groups, fuelled by fear and intolerance of the “other,” threatens human dignity, good governance and shared well-being, they asserted.

The Assembly called on religious leaders and people of faith to acknowledge the value of youth-led, grassroots initiatives aimed at ‘welcoming the other’ and promoting sustainable peace. Religious communities must confront hostility toward the “other” as both an urgent threat and also a key to tackling other critical threats to Peace, they maintained.

The Assembly’s multi-religious vision of peace included the call to all people of faith to ‘Welcome the other.’ This vision is embedded and shared by diverse faith traditions’ call to profound active solidarity with and empathy for the ‘other.’ This call, for the Summit, is rooted in a spirit of unity, as a deeply held and widely shared value among religious communities. This ‘Welcoming the other’ is deemed to mean acceptance respect of one another. For the adherents of the Traditional African Religions, this call is rooted also in the spirit of Ubuntu.

‘Welcoming the other’ both strengthens and goes beyond tolerance by calling each religious community to stand in solidarity with the dignity, vulnerability and well-being of the ‘other’ with the full force of its respective spiritual and moral teachings. ‘Welcoming the other’ calls members to work to advance the full flourishing of human dignity through the holistic development of human beings. ‘Welcoming the other’ invites every person into co-building, co-nurturing and co-stewarding of shared well-being, which includes respecting nature and developing in harmony with it. ‘Welcoming the other’ involves seeing oneself in the other. ‘Welcoming the Other’ rejects complicity in the destruction of the earth, which aggravates disasters and human distress.

Religions for Peace is clearly not engaged in the struggle for the rights of LGBTI persons. Their concern about the rising hostility and the call to all people of faith to be welcoming, and to find commonalities rather than differences, points in the right direction for the future of LGBTI, particularly in Africa where they tend to be seen as criminals.

* Dr Fr Busangokwakhe Dlamini is an activist, an educator and a pastoral counsellor of the LGBT people in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He runs a non-profit organisation called Siyakhana – Ecumenical Community of the Paraclete, which caters for the psycho-spiritual needs of the LGBT people.

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