St James Ministers’ Fraternal says Buggery Law repeal/decrim will cause Jamaica’s destruction

As the June 25, 2013 deadline draws closer in the Javed Jaghai case versus the state and the possibility of an amendment or repeal of the buggery law that will be heard in the Supreme Court a religious group of Ministers in western Jamaica claims that if an amendment or removal takes place it will cause defeat and destruction of Jamaica as a God fearing nation, Chairman of the St James Ministers’ Fraternal Pastor Glendon Powell says the agenda of the LGBT lobby locally is based on a secular world view which will have serious repercussions for Jamaica:

also see: MoBay Church Fraternity Says No To Buggery Review from October 2012

“We believe that God’s word is true and infallible, it is the standard by which our nation Jamaica should build and continue to keep this law, the word has said that my people have perished for the lack of knowledge we know that on June 25 there is going to be a case concerning the amendment or removal of the buggery law that is going to be put before the Supreme Court, in amending or changing this law we believe that this is going to pose difficulty for our nation, the agenda of these people is on a secular world view which wants to remove God and his standard from our society; therefore removing this law we will definitely plunge into defeat and destruction.”

He continued that the Ministers’ Fraternal is supposedly not against individuals as homosexuals but rather what they are trying to promote he calls on gays to seek spiritual help for their problem:

“We want to be clear, we are not hating homosexuals because Jesus Christ died for all sinners we want them to understand that if they are having a difficulty or problem that they need to deal with the problem in terms of getting spiritual help because you see we hate the act but not the person; so we are not against homosexuals we are against just what they are trying to promote or what they do.”

So the fear mongering continues and I am saddened by this indeed he is right that the people perish for lack of knowledge in other words information and some of these religious voices sought to get full knowledge of homosexuality and not just limit themselves to how we have sex then a lot of the arrant nonsense we see today will disappear. The manipulation of skewing of data also by leading voices in the anti gay movement also is another avenue of deliberately misleading glib followers who also themselves do not check what they are being told and placing full trust in these modern day Sadducees. The destruction mantra I do not subscribe to simply because a law is only going to make legitimate practices that are already done in private, all the lobby now seeks as far as I understand it in terms of their change of posture is decriminalization to allow consent and privacy and not to touch other statues while maintaining the protections for children via carnal abuse of paedophilia but it seems these groups are just opposing blindly without listening and following carefully to the tone, narrative and direction agitation. The false dichotomy in my view that all the LGBT lobby locally is on some secularist agenda wholesale and no gay Christians exist or all of us are non believers is only serving to add a dimension to the debate that needn't be there. Also see on Gay Jamaica Watch: Church Defends Buggery Law

CVM TV carried this story on June 17, 2013

As for my counterparts in the lobby especially the loudest voices including Javed the presentation of a secularist/atheist mantra pegged with the LGBT struggle has only sought to cloud the whole issue notwithstanding the long standing religious intolerance lead by groups such of the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship and the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, JCHS. In a podcast entitled Atheism Secularism may cloud the struggle for lgbt rights in Jamaica recorded September 13, 2012 following my friend Javed’s appearance on CVM TV where the tolerance study – national Survey of Attitudes towards Homosexuals I expressed my concerns about the tone of the narratives and campaign in the struggle. Javed Jaghai that particular night went down the path of atheistic views despite the rest of the discussion for the most part went quite well but his dismissal of the Bible and so on was what the callers in the call-back section reacted to and the germane points of the study went through the window. It is instances such as that and the poor communication frothed with seeming anti-God tones is what has ignited the church’s fury.

The lobby therefore has in effect given the religious intolerant corner the ammunition and the cause/justification for their strong response action based on some moral imperative to mobilize themselves avoiding any round table discourse and all sides imputing all kinds of motives. While belief systems and personal subscriptions are of import those do not and should not be made to be reflective of the entire LGBT community hence we are labelled as having a Godless secular worldview. Maybe more LGBT Judea-Christian believers need to start speaking up as well to balance the image of the population and counteract this perception of us that is encroaching on the struggle’s objective. It is not about whether or not God exists while Jesus while on earth did not speak about homosexuality directly nor was there any known concepts in the gospels or writings from those times but how the word is interpreted and how under an inclusive message by him fear and bigotry are masked as a moral quest that ends up creating more outcasts. The Sodom and Gomorrah story with Lot’s departure to me is more about the abuse of females especially young virgins more so than homosexuality; notice that Lot offered his two daughters for sexual use to the soldiers when they came to the door suspecting the two (angels) strangers he was entertaining were spies yet when they escaped the destruction he ended up committing incest with them and producing children in the process, yet hardly any one speaks about the story in this context it is easier to use it to persecute homosexuals and justify the intolerance.

To paint God as a wicked evil being who just destroys anything that does not please him when in his own promise (post the flood and ascension of Jesus) as we are under grace is a misplaced belief by this Fraternal and other religious voices and to be selective about homosexuality as the catalyst for destruction while other obvious societal ills go un-rebutted or ignored by these same groups shows that there are other motives here it seems; maybe to fill collection plates as churches also struggle with dwindling tides and offerings and indeed attendance as persons become frugal with household budgets; also the fact that the end times were predicted and as espoused in Revelation to link that to present homosexual agitations is foolhardy in my view. What a way to rile up an audience in a service and get praise as well in the prosperity gospel game as well; when one listens to some of these sermons they are empty and have no spiritual depth.

The intellectual dishonesty interwoven into the mix is also very disturbing to watch as it is done egregiously in the name of God and some imperative to protect the nation from perceived infestation of gays when we are always here. The conflation of same gender sex with abuse also needs to go as abuse is abuse despite the orientation of the individual as sexual attraction to prepubescent persons or children is a diagnosable deviant sexual disorder homosexuality is not and is orientation that is innate as seen thus far by several studies though I will admit not all conclusive.

These things need to start happening now

1) Religious anti gay voices need to stop calling destruction unnecessarily

2) LGBT activists need to listen carefully and respond appropriately

3) The intellectual dishonesty on all fronts needs to go from this most sensitive national issue

4) Meeting of the minds on homosexuality

5) Stop the skewing and manipulation of date on HIV/AIDS (from other jurisdictions) on rates of infection for MSM and anal sexual practices in sub-groups

6) The legal issues properly communicated to not only the public but also the LGBT community in particular by all involved

7) End the confusion on same gender sex/homosexuality with paedophilia, abuse and deviant behaviour

8) Christian psychologists & psychotherapists (a) needs to recognise the Diagnostic Statistical Manual, DSM (version 5 released May 2013) as the official guide when dealing with homosexuality (b) stop seeing homosexuality as a disorder (c) stop referring persons for reparative therapy or suggesting same as orientation cannot be changed (d) stop seeing transgenderism as a disorder (gender dysmorphia) (e) Stop relying on faulty data and skewed research/studies by the discredited American anti gay group NARTH – National Association for Reparative Therapy for Homosexuality

9) Religious voices need to begin openly embracing persons despite their identified sexual orientation

10) Major press agencies need to force the anti gay voices in particular to verify their claims in the spurious articles published as of late and block or edit any such unsubstantiated materials before going to press

Seems like a tall order but we have to get back to basics and focus on the privacy and consent issue and avoid the smoke screens being used to distract and enthrall an unsuspecting and blind public opposing in ignorance for the most part.

Most cases of buggery involving consenting adults caught in the act whether penetration is properly proven or not via the all important doctor’s report I learnt years later following my own court experience hardly ever go to full trial or lead to a conviction as the precedent set is that of instances involving and older perpetrator and a younger victim in other words same sex paedohphilia which does not imply the sexual orientation of the alleged perpetrator. Another religious voice in the reintroduction of the flexi-work week and the declaration of every day a normal work day then gambling may benefit us financially but may damage the family structure eventually and the nation’s demise. Meanwhile several religious groups and voices have applied to be parties in the upcoming challenge in the Supreme Court, it is yet to be seen if they will be allowed to in the preliminary actions prior to full trial.

What would Jesus do?

UPDATE June 19, 2013

 

also see from 2010: Reactions to JFLAG's call for The Buggery Law's Removal by CARICOM

Peace and tolerance

H