Every Atheist Needs: God Loves Uganda

This is probably one of the most heart-wrenching films I’ve ever watched. If you can get through it without shedding a tear, I applaud your commitment to stoicism.

God Loves Uganda is a documentary film that was released in January 2013. The film follows the connection between evangelical Christianity in the US and Canada and the anti-LGBT movement in Uganda.

In Uganda, the anti-LGBT movement has resulted in the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act. It has been proposed that the death penalty be the punishment for homosexuality under this act.

It’s dangerous to be a homosexual in Uganda. Despite the fact that the death penalty is not a legal punishment for homosexuals in Uganda yet, gay men and women or even those suspected of being gay, are often murdered in the street by vigilantes.

This film illustrates the role in all of this that is played by Christian evangelical missionaries from the United States of America. The obvious and undeniable connection will shock you. Americans are taking advantage of uneducated, poverty-stricken people who are desperate to be led to a better life. Through charismatic testimony, passionate preaching, propaganda and fear-mongering, American men and women of God are driving the fear of homosexuality into Ugandans with alarming ease.

This hatred for those with any form of same-sex attraction is imported, there is no denying, from the giant, billion-dollar megachurches that dot the American landscape like a rash. They’ve honed in on a desperate and vulnerable population, and are using it to boost the numbers of Christians on the planet and fight their own war on an imagined evil.

This film is extraordinary in that it captures how these hate-mongers feel in their own words. Whether they consent to an interview or not, the filmmakers got their soundbites anyway, making use of a lot of hidden camera footage.

If you consider yourself a humanist and value the rights of your fellow man, this movie will leave you raw, gutted and pissed off. It’s the sort of film that doesn’t leave you for weeks. It’s worth every moment of grief, though, and I urge you to check it out if you haven’t already: God Loves Uganda.

Have you seen this film?

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