Heartland

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03341.html



Needs to be said. Especially in light of stuff that's been going down in Uganda. ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8412962.stm )

markfiend wrote:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03341.html



Needs to be said. Especially in light of stuff that's been going down in Uganda. ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8412962.stm )

There's an online campaign going on about this issue, in case anybody should be interested ...

http://www.avaaz.org/en/uganda_rights/

I'm not trying to belittle the effort, but the Ugandan government's response to Western complaints so far has been more-or-less "we don't care what you think". And when some American groups are actively encouraging the Ugandans, it really doesn't help.

People listen to Desmond Tutu. I think his words are likely to have more effect than a bunch of faceless Westerners on the Internet.

Also, sometimes you hear people, particularly prominent atheists, asking "where are the moderating religious voices when the hard-liners are calling for people to be killed?" Well, here's one.

markfiend wrote:I'm not trying to belittle the effort, but the Ugandan government's response to Western complaints so far has been more-or-less "we don't care what you think". And when some American groups are actively encouraging the Ugandans, it really doesn't help.

People listen to Desmond Tutu. I think his words are likely to have more effect than a bunch of faceless Westerners on the Internet.

Also, sometimes you hear people, particularly prominent atheists, asking "where are the moderating religious voices when the hard-liners are calling for people to be killed?" Well, here's one.

Exactly, we can be very glad, there is Desmond Tutu!

Nevertheless, there are at least a few - though faceless - Westeners trying to gear
attention for such issues and to manage to campaign where necessary ... better than nothing ... ...

I've always liked Desmond Tutu. Religion gets a bad press from the vocal hardliners, the nutters who sell papers, the terrorists who claim religion as their motives whilst usually doing the opposite of what their chosen religion demands, and from the media who like to portray religion in a way that makes a good story regardless of the reality. And then there are down to earth, decent, intelligent and genuinely funny people like Desmond Tutu who make it look like it's actually alright to be religious. And I don't think I've ever heard Tutu say anything that it was possible to disagree with.