Mocking Obama

The US government is pressurizing nations seeking their assistance to accept “gay rights” including same-sex marriage. In some cases it is a condition precedent. If this turns out to be true during our President’s visit, he should waste no further time over there and come home immediately with his head held high. We don’t need […]

The US government is pressurizing nations seeking their assistance to accept “gay rights” including same-sex marriage. In some cases it is a condition precedent. If this turns out to be true during our President’s visit, he should waste no further time over there and come home immediately with his head held high. We don’t need that type of assistance. Apart from South Africa where gay marriage is legal, in the rest of Africa lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people have to hide their sexual orientation for fear of persecution or criminal prosecution. A recent survey showed that 80% of young Nigerians enamoured of all things American still support anti-gay legislation. Several local demonstrations against same sex marriage indicate that the social and political backlash which would arise from any acceptance of gay “rights” in our country would far outweigh the supposed benefits of American aid.
 Louis Farrakhan spoke about President Obama’s open endorsement of gay behaviour and all Nigerians would be well advised to listen to this sermon posted on YouTube. Farrakhan is the leader of the American religious group called Nation of Islam (NOI).  He has been both praised and criticized for his often outspoken political views which are perceived in his country to be anti-Semitic, anti-white and prejudiced against gay people. He was appointed by the long-time NOI leader, Elijah Mohammed, as the National Representative of the Nation of Islam.  LGBT people assert that religion and politics are supposed to be separated, claiming their “rights” are guaranteed under the constitution. Farrakhan asks why is it that if the Koran or Bible are of no consequence, oaths of office sworn on them? Why aren’t the oaths taken with hands placed firmly on the Constitution? Should oaths freely sworn on the Holy Books ignore the dictates of those books? In approving same sex marriage based on constitutional rights Obama failed to appreciate that God’s standards can never be compromised by Constitutions.  Unfortunately the first ever black President of America will also be remembered as the first US President to sanction what the scriptures expressly forbid. Those who believe that Constitutions are more important than the Holy Books are guilty of the sort of “aggressive atheism” which the late Pope John Paul II warned the world about.  The sad truth is that America is taking the world down a slippery immoral slope which cannot end well.
 President Buhari must make it quite clear to Obama that the government and people of Nigeria exercise their democratic right to choose how they live with each other.  He should express our own disappointment that Americans accept gay rights but don’t accept the common African practice of a man being happily married to more than one woman.  Despite our aversion to same sex activities government must also accept that the current homophobia in our nation is wrong and uncalled for. Homophobia is mostly related to religious beliefs and encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings normally expressed as antipathy, contempt, prejudice, aversion or outright hatred toward same sex relationships. The rest of society cannot claim to be better than gay or lesbian people. Farrakhan makes it quite clear that thieves, liars, corrupt people, prostitutes, and fornicators have no right to think they are better than same sex partners. All of them are sinners who should be striving to make themselves better people, not accepting their weaknesses as somehow normal. By accepting same sex marriage the Americans are telling the rest of the world that God’s sovereignty means nothing to them. They are denying that God has the right to tell us how to live the life he gave us. They believe that what society says is more important than what God says.  Advocates of gay rights and same sex marriage are bringing confusion into the ranks of the righteous. Our government should not back down from respecting what the Holy Books say simply because Americans will get offended. Laws condemning same sex behaviour are necessary as a guide to our children and future generations.  LGBT people must realize that the rest of society is not their enemy but cannot support their behaviour if they truly love them.  Love sometimes has to rebuke to show affection. In rejecting same sex marriage it does not mean we are better than them, it is only repeating what the Holy Books say about all of us striving to perfection. 
Although the US is by no means the definition of democracy and human rights, as the wave of gay marriages grows larger, it is inevitable that it will have an impact in Africa.  Newsweek Magazine published a picture of Obama on their cover with the colours that represent the gay community forming a halo over his head. The caption read “the first gay president!” Farrakhan quite rightly pointed out that since Obama is married with children, they are simply mocking him. He has made himself and his nation look foolish, and should not be allowed to make fools out of Africans.