wfn.org | Zimbabwe Church Council Condemns Homosexuality

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9/20/95
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Zimbabwe Church Council Condemns Homosexuality

(ENI-Ecumenical News International) Homosexuality is "totally new
and out of step with the Zimbabwean tradition and culture" according
to a statement issued by the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC),
which has 20 protestant churches as members, following an
increasingly strident campaign directed against gays and lesbians by
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.

The ZCC's President, Bishop Jonathan Siyachitema, and the
organisation's General Secretary, Murombedzi Chikanga Kuchera, said
that Zimbabweans "should not be coerced into a practice
[homosexuality] which is totally alien to them".

President Mugabe's campaign has aroused concern in international
Church circles because the next assembly of the World Council of
Churches (WCC) is to take place in 1998 in the Zimbabwean capital of
Harare, at the invitation of the ZCC.

The issue of homosexuality is a delicate one for the Churches. The
WCC's General Secretary, Konrad Raiser, has said that there are
"deep divisions" between the WCC's 324 member Churches on the
"theological and ethical issues of human sexuality and sexual
orientation".

According to the ZCC leaders, "the Church of God finds no basis to
support intimate relationships between persons of the same sex. Such
relationships are viewed by the Church as a violation of God's
ordinances."

Shortly after the WCC's central committee agreed in January last
year to hold the assembly in Harare, the international press
reported allegations of harassment of homosexuals by Zimbabwe
police.

Dr Raiser said that he would seek assurances from the Zimbabwe
Government "regarding the entry and safety of all bona fide
participants of the assembly" and the "freedom of the assembly in
setting its agenda and in expressing its mind".

President Mugabe's latest campaign began in July when an association
called Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) attempted to set up a
stall at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair. A number of the
organisers of the book Fair pulled out of the event after the
Zimbabwe Government banned the GALZ stall, and the Publishers'
Association of South Africa suspended talks with its Zimbabwe
counterpart about a joint book fair.

President Mugabe has been quoted as saying: "Let the gays be gays in
United States and Europe, but they shall be sad people here."

According to another report, President Mugabe has told journalists
that "we do not believe they [homosexuals] have any rights at all.

"They can demonstrate, but if they come here, we will throw them
[homosexuals] in jail," the President said, apparently unconcerned
at news of protests held outside Zimbabwean embassies in other parts
of the world because of his remarks.

Many Church leaders in Zimbabwe agreed with President Mugabe's
views, though some said the President's "witch-hunt" against
homosexuals was regrettable, but "understandable". Most of the
Church leaders in Harare have said they do not believe homosexuality
will be a major issue for the WCC assembly.