Posted: 07/23/2015 at 8:07am
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Kenyan Pastors to Obama: Don't Bring 'The Gay Talk' Here Video>
CBN News NAIROBI, Kenya -- President Barack Obama heads to
Kenya Thursday for a global economic summit. It will be Obama's first
visit as president to his father's homeland.
While some hope the trip will bring closer ties
between our two countries, there's one subject many Kenyans don't want
the president to talk about: gay rights and same-sex marriage.
The streets are already buzzing in anticipation of
his arrival, with polls showing Obama enjoys widespread popularity among
Kenyans.
"I think this is a guy who really appreciates his roots," said one resident of the capital city.
"Because he is our brother, we welcome him," Peter, from Nairobi, said.
The president's visit, however, is not without controversy.
Seven hundred Kenyan evangelical pastors have
written an open letter asking the president not to come to their country
and talk about the gay agenda.
Mark Kariuki is the key architect of that letter. He
leads an alliance representing 38,000 churches and 10 million Kenyan
Christians.
"We do not want him to come and talk on
homosexuality in Kenya or push us to accepting that which is against our
faith and culture," Kariuki said.
Kariuki welcomes the president's visit but says leave "the gay talk" in America.
"Let him talk about development; let him talk about
cooperation; let him talk about the long-time relationship Kenya has had
with America," he said. "But about our beliefs and culture-- keep off!"
Obama has used previous trips to Africa to urge
governments to respect gay rights. Kariuki said the open letter is a
warning to the president.
"The family is the strength of a nation. If the
family is destroyed, then the nation is destroyed," he said. "So we
don't want to open doors for our nation to be destroyed!"
Pro-family activists took to the streets of Nairobi this month, urging President Obama to avoid the subject when he visits.
"Since Obama has a Kenyan descent, I think he should
be more familiar with our culture. Africa has a conservative culture,"
said one of the participants in the pro-family rally.
Homosexuality is illegal in Kenya and 37 other
African countries. In fact, Kenya's penal code says any individual "who
has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature" can face
14 years jail time.
Bishop Kariuki said he'll fight to keep homosexuality a crime in Kenya.
"It is an abomination to God. Kenya is 82 percent
Christian. So, as far as our conviction and our faith are concerned it
is not a natural thing," he said.
Top Kenyan politicians are also weighing in.
"God did not create man and woman so that men would
marry men and women marry women," the country's deputy president is
quoted saying.
Another lawmaker warned, "We shall tell him to shut up and go home" if he talks about gay rights.
After June's U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing
gay marriage in America, one Kenyan politician said allowing such a
thing in her country would open "floodgates of evil synonymous with the
biblical Sodom and Gomorrah."
Many citizens have also taken to Twitter using the
hashtag #KenyansMessageToObama to warn the president about spreading his
gay agenda beyond America's shores.
Meanwhile, Bishop Kariuki said the president is destroying America with his support for gay marriage.
"I believe that with all my heart with that agenda
he is ruining America because America has been known as a Christian
nation," he said. "It has been known as a nation that has sent
missionaries out. Now it is a different nation all together because it
is an agenda against God!" Source: CBN News
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