Sunday Vision, Uganda
Feb. 23, 2008
By Esther Namugoji
AN international Christian group with a reputation for glorifying sex as a form of worshipping Jesus has been operating in Uganda for the last nine years. Family International is represented in the country by Family Care Uganda and RadioActive Productions.
They operate from a house in Kibuli, a Kampala suburb, where they produce radio programmes on Christianity, which are aired on a Kampala FM station.
“We believe in communal groups just like Israel’s Kibbutz system, where everything was shared. They share their children, clothes, and there is complete sexual sharing,” said Simon Peterson, the head of RadioActive Productions.
But due to cultural sensitivities, he admits most of the Family doctrine is not being practised to the letter and spirit in Uganda.
“We have controversial doctrines, yes, but we don’t propagate them here because some people can’t handle them,” Peterson, who hails from the UK, stressed in an interview with Sunday Vision.
“Sexual feelings are not sinful. We take a positive view of sex,” he defends The Family doctrine, arguing that they are not the first group to uphold Jesus as a husband.
In a book, Not Without My Sister, Peterson’s three daughters describe their life in the organisation, which they left because of their discomfort with the organisation’s teachings.
The authors write that the group practises a ‘Loving Jesus Revolution’, in which members can imagine they are having sex with their ‘husband’ Jesus and even use vulgar language.
Peterson’s daughters give a detailed account of David Berg, the founder of the organisation who promoted the Law of Love as a replacement for the biblical laws of Moses. This, they point out granted members sexual freedoms.
According to the trio, Berg encouraged followers to be comfortable with all sexual matters, including masturbation, extra-marital sex, sex with teenagers and even incest. He discouraged homosexuality but was liberal with lesbianism. The three girls claim that some adults used these liberties to abuse children sexually in the name of loving them.
According to Berg’s teachings, female members were also expected to win converts by offering sex whenever necessary, the authors write.
Responding to the book, Peterson told Sunday Vision that the authors were influenced to exaggerate their stories by people who he claims are persecuting the group.
“Contrary to what they write, I have evidence that the girls were happy in the Family,” he said, showing a collection of photographs, letters and cards as proof.
http://www.sundayvision.co.ug/
detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=
7&newsCategoryId=123&newsId=613069
No comments:
Post a Comment