A recent Adventist Today opinion piece has renewed questions about a senior church official’s alleged involvement in Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. The claim remains unverified by the supplied sources, but the wider debate matters: the law carries severe penalties, while Adventist guidance also calls for respect and redemptive love towards people with whom members disagree.
The allegation is serious, but it remains unverified
A recent Adventist Today opinion piece questioned whether a newly elected senior Adventist official had supported or helped draft Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ+ law. The article also described commenters applauding the legislation and alleged church involvement, prompting a pointed question: where does religious conviction end and support for state punishment begin?
The available sources don’t establish whether the official took part in the law’s development. That distinction matters. The allegations deserve scrutiny, but they shouldn’t be presented as proven fact.
What Uganda’s law says about penalties
Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023, sets out different offences and penalties. The Act provides life imprisonment for the offence of homosexuality, up to ten years for an attempt, and the death penalty for the legally defined offence of aggravated homosexuality. It also creates offences relating to the promotion of homosexuality, with imprisonment of up to twenty years.
That means the death penalty doesn’t apply to every offence under the Act. The UK government’s country information note says the Constitutional Court struck down some provisions while leaving much of the law in force, adding useful context to the statute itself.
Human rights groups describe fear and harm
Human Rights Watch reports that the law and the surrounding political climate have intensified fear and insecurity for LGBT people, their families, activists and organisations. Its documentation describes arrests, detention, raids, evictions, extortion and barriers to healthcare and housing.
The organisation also points to public rhetoric from political, governmental, cultural and religious figures as part of the climate in which harassment and attacks have occurred. Its report calls for the law’s repeal, protection for LGBT people and supporters, and accountability for abuses.
Adventist guidance sets out a tension
The Adventist Church’s published guidance combines restrictive teaching on sexual behaviour with a call to treat people who practise same-sex relationships with the redemptive love taught and lived by Jesus. It also acknowledges that some countries impose harsh legal penalties for homosexual or other alternative sexual practices.
That statement doesn’t confirm whether any individual Adventist leader supported or advised on Uganda’s law. It does, however, offer a useful lens on the debate: a church’s stated call to respect people is not the same as endorsing criminal punishment.
The argument over scripture is also an argument over mercy
The opinion piece asks whether Christians who cite biblical passages about punishment apply the same approach to other offences mentioned in scripture. It contrasts that with its account of Jesus’ teaching: care for others, mercy and leaving judgement to God.
Religious scholar Karen Armstrong, in an interview about scripture and ethics, describes sacred texts as interpreted and reinterpreted over time, and emphasises faith’s call to compassionate action. That isn’t a reading shared by every believer, but it underlines why the debate is about more than law: it’s also about how religious communities choose to use their moral authority.
The allegation remains unresolved, but the distinction between belief, public advocacy and state punishment deserves careful attention.
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