O-blog-dee-o-blog-da

By Melanie Nathan, February 13, 2013.

After exposing Paul Shinners and his shenanigans in Uganda, the preacher from the United Kingdom, tried to court the U.K. press to refute facts that simply could not be denied; and in doing so, his attempt to discredit my report, did nothing much but bring greater attention by activists and bloggers in the UK, who continued to ask the clarifying questions that Shinners has failed to answer.  In his flimsy attempts at salvation, from being pinned as a player in the anti-gay ‘preaching’ that took place at a Ugandan rally on New year’s Eve, Paul Shinners has played the typical ‘cry foul’ card, purporting to be the victim. Now he has taken victim-hood a step further, blaming bloggers for not asking him for his help to thwart the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda, after he had preached in support of it?

Did he really not realize that the protests outside his Christian coffee shop, Cornerstone Cafe, St. Neots, were a call for him to speak out against the Bill?  Did he not realize that the first e-mail he received from me on January 02, 2013, certainly gave him license to condemn the Anti-Homosexuality Bill (AHB), then.

After a New Years rally in Uganda, I referenced on this BLOG a quote from the Ugandan Monitor, that Paul Shinners  (Schinners) had attended an the Evangelical rally in Uganda, New Years eve, where he preached in concert with many others about the support for the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, according to the Ugandan Monitor as follows:

“The remarks by pastors came amidst controversies and media reports of increasing promotion of homosexuality. Rev. Paul Schinners from the United Kingdom commended Uganda for the Bill, saying it was a clear stand for God. “There is no other nation world over that has such a plan and through this, Uganda is going to be blessed,” Rev. Schinners said.”

To date Shinners has not refuted the statement and nor has he explained it, save to say he has asserted in an email statement to me and others that he is “not homophobic” and that he does not support legislation that denigrates homosexuality.

However he has spent 5 weeks engaging me, other bloggers, and the UK press, attempting to paint himself as a victim of misunderstanding and slander as not being homophobic and as being against the Anti-homosexuality Bill. Yet he did nothing to set the record straight in Uganda and now believes that had activists asked, he could have actually thwarted the Bill.  Yet six weeks have gone by since our fist engagement and he did nothing at all during this time.

On February 09, five weeks after I first made contact with him and all this time into his e-mail whining and claims of victimization, Shinners made the following statement, in an e-mail to a local UK blogger, Daniel Law, (BLOG Time4Change) :-

“Finally, It is such a shame that you did not consult with us first to help make sure the legislation is not passed in Uganda. We too are against the bill and could have used our influence to help stop it if we had known earlier.”

This arrogance and unconscionable inaction left me flabbergasted; suddenly Shinners reveals that he could have impacted and prevented the passage of the AHB, Kill the Gays Bill, “had he been asked for help – and earlier.”   Instead Shinners has spent all these weeks ineffectively attempting to defend his actions in Uganda, playing victim, denoting his scrambled efforts at self protection, and yet in all this time has done absolutely nothing to thwart the Bill, that he now says “had he been asked” he could have done.

The man with all Christian fellowship at his disposal failed to take any action of his own accord to impact the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, and failed to use that influence he freely admits to having; instead still standing on the Uganda public record as applauding it, and blaming activists for not soliciting his help.

Note, I had personally sent him a copy of the Bill, five weeks earlier, on January 02, saying:-

“I note your purposeful quest in supporting the Ugandan “Kill the Gays Bill.”  It just strikes me as horrific that someone who purports to be a man of G-d would openly incite such violence on foreign soil.  You ought to know better…... I have included here below a copy and paste of the Ugandan Kill the Gays Bill as it currently stands before the Ugandan Parliament.  If it passes, you can add your name to its support with great shame.” 

Not to mention Shinner’s earlier travels to Uganda,  from January 02 when he received this e-mail from me, until e-mailing Daniel Law on Feb 09, Shinners did absolutely nothing to thwart the Bill, that he says had he known he could have.  And only now, a month later, after again being challenged again and this time by Daniel Law, is he mentioning he could have done something to help.  If he had such a belief why did he not respond to my email on January 02, suggesting and taking such action?

Shinners is lying shamefully. He knew about the Bill and certainly for the past six weeks, and he  has done nothing. The truth is clear, he would never have done a thing to help the Ugandan gays avert the Bill – leaving us to believe that he was in Uganda to support the bill.

During this time of defending himself and not lifting a finger to indeed help thwart the Bill, there has been a month long recess of the Ugandan Parliament.  Imagine all the letters and positive engagement Shinners could have accomplished with his Ugandan friends, in the name of Christ, to explain the views he now purports to expound, that the Anti-Homosexuality legislation is indeed un-Christian.

The Bill stands at #4 on the Parliamentary Agenda today, pending its second reading in parliament. There is till time for Shinners to reach out and act.

Instead he is still whining in e-mails to activists, blaming bloggers for not asking him for help and sooner. What makes it worse is that Shinners has known about the kill the Gays Bill for a long time; clearly through his travels to Uganda over time and his most recent trip where he encountered the anti-gay comments on the same stage upon which he preached.

U.K. bloggers and concerned citizens still await answers:

Here is the most recent e-mail sent by Daniel Law to Shinners after Shiners cancelled their meeting:

Paul,

The opening times of your shop is completely trivial matter and completely irrelevant.

Thank you for reading my blog at least. As you have read it a couple of times now, i’m sure you are now be aware (if you were not before) the situation in Uganda is unconscionable and with or without your knowledge you have validated their perverted interpretation of the bible. They are killing men, raping women and destroying families because a book that you have been preaching from tells them to. You have been going to Uganda for years, surely you must have been aware of the fundamentalist approach to the bible. I once made the mistake of talking about cosmology in front of an African priest who was a guest at a church where i was having christmas dinner and i was aggressively threatened with eternal damnation as i was going against the creation myth of the old testament. If you were not aware, why would you repeatedly travel there and do no research on the devastating effect christianity and people like YOU have had on African culture. The homophobia in Uganda is worse than the antisemitism in Germany before the holocaust.

If i was a good, honest, charitable, moral christian and i found out i had stood on a stage with such vile, prejudice, ignorant, homophobic religious extremists i would be ashamed and instantly (WHILE STILL IN UGANDA) use all my influence there to try and reach out to people like David Bahati, MP and Martin Ssempa to see reason and abandon their desire for a genocide in the name of god, NOT threaten legal action against the people who brought my ignorance to light. You should thank them, not just tell the local newspapers you demanded an apology (which you didn’t appear to do.) It doesn’t seem like a very christian way to behave. If you really are a christian, I hope you take lent as a time to reflect on your actions both before, on and since 31st December. You might as well have been on a stage with the KKK, Hitler or Osama Bin Laden.

You have NEVER denied saying that Uganda will be “blessed” by god for killing every practicing homosexual. I have seen many people say they are not homophobic (which is all you have said), but say they are “sodomy-phobic” as a loophole to justify murder in the name of your god. The bill would also make the “promotion” of LGBT rights illegal so if YOU do not act NOW it will be too late for YOU to do anything to stop this genocide that YOU (willingly or not) appear to support. I’m sure as a footballer in the 80’s and your personal life you have seen a lot of prejudice and i hope you’ll agree that no one should face discrimination regardless of race, gender, sexuality, age or disability.If you have had the time to read my blog and you haven’t yet put out a statement (as you said you would have by now) could you answer the following yes or no questions.

1. Do you believe the bible is the word of god?

2. Do you believe the practice of homosexuality a sin in the eyes of god?

3. Do you believe homosexuality a choice?

4. In your opinion should homosexual couples be able to marry and adopt?

5. Have you ever heard of or met Pastor Martin Ssempa?

6. Was your salary approximately £39,000 last year?

7. Was your trip to Uganda funded by your charity?

8. Before contacting the Local UK newspapers to protect your reputation, did you give ANY thought to the people IN Uganda who have seen you’re statements supporting the bill (in the following article) and make any attempt to contact THEM before or after the UK papers?

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Calls-to-pass-the-anti-gays-Bill-dominate-New-Year-messages-/-/688334/1655670/-/11vv8ob/-/index.html

9. And for the last time… DO YOU DENY MAKING THE STATEMENTS IN THE ABOVE ARTICLE.

If you are unwilling to answer these very simple questions you were LYING about your willingness to “explain the whole story” and clearly have something to hide…

I would appreciate your prompt response when you check your iPad or iPhone in the morning. If you continue to be evasive and refuse to answer my questions i will contact the local newspapers without delay.

DB Law.

First Article mentioning Shinners:-

Apparently a great many Christian pastors, whether Evangelical or otherwise, spent much of their New Year’s messages trumping up support for what has become known as  “The Kill the Gays Bill, ” showing their frustration at Speaker Rebecca Kadaga‘s impossible promise to have it passed into law as 2012′s Xmas gift to Uganda.  https://oblogdeeoblogda.me/2013/01/01/ugandan-gay-hating-pastors-spit-on-their-constitution-in-mandela-stadium/

MORE on Shinners: http://freethinker.co.uk/2013/01/08/i-am-not-homophic-says-uk-pastor-who-attended-a-year-end-rally-in-uganda/