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New York Times Investigates Relationship Between American Dominionists and Uganda

Earlier this week, The New York Times posted(link is external) an excerpt from a new Roger Ross Williams documentary on how the Religious Right in the U.S. is shaping anti-gay activism in African countries like Uganda. The documentary includes interviews with International House of Prayer (IHOP) leaders Lou Engle(link is external) and Mike Bickle(link is external), whom we have followed closely here at Right Wing Watch, along with footage of IHOP missionaries at work in Uganda.

Engle organizes the anti-choice and anti-gay The Call rallies, which regularly feature Republican(link is external) and Religious Right(link is external) leaders. In 2010, he brought The Call to Uganda(link is external) to help(link is external) promote(link is external) the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which would have made homosexuality a capital offense. (He later backpedaled(link is external) after facing scrutiny.)

IHOP, including many The Call figures, helped to organize(link is external) Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s 2011 The Response prayer rally, which Bickle emceed(link is external).

In the film, Episcopal priest Kapya Kaoma makes a reference to Seven Mountains Dominionism, the belief that fundamentalist Christians have a mandate(link is external) to take control of the seven major spheres of society: government, business, education, media, arts and entertainment, the family and the church. As Engle explains, there are “seven mountains of influence(link is external)” that right-wing Christians must “reclaim” in order to win over society.

Engle and Bickle are also key players in the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement of self-appointed prophets and apostles who believe they are spokesmen for God on Earth. Bickle has claimed that gay people are the targets of “flaming missiles” from Satan(link is external) and has warned that the “gay marriage agenda” is a sign of the End Times as it is “rooted in the depths of Hell(link is external).” At one IHOP service, Bickle also claimed that Oprah Winfrey is the harbinger of the Antichrist(link is external):

In 2008, Engle held massive rallies(link is external) to encourage Californians to pass Proposition 8, which banned marriage equality, arguing(link is external) that legalizing same-sex marriage “will unleash a spirit more demonic than Islam, a spirit of lawlessness and anarchy, and sexual insanity will be unleashed unto the earth.” His rallies have focused(link is external) on creating a “movement” of ex-gays(link is external) to stop a Satanic(link is external)homosexual tornado(link is external)” that will “destroy America.” (He specifically targeted Ellen DeGeneres(link is external) for “conversion.”) In addition, he has warned that the separation of the separation of church and state and gay rights are putting the U.S. on the path to Nazism(link is external):

While Engle and Bickle have extended their influence to nations like Uganda in order to export their anti-gay politics(link is external), they have continued to increase their clout in America’s Religious Right.