Pat Robertson: Christians Can Raise The Dead But Just Don't Use That Power

LIBERIA: Gays Attacked And Harassed After Christian Leaders Call Ebola God's Punishment For Homosexuality

Via Reuters:

Leroy Ponpon doesn't know whether to lock himself in his flat in Monrovia because of the deadly Ebola virus, or because he is gay. Christian churches' recent linking of the two have made life hell for him and hundreds of other gays. Ponpon, an LGBT campaigner in the Liberian capital, says gays have been harassed, physically attacked and a few have had their cars smashed by people blaming them for the hemorrhagic fever, after religious leaders in Liberia said Ebola was a punishment from God for homosexuality. "Since church ministers declared Ebola was a plague sent by God to punish sodomy in Liberia, the violence toward gays has escalated. They're even asking for the death penalty. We're living in fear," Ponpon told the Thomson Reuters.

RELATED: LGBT rights are nonexistent in Liberia. The current maximum penalty for homosexual acts is one year in prison, which is relatively light compared to many African nations. In 2012 former Liberian First Lady Jewel Taylor, who is now a legislator, introduced a gay death penalty bill.  Two weeks later 2011 Nobel Peace Prize-winning Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf announced that she would not sign Taylor's bill even after its maximum penalty was "watered down" to a mere ten years in prison. However Sirleaf continues to refuse to consider decriminalizing homosexuality in Liberia. Shortly after Sen. Jewel Taylor's bill failed, local Christian leaders distributed flyers which declared, "We will get every gay person one by one. Let these individuals be aware that we are coming after them soon. We urge them to also begin saying the Lord’s Prayer." Liberia is 85% Christian.

ALSO RELATED: Sen. Jewel Taylor's ex-husband, former Liberian president Charles Taylor, is currently imprisoned at The Hague for crimes against humanity. In 2010 prosecutors in the case charged that Pat Robertson had lobbied the George H.W. Bush administration on Taylor's behalf in order to gain the rights to gold mines controlled by Taylor's war lords. During his trial Taylor testified that Robertson had indeed been his main political ally in the United States. According to pilots that worked for Robertson's Operation Blessings, planes that Robertson told 700 Club viewers were ferrying Christian relief supplies to genocide victims in Rwanda were in fact carrying mining equipment to Taylor's gold operation in Liberia. Sen. Jewel Taylor has been banned from all international travel by the United Nations.

LIBERIA: Christian Leaders Say God Is Cursing Nation With Ebola Because Gays

The above headline is from the Washington Post:

According to Front Page Africa and the Daily Observer, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf called on Tuesday for all residents to fast for three days and pray for forgiveness. “Relying on His divine guidance for our survival as a nation,” she announced, “I call on all Liberians to observe three days of national fast and prayer to seek God’s face to have mercy on us and forgive our sins and heal our land, Liberia, as we continue to fight against the deadly Ebola virus.” That followed a recent recommendation by the Liberian Council of Churches, which said in a statement last week the outbreak has Biblical implications. “God is angry with Liberia,” the religious leaders said, according to the Daily Observer. “Ebola is a plague. Liberians have to pray and seek God’s forgiveness over the corruption and immoral acts (such as homosexualism, etc.) that continue to penetrate our society. As Christians, we must repent and seek God’s forgiveness.”

It should be noted that Sirleaf, who not incidentally is the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner, has not personally linked ebola to homosexuality. Here's an excerpt from the unanimously approved resolution by God's Gentle People at the Liberian Council of Churches:

The men of God, meanstream Episcopalians and non-denominational evangelicals alike, unanimously endorsed the following resolution: That God is angry with Liberia, and that Ebola is a plague. Liberians have to pray and seek God's forgiveness over the corruption and immoral acts (such as homosexualism, etc.) that continue to penetrate our society. As Christians, we must repent and seek God's forgiveness. That a three-day indoor fast and prayer across the nation be observed, commencing next Wednesday, August 6th, and concluding Friday, August 8th. That an inter-denominational committee be constituted to present said resolution to government. That if government is in agreement, the Republic of Liberia be locked up for three days of fast and prayer. All movement should be restricted during those three days. People should stay at home for three days of silence, fasting and prayer.

"Meanstream Episcopalians." If the above isn't bad enough for you, US-based white supremacists are reveling in both the ebola deaths in Africa and its linking to homosexuality.

LIBERIA: United Nations Condemns Proposed Anti-Gay Legislation

The United Nations Human Rights Office has condemned Liberia's plan to stiffen the penalties for homosexuality.

The new legislation makes homosexual acts, including sodomy and lesbian acts, a second degree felony, the punishment for which includes a fine and up to five years in jail. Such acts, including "voluntary sodomy," are currently classified as misdemeanors and carry a one-year jail sentence. Additionally, the amendments also impose penalties on anyone who "seduces, encourages, or promotes another person of the same gender to engage into sexual activities." Despite calls from international agencies to decriminalize homosexuality, many in Liberia continue to stand by their conservative beliefs regarding homosexual behavior. In March 2012, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf defended her country's criminalization of homosexuality, telling Britain's Tony Blair in an interview with the Guardian: "We like ourselves just the way we are [...] we've got certain traditional values in our society that we would like to preserve."

RELATED: In April a Liberian anti-gay Christian group published a hit list of "suspected homosexuals" and vowed to track those persons down for brutal punishment. Their list closed with a warning that its targets should "start saying the Lord's Prayer."

Former Liberia President Charles Taylor Found Guilty Of Crimes Against Humanity

Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia and the one-time business partner of Pat Robertson, was found guilty today of a long list of war crimes, including crimes against humanity. Taylor faces life in prison.

His trial lasted five years, during which the court heard a catalog of horrific acts committed by rebels whom Taylor helped arm in Sierra Leone’s civil war. The war ended in 2002 after more than a decade of fighting and more than 50,000 deaths. The rebels backed by Taylor became particularly known for hacking off the limbs of their perceived enemies and carving words onto their bodies. They also recruited children to fight and terrorized the civilian population through rape, looting and burning down homes. Crucial to their campaign were the weapons they bought from Taylor and paid for with what came to be known as “conflict" or "blood" diamonds, because of their role in fueling conflict in Africa.

In 2010 prosecutors in the case claimed that Pat Robertson had lobbied the first Bush administration on Taylor's behalf in order to gain the rights to gold mines controlled by Taylor's war lords. Taylor testified that year that Robertson had indeed been his main political ally in the United States. According to pilots that worked for Robertson's Operation Blessings, planes that Robertson told 700 Club viewers were ferrying Christian relief supplies to genocide victims in Rwanda were in fact carrying mining equipment to Liberia.

RELATED: In February of 2012, Taylor's ex-wife, now a member of the Liberian Senate, proposed a death penalty for homosexuality. A weakened version of that bill is still pending.

Anti-Gay Liberian Christians Publish Hit List: "We Will Get Them One By One"

As a bill that worsens the penalty for homosexuality wends its way through Liberia's legislature, an anti-gay Christian group has published a hit list in which they vow to track down every gay person for brutal punishment.

The fliers include this threat: "Let these individuals be aware that we are coming after them soon. We urge them to also begin saying the Lord’s Prayer.”

The fliers distributed over the weekend in parts of Liberia’s capital were signed by the Movement Against Gay’s in Liberia, or MOGAL. The group said those involved in promoting gay rights “should not be given space to get a gulp of air.” “Having conducted a comprehensive investigation, we are convinced that the below listed individuals are gays or supporters of the club who don’t mean well for our country,” the fliers read. “Therefore, we have agreed to go after them using all means in life.” No individual members of MOGAL signed the flier. But Moses Tapleh, a 28-year-old resident of the main community where the flier was distributed, said he was affiliated with the group and stressed that its threats should be taken seriously. “We will get to them one by one,” Tapleh said. “They want to spoil our country.” Asked what specific action might be taken against those on the list, he said they could be subjected to “dangerous punishments” including “flogging and death.”

One of the persons named on the list said he has already received death threats by phone. Last month Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, a 2011 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, refused to consider decriminalizing homosexuality, but said she would not sign the new bill to worsen the penalty to ten years in prison.

State Department Concerned By Liberia

Last week Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who last year was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, refused to consider decriminalizing homosexuality. The U.S. State Department said yesterday that it is troubled by Sirleaf's position.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. stood by its policy of aggressively promoting gay rights. But asked about Sirleaf's statements, just two months after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to Liberia to attend Sirleaf's second inauguration, Nuland said the U.S. would be inquiring with Liberian officials to "find out whether the reporting is accurate and express some surprise and concern." Nuland declined to specifically say how two bills on gays under consideration by Liberian lawmakers would affect U.S. assistance in the West African country, which was founded 165 years ago by freed American slaves. But she suggested that they could lead to a re-evaluation of certain programs.

Liberia is set to receive over $200M in U.S. aid this year alone.

Liberia's President Vows Not To Decriminalize Homosexuality

We were previously encouraged by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's words against a proposed bill dramatically increasing the penalties for homosexuality. But that's as far as she goes. The Guardian reports:

The Nobel peace prize winner and president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has defended a law that criminalises homosexual acts, saying: "We like ourselves just the way we are." In a joint interview with Tony Blair, who was left looking visibly uncomfortable by her remarks, Sirleaf told the Guardian: "We've got certain traditional values in our society that we would like to preserve." Liberian legislation classes "voluntary sodomy" as a misdemeanour punishable by up to one year in prison, but two new bills have been proposed that would target homosexuality with much tougher sentences.

Think Progress has the clip.

RELATED: Blair may have "looked uncomfortable" because just last week he came out in support for marriage equality.

LIBERIA: President Says She Won't Sign Proposed Anti-Gay Legislation

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf says that she won't sign the proposed anti-gay bill now wending its way through the legislature. Last week the widow of Johnson-Sirleaf's predecessor introduced a bill calling for the execution of homosexuals. That penalty has apparently since been watered down to a mere ten years in prison.

A Liberian senator says the Senate will consider a bill to strengthen the West African nation's existing anti-gay laws. Senator Joseph Nagbe, chair of the Judicial Committee, says the bill will appear before Senate on Thursday. Liberia's former first lady, Senator Jewel Taylor, submitted a bill last week that would prohibit same-sex marriage and make homosexuality a first-degree felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The current law considers gay relationships a first-degree misdemeanor, which carries a punishment of up to a year in prison. If passed by the Senate, the strengthened bill would then go the House and then the president.

RELATED: Last year President Johnson-Sirleaf was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work on behalf of African women.

Gay Death Penalty For Liberia?

Warren Throckmorton reports that a death penalty for homosexuality has been proposed in the Liberian legislature.

Former Liberian first lady Jewel Howard Taylor has introduced a bill making homosexuality liable to a death sentence, amid a raging debate over gay rights in the country, a lawmaker said Wednesday. The bill submitted by former president Charles Taylor’s ex-wife, now a senator, also seeks to amend laws to prohibit gay marriage. “No two persons of the same sex shall have sexual relations. A violation of this prohibition will be considered a first degree felony,” reads the proposed amendment to marriage laws. First degree punishment can range from 10 years to life imprisonment to the death sentence, on the discretion of the judge. Voluntary sodomy is already a criminal offence in the west African country and can result in up to three years imprisonment.

Jewel Howard Taylor's ex-husband, the former president of Liberia, is presently incarcerated in The Hague, where he awaits trial for crimes against humanity. Among the charges is an accusation that Taylor forced his soldiers to cannibalize his enemies. The United Nations has ordered Jewel Howard Taylor banned from traveling outside of Liberia.

Three's Company

Pat Robertson Accused Of Trading Liberian Gold Concession For Lobbying Work

According to the former president of Liberia, televangelist Pat Robertson traded gold mine concessions there in return for lobbying the Bush administration on his behalf.

The revelations came in the midst of Taylor's U.N.-backed trial on 11 counts of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during Sierra Leone's 1990s civil war. Taylor is accused of directing a Sierra Leonean rebel group, the United Revolutionary Front, in a campaign aimed at securing access to the country's diamond mines. The rebel movement stands accused of committing mass atrocities in the West African country in the late 1990s, including the mutilation of thousands of civilians. Prosecutors at the Special Court for Sierra Leone contend that Taylor offered concessions to Westerners in exchange for lobbying work aimed at enhancing his image in the United States. They maintain that he also spent an additional $2.6 million paying lobbying and public relations firms to influence in his favor the policies of former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Under cross-examination, Taylor said that Robertson had volunteered to argue Liberia's case before U.S. officials and that he had had spoken directly to Bush about Taylor. He also confirmed that Robertson's company, Freedom Gold, signed an agreement to exploit gold in southeastern Liberia, but that it never generated any profit.

Robertson has long been condemned for his investments in African diamond mines whose overseers abused and defrauded workers.