Free Republic

On this date in 1886, thirteen Catholic men and boys, as well as nine Anglican Christians, were burned alive in Buganda, a kingdom in modern-day Uganda. Most of them pages at the royal court, they had been martyred for their faith. The kingdom of Buganda came in contact with Europeans in the 1860s; Arab traders had been doing business there a few decades before that. Christian missionaries arrived in Buganda in 1879. In the next few years many court officials converted. King Muteesa I tolerated Muslims, Catholics and Protestants and played them off against other for political gain, but his...

LONG before the Lambeth 2 and the divisive marriage of the American gay bishop Gene Robinson broke the Anglican Communion, Uganda's infant Christian community had to deal with today's hot potato. Ugandan converts were thrown headlong into "the issue of the 21st century". How do Christians respond to state-sanctioned homosexuality in light of its apparent contradictions with culture, faith and nature? For the early church, it was a literal "baptism by fire" experience. Mwanga's homosexuality is an issue we tip-toed about for fear of offending the Buganda monarchy which abhors homosexuality. But all historical accounts of the martyrs agree that...