President Barack Obama and Senegal President Macky Sall at a joint press conference on June 28, 2013. (AP)
(CNSNews.com) – Remarks by President Barack Obama during his recent Africa trip concerning sexual orientation and discrimination were rebuked by several Kenyan leaders as contrary to the laws of God, who also emphasized that Kenya “is a God-fearing nation.”
It is illegal to engage in homosexual practices in 37 African states, including Kenya and Senegal. In a press conference with Senegal President Macky Small on June 27, Obama said, “My basic view is that regardless of race, regardless of religion, regardless of gender, regardless of sexual orientation, when it comes to the law, people should be treated equally, and that's a principle that I think applies universally.”
Those comments spread quickly and on Sunday, June 30, Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto responded at St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Kenya, saying, “Those who believe in other things, that is their business. We believe in God.”
“This country, the nation of Kenya, is a God-fearing nation,” he said. “We believe in God.”
Cardinal John Njue, the Catholic archbishop of Nairobi, Kenya, said that Obama should “forget and forget and forget” about the decriminalization of homosexuality in Africa, adding, “I think we need to act according to our own traditions and our faiths.”
Cardinal John Njue, Catholic archbishop for Nairobi, Kenya. (AP)
“Those people who have already ruined their society … let them not become our teachers to tell us where to go,” said the cardinal.
Senegal President Macky Sall also rejected some of President Obama’s comments, saying, “We are not ready to decriminalize homosexuality.” Also, the Senegalese newspaper Liberation mocked Obama’s views by playing off his 2008 campaign slogan with the headline, “No, We Can’t.”