Charles Lwanga and the martyrs of Uganda

 

Charles Lwanga and the Martyrs of Uganda

June 3

 

Sometimes when looking at deep differences within the Christian community, it is important to look at the experience of the various communities that hold the differing opinions, and see how those experiences led them to where they are.  An example is how Progressive Christians in North America and Europe have a hard time understanding how deeply opposed the Ugandan Church, one of the most vibrant and growing Christianity in the world today, is to accepting homosexual partnering and marriage.  But both the vigor of Ugandan Christianity and its firm anti-gay position go back to the same events. 

 

In the 1700s and 1800s, the Bugandan king enjoyed the traditional droit du seigneur enjoyed by most monarchs in traditional cultures all over the world—the King could sleep with any of his subjects, and submission to this was seen as a sign of loyalty and proper fealty.  Christianity, introduced by a handful of Anglican and Roman missionaries after 1877, presented a problem: loyalty to the King was seen as secondary to loyalty to God and Christ.   Initially the Christian faith had been preached only to the immediate members of the court, by order of King Mutesa. His successor, Mwanga, became increasingly angry as he realized that the first converts put loyalty to Christ above the traditional loyalty to the king. This was most evident in their rejection of Mwanga’s droit du Seigner, which he made liberal use of, especially with handsome young male pages at court.  On 3 June 1886, thirty-two young men, 22 Roman Catholics and 10 Anglicans, all pages of the court aged 13 to 30 years, were burned to death at Namugongo on orders of the King.  They had all refused his favors and thus shown, to his mind, their disloyal rebelliousness. A key person among them was Charles Lwanga, who had first learned of Christ’s teachings from two retainers in the court of Chief Mawulugungu. While a catechumen, he entered the royal household as assistant to Joseph Mukaso, head of the court pages.  Musako had been put to death for refusing the King’s advances.  On the night of Mukaso’s martyrdom, Charles requested and received baptism. Imprisoned with his friends, Charles became the chief catechist of the other pages in prison, urging them to resist Mwanga as a sign of their devotion to Jesus.  He is honored in the Roman Church as patron of youth and Catholic action in most of tropical Africa.

These martyrdoms totally changed the dynamic of Christian growth in Uganda. Mwanga first forbade anyone to go near a Christian mission on pain of death, but finding himself unable to cool the ardor of the converts, resolved to wipe out Christianity.  King Mwanga thus ordered the suppression of Christianity, and required his subjects to renounce their faith or suffer death.   

 

The Namugongo martyrdoms produced a result entirely opposite to Mwanga's intentions. The example of these martyrs, who walked to their deaths singing hymns and praying for their enemies, so inspired many of the bystanders that they began to seek instruction from the remaining Christians. Within a few years the original handful of converts had multiplied many times and spread far beyond the court. The martyrs had left the indelible impression that Christianity was truly African, not simply a white man's religion. Most of the missionary work was carried out by Africans rather than by white missionaries, and Christianity spread steadily. Uganda now has the largest percentage of professed Christians of any nation in Africa. 

 

The linkage of resistance to sexual promiscuity, particularly to same-sex unequal power pairings, on Ugandan Christianity thus explains how deeply the Ugandan Church feels about these matters.  As Ugandans are exposed to modern Biblical studies and readings of the Bible, and more progressive Christian theology, the linkage may become less strong.  But for the time being, at least, the persecution of gays and lesbians remains the norm for much of the sub-Saharan African church.  In an ironic way, the same toxic masculinity—associating traditional social arrangements and sexual dominance with one’s sense of manliness and political power—that drove King Mwanga’s wickedness is driving the Ugandan church’s resistance to equality for women and rejection of same sex relationships even when they are consensual, mutually exclusive, and in a context of life-long commitment.  

 

But the retrograde position of the Ugandan Church should not make us fail to see the strength of modern Christianity in Africa.  James Keifer tells of an African clergyman, born of pagan parents who shared with him the story of his conversion: 

 

“One afternoon I was bicycling along a road and met a young man about my own age bicycling in the opposite direction. He promptly turned about and began to ride beside me and to talk. He spoke with great enthusiasm about Jesus, whom I had never heard of before, and how He had destroyed the power of death and evil by dying and rising again, and how He was God become man to reconcile man with God. I heard what my companion had to say, and before we parted I had accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Now, the young man who preached the Good News of Jesus Christ to me that afternoon had himself heard of Jesus for the first time that morning.”

 

Renewed persecution of Christians in the 1970's by the military dictatorship of Idi Amin proved the vitality of the example of the Namugongo martyrs. Among the thousands of new martyrs, both Anglican and Roman, was Janani Luwum, Archbishop of the (Anglican) Church of Uganda.     

 

For Charles Lwanga and all the martyrs of Uganda, we thank thee, O Lord.