Nevada Megachurch Helps Antigay Ugandan Minister

A Nevada church with some 6,000 members is providing financial support to one of the leaders of a movement in Uganda to criminalize homosexuality, NPR reports.

Canyon Ridge Christian Church, in Las Vegas, has aided Martin Ssempa, the pastor of the evangelical Makerere Community Church, in Kampala, since 2007. Mr. Ssempa is a leading supporter of a bill before Uganda’s legislature that would impose the death penalty for gay pedophiles and prison terms for consenting adults who have gay sex.

Kevin Odor, Canyon Ridge’s senior pastor, said Mr. Ssempa has reversed his support for the death-penalty provisions in the bill, and he cited the Ugandan minister’s pro-abstinence preaching.

“We want to help the AIDS problem in Africa, and we found somebody who is making a difference. So we support him,” Mr. Odor said.