Pastor Joseph Serwadda (pictured), who prefers being called the Presiding Apostle of Born Again Faith Federation has called on Parliament to expedite the scrutiny and passing into law the Marriage Bill, saying it will help in silencing the people seeking to destabilize the marriage institution in the country.
Serwadda’s remarks were in response to statements made by Pastor Aloysius Bugingo, Head of House of Prayer Ministries International, who said that marriage vows saying ’till death do us part’ is not biblical and is the cause of murders between couples.
Bugingo challenged his congregation to show him a couple in the bible that made such vows.
“I have read the Bible countless times but I have never come across any verse that tells marrieds that it will be death to do them apart. Those vows which are made by Anglicans, Catholics and Born-again are satanic. That is why when couples find that they are no longer compatible, they find ways taking away each other’s lives because the vows involve death,” Bugingo said.
Addressing guests at the Inter-faith prayer breakfast organized by Parliament this morning, Serwadda lashed out at Bugingo, whose marriage is on rocks for making derogatory statements against the institution of marriage.
“… we see the parliament as the only solution that can cause order in this matter. We need legal stance that will silence him (Bugingo) and many others for now and in the future. If you Parliament quickly pass the Marriage Bill into an act you would have silenced the naysayers about marriage and serious relationships,” said Serwadda.
He also argued that while drafting the existing legislation on Marriage and Divorce Parliament didn’t subject celebration of those marriages to the rights, ceremonies, customs and practices of the different Christian denominations, which he said is a stark contrast to the provisions of the Marriage and Divorce Act of Mohamedian religion.
He said that years later, the constitution of Uganda provided for the Kurdi courts to deal with matters of marriage, divorce in relation to Muslims, making islam the only religion in Uganda with exclusive rights to marriage designed around their faith.
Serwadda argued that there is need to cater for the Christian denominations in this country too because the Christian faith has different denominations that are diverse and peculiar to each other, and some have internal mechanisms and arrangements such as church courts to deal with marriage issues, but these aren’t catered for in the current laws and not provided in the draft bill.
He also called for revision on the nature of licensing which caters for licensing of buildings and not ministers of the gospel, yet marriage isn’t about things but rather about people, saying that these licensing rules have contributed to a lot of inconvenience while conducting marriages.
