Uganda (MNN) — Lawmakers in Uganda pushed a bill earlier this year that would create a nationwide system of Islamic Sharia courts, which Alliance Defending Freedom said “raises serious concerns that some Ugandans will be forced to adjudicate cases in a court system that does not recognize their faith or legal rights.”

Parliament ended without the Ugandan Qadhis Courts Bill being passed. But the next session of Parliament began in June and will continue till 2031. Nearly three out of every four people in the House are first-time members of Uganda’s Parliament, according to the United Nations Development Programme. The direction they will steer the country remains to be seen. 

“I’m thankful that [the bill] didn’t get through the last parliament. I hope it won’t get through this parliament as well. But it is a sign of the undercurrent of the growth of Islam in Uganda,” says Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs, USA. 

“Uganda is a majority Christian nation, and yet you have certain regions of the country that are almost 100% Muslim,” says Nettleton.

Pray that Christians will be vocal to their government leaders, pushing away from Sharia law implementation. 

“We know from past experience that it always affects Christians when there is Sharia law,” he says, pointing to the example of northern Nigeria. “It always impacts all of the people, not only the Muslims in that particular place.”

(Read the report Shari’ah Criminal Law in Northern Nigeria from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom to grasp what this might look like in other countries such as Uganda.) 

Find your place in the story through prayer. Pray that secular Christianity in Uganda will be replaced by true devotion to Jesus Christ and His ways. Pray for soft hearts among believers toward Muslims. 

“Sometimes in these political battles, it gets easy to say, ‘Well, you know, they’re the enemy, they’re the bad guys,’” says Nettleton. “But they’re the people that Jesus died for.” 

Many Muslims in Uganda who turn to follow Jesus are met with hostility from their families. (Find recent stories of this from Morning Star News.)

“Let’s pray that they will stand strong in Christ and that God will meet their needs,” says Nettleton. Partner with VOM USA to help meet the needs of persecuted Christians around the world. 

Learn more about Uganda and find other nations to pray for with VOM USA.

 

 

Header photo is a stock image courtesy of Roman Nguyen via Unsplash.