Christian apologist beaten unconscious in Ugandan capital

Originally published in Morning Star News

On Saturday (January 29), Islamic extremists stopped an evangelist on his way to participate in a debate about Christianity and Islam in Kampala, Uganda and beat him unconscious, he said.

Charles Kamya, 43, said he was about 300m from the open-air debate site in the Bwaise area of Kampala when two men stopped his car.

“I stopped my car only to be ambushed by six other Muslims in Islamic attire who resurfaced from the bush at around midday,” Kamya told Morning Star News from his hospital bed.

He said one of the assailants told him: “You have been terrorising our religion. Today Allah has called you, and you are going to meet him.”

“Some beat me badly while others cut me with some objects, and I lost a lot of blood as they pulled me out of my car and threw me out,” he said.

A blow to the head with an iron bar left him unconscious for about two hours, he said. A passerby found him in a pool of blood and called police.

“They arrived immediately and saved my life,” Kamya said. “The attackers did not damage my car or take anything inside the car. They only wanted to destroy my life.”

After initial treatment, he was transferred to another hospital for specialised care, but his father has requested he be discharged because the assailants were monitoring his movements and could attack him there, he said.

On January 24 Kamya debated Muslims in Jinja after going to a mosque there to buy a Quran on January 21, accompanied by a Muslim convert to Christianity. He used the Quran in the January 24 debate, he said.

“I used the Quran to show Muslims that from the beginning of the Earth to date, God wants all people to be saved including Muslims,” Kamya said. “I also discussed Sura 72 about the powers of evil jinn, and that they can be defeated by Issa [Jesus], and many Muslims converted to Christ. One sheikh wanted to grab the Quran from me, but I refused and left immediately.”

The debate on Saturday was organised by Bwaise area churches.

“It was well publicised, with my photo displayed as the main debater of the day in Christian-Muslim dialogue,” Kamya said.

The assault was the latest of many instances of persecution of Christians in Uganda that Morning Star News has documented.

Uganda’s constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one faith to another. Muslims make up no more than 12% of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.

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