PBS Premieres GOD LOVES UGANDA on Independent Lens Tonight

One of the most acclaimed documentaries of the year, God Loves Uganda explores the role of the American evangelical movement in Uganda, where American missionaries have been credited with both creating schools and hospitals and promoting dangerous religious bigotry. The film follows evangelical leaders in America and Uganda along with politicians and missionaries as they attempt to eliminate what they deem "sexual sin" and convert Ugandans to fundamentalist Christianity.

The film records the tense atmosphere of fear created when a virulently anti-gay bill wins widespread support. Signed into law in February 2014, the Anti-Homosexuality Act mandates a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for engaging in homosexual activity as well as imprisonment for those who provide aid or counseling to members of the LBGT community. Directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams and produced by Williams and Julie Goldman, God Loves Uganda premieres on Independent Lens, hosted by Stanley Tucci, tonight, May 19, 2014, 10:00-11:30 PM ET on PBS (check local listings.)

Using vérité-style camerawork, interviews, and hidden camera footage, the film allows American religious leaders and their young missionaries that make up the "front lines in a battle for billions of souls" to explain their positions in their own words. Shocking and enlightening, touching and horrifying, God Loves Uganda reveals the conflicting motives of faith and greed, ecstasy and egotism among Ugandan ministers, American evangelical leaders, and the foot soldiers of a theology that sees Uganda as a test case, ground zero in a battle not for millions, but billions of souls.

See more at http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/god-loves-uganda About Independent Lens Independent Lens is an Emmy® Award-winning weekly series airing on PBS. The acclaimed anthology series features documentaries united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement, and unflinching visions of independent filmmakers. Presented by Independent Television Service (ITVS), the series is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private corporation funded by the American people, with additional funding from PBS and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The senior series producer is Lois Vossen. More information at www.pbs.org/independentlens. Join Independent Lens on Facebook at www.facebook.com/independentlens.

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