Here's an astonishing idea: Ugandan officials give lessons in diplomacy and morality to U.S. leaders as they seek complicity from global Christians in a proposed bill that would criminalize, even kill, homosexuals.

It seems that they're unhappy with recent public comments by U.S. politicians and clergy who began speaking out in public (after days of hammering by Rachel Maddow on MSNBC.)

The bill that goes before their parliament in January would make homosexual activity comparable to rape and therefore due for the death penalty, imprison people with HIV/AIDS and punish their friends and neighbors, ministers and physicians if they fail to turn in gay people to the authorities.

Sarah Pulliam Bailey at Christianity Today looks at Uganda-U.S. tensions with some jaw-dropper quotes from Ugandans who say that these leaders have no moral credibility if they themselves don't hate homosexuality.

Rt. Rev. Dr. David Zac Niringiye, assistant bishop of Kampala in the Church of Uganda, says that American Christians should not make such public pronouncements on the bill:

"The international community is behaving like they can't trust Ugandans to come up with a law that is fair. No! No! That is not fair! When the Western governments or Western churches or Christians speak loudly about the legitimacy or illegitimacy of this bill, you actually begin to fuel the idea that homosexuality is the product of Western culture.

One Ugandan theologian calls the opposition "a kind of imperialism and a kind of relativism from the West" and writes off criticism from the head of the Episcopal Church saying:

Anything that comes from this end has no credibility because of what is going on in the Episcopal Church and what is going on in the American society as far as homosexuality is concerned.

It would appear that the only people who have "credibility" to Ugandans are those who hate gays and critics are expected to keep anti-gay-genocide comments to private channels -- where they can be privately ignored.

Meanwhile Rev. Rick Warren, who recently went public "vigorously condemning" the proposed bill is scolded by Ugandan HIV/AIDS activist Martin Ssempa. Ssempa tells CT that Warren is wrong because the Baptist pastor failed to condemn the Episcopal Church Diocese of Los Angeles' election of a lesbian as an assistant bishop. He even parodies Warren's mega-selling book, The Purpose Driven Life, writing,

Since the Bible says that the giant of homosexuality is an 'abomination' or a great evil, you cannot achieve the peace plan without a purpose-driven confrontation with evil."

The moral push back comes from Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson who tells CT the Ugandan bill is "totally contrary to the Christian understanding of the compassion."

Unfortunately, for Uganda-U.S. relations, many Americans expect their moral leaders to, well, lead on moral issues.

What would you want your pastor or elected official to say about Uganda's proposed bill?