More Light Presbyterians

Is being anti-gay on shaky ground for Christians & good citizens?

Posted Monday, November 27 2006 @ 06:17 AM by MLP Admin

More Light Presbyterians & Friends --

Is the Presbyterian Church (USA) anti-gay? Is being anti-gay on shaky ground for Christians & good citizens?

  • Is the Presbyterian Church (USA) an anti-gay denomination?
  • Is there any Christian virtue, ethic or compassion in "love the sinner, hate the sin" as applied to "homosexuals" or rather lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons?
  • Is the Christian Church in a Galileo II phase?
  • What is the real world affect upon LGBT persons & their families by the ecclesiastical battles over homosexuality?

Syndicated columnist Tom Teepen's column today in New London, Connecticut's The Day online newspaper offers us an outsider's view into Christianity's relationship with LGBT persons and our families.

The answers to these 4 questions - and more - are found in Teepen's article below. Sadly and accurately, Teepen identifies the Presbyterian Church (USA) as anti-gay, and how could anyone understand otherwise if one looks at spiritual, ordination and marriage equality for LGBT persons at this moment?

And, at the same time more and more persons and churches are realizing that it is not possible to be faithful Christians and silent on the matter of acceptance of LGBT persons as children of God with equal respect and rights in church and society to heterosexuals . A clear stand and witness must be embraced - the debate over the sacred creation,worth and place of LGBT persons is over in More Light Presbyterian Churches.

Teepen nails it - the Church, by and large, is anti-gay -- and the Church is on shaky ground by clinging to anti-gay positions.

Teepen also recognizes that this is not a theological, legal or academic matter alone - what the Church says about homosexuality and same-sex relationships & marriage affects real people, real families.

Of course most importantly, how do all of these "church battles over homosexuality" affect you, your faith, your relationship with God, your relationship to your local congregation, our denomination - the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the larger body of Christ?

More Light Presbyterians is clear -- if you are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, same-gender-loving, heterosexual, queer or questioning -- know that you are a child of God, created good in the image of God and unconditionally loved by God. If you are parents or family members of a LGBT person, know that your family is deserving of the same acceptance and respect afforded to other kinds of families. Let no church teaching or law have you doubt this.

Know that More Light Presbyterians continues to work 24/7 with absolute clarity of belief and conviction to achieve spiritual, ordination and marriage equality for all persons in our Church with particular commitment to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender persons and their families.

Ironically, it seems that newspaper columnists like Tom Teepen "get it" - they get the hypocrisy of statements like "love the sinner, hate the sin," and the incongruity of limiting the Gospel to heterosexual persons only. Where are you in all of this? Where is your pastor, Session, local congregation and presbytery regarding the observations and questions Teepen raises?

Teepen says of the anti-gay statements and actions by religious leaders:
" ... the real-world effect will be to drive homosexuals underground in their own church and, for gays and lesbians, to make the prospect of any pastoral counseling repellent."

Anti-gay attitudes and church laws, as well as the all too common "fence-sitting" not willing to take a stand posturing, will not only drive those of us who are LGBT and our families underground, it will drive us away to churches and faith traditions that are more welcoming and affirming than our own. The choice is not ours, really, the choice is yours -- meaning the local congregation or the Presbyterian Church (USA).

One's sexual orientation, gender identity or other human difference is not a choice. It is a choice whether or not we will follow Jesus' example and commandments to love God, neighbor and self -- and Jesus did not say "except for gays."

There is clearly a sea change at hand, a tipping point as noted by Teepen in the column that follows. I am deeply grateful to all of you working faithfully in season and out to create safe, loving, welcoming and affirming spaces within your families and churches for all persons --- and for your partnership with More Light Presbyterians to end discrimination against LGBT persons in both church and society by achieving spiritual, ordination and marriage equality for all.

with hope and grace,
Michael

Are Anti-gay Churches Finding Themselves On Shaky Ground?
Editorial by Tom Teepen, syndicated columnist
November 25, 2006
The Day, New London, CT newspaper online
www.theday.com

http://www.theday.com/re_txt.aspx?re=b94fee3a-1d8c-49b4-80c0-48d8868df4d5

Are the more energetic gay-banishing churches panicking? You have to suspect so from the new lengths some are going to in their efforts to suppress homosexuals and keep the closet door from swinging wide open. And the recent election, although on the surface a success, even a triumph, for opponents of gay equality, bore undercurrents that must make those churches even more fearful.

The Washington Post recently reported strengthened efforts by three major Christian denominations to anathematize homosexual acts.

The North Carolina Baptist Convention has voted two-to-one to expel churches that in any way “affirm,” “approve” or “bless” same-sex relationships; at least a dozen churches are under suspicion. And only the last-minute citation of a disabling legal technicality spared the Rev. Janet Edwards from a Presbyterian Church (USA) trial which could have defrocked her for performing a marriage ceremony for two women.

...

The more they lean on homosexuals for being who they are, the louder the churches proclaim that they love the sinners and hate only their sin, a self-pardoning in which the churches reward themselves with the understanding that they deny others.

But why a new surge of anti-gay militance now? Didn't this year's referenda to constitutionally forbid same-sex marriages prevail in six out of the seven states in which they were tendered? They did, but with a difference.

Read the article at TheDay.com

Ref: http://www.mlp.org/article.php/2006112706172270