“How far must tolerance go?” ask some Churches
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - Nineteen million more Americans now have the legal right to marry someone of his/her own sex. This right was given to them on Friday June 24, 2011 when the state of New York passed a law making same-sex marriage legal.
Six other states had already passed such a law but the population of New York is greater than the sum of all six.
There has never been consensus among the Christian community on the issue of homosexuality.
Beliefs range from the most conservative view, typically promoted by conservative religious groups, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh etc, to the most liberal view, typically followed by religious progressives, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, mental health professionals and human sexuality researchers.
The conservatives believe that homosexuality is something that one does; a chosen lifestyle. The liberalists believe that a homosexual is something that one is; an unchosen orientation that one discovers.
The conservatives attribute many causes for this condition including: poor parenting, sexual molestation during childhood, perhaps demon possession. Once they start experimenting, addiction traps them in the lifestyle.
This is countered by the liberalists who state that it is genetically predetermined perhaps with some unknown environmental factor in early childhood which "turns on" the gene or genes.
The question all religious leaders must grapple with is: IS IT SINFUL? And this is where priests, pastors, reverends and rabbis tumble over each other each claiming to be an authority on the interpretation of the scriptures.
The fundamentalist Christians have no doubt whatever in declaring it sinful. They quote numerous passages such as Genesis 19, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 Timothy 1:9-10 and Jude 1:7.
Some fundamentalists consider it more serious than many other sins. They claim it endangers the family and thus social stability and it prevents sexually active homosexuals from attaining heaven after death. They go further and say it is an unnatural, abnormal, deviant, and disordered behaviour.
But to every argument put forward, there is a counter argument.
The liberals maintain that they can never be sure they are interpreting the Bible correctly. After all there are translations of translations of translations.
"Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own?" Rom. 8:33a , they counter and,
"You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." John 8:32, they smugly retaliate.
“Neither heterosexuality or homosexuality is inherently sinful. Each is free of sin if it is safe, consensual and, perhaps, within a committed relationship. It is normal and natural, for a minority of humans,” state the liberalists.
While many accept the new dispensation of the New Testament and Jesus’ admonition to “love your neighbour as yourself” some churches are seriously asking “how far can we go when it comes to tolerating now what was once considered sin?
Many ask whether the Church is just ‘going with the flow” and whether they will continue to ‘shift the goal posts’ in order to follow trends and keep their flock.
Some clergy have even become out-of-the–closet homosexuals and others who may not be gay, have found room within their philosophy of thought to embrace the new thinking in relation to same-sex marriages, and to equate it to a civil rights issue.
The Rev. Dr. Jacqueline J. Lewis, Senior Minister, Middle Collegiate Church had this to say on the passage of the same-sex marriage bill:
“As an African American clergywoman, I also see gay rights as a civil rights issue. This summer, I will marry my congregants, Alex and Jeremy, just as I have other gay couples in the past. I look forward to the date our new law goes into effect, when these weddings will not only be seen in the eyes of God and the couples' family but will also be legal in our state.
Another gay Christian - Country singer, Chely Wright, has justified her orientation this way:
‘When one hides such a critical part of one's self, everything becomes hidden. It's not like I could have real and meaningful friendships, but just leave out the "gay thing". Imagine your straight, married friends having a substantive friendship with you while never mentioning their spouse -- ever. You just can't pick and choose parts of yourself to share and expect any real degree of validity.... I know that God had made me exactly as I was supposed to be.”
As it becomes easier and easier to travel from country to country, and to migrate into new cultures, it will be imperative for each citizen to become more tolerant to enable peaceful co-existence to occur.
But extreme beliefs and fanaticism often breed violence. What will be the Church’s teaching and direction on these matters? How will it mend the rift that is already occurring within its various denominations? How far can tolerance go? One gay rights demonstrator sees it all as a very simple matter. His banner reads, “Love is love; vote yes”.
