I believe in God, and in his grace, love, and compassion. But religious nuts have made it difficult to be gay and to be religious. Rather than endure the constant condemnations for being gay -- which most gays including me would say is inborn -- gays quit the church. How ironic, given that the New Testament is filled with stories of love, compassion, and inclusiveness.
A few years ago I was active in protesting an anti-gay resolution passed by the county where we lived. At our protests, one of the counter-protesters displayed a sign saying "Thank God for AIDS." Not only was that sign offensive, but it is bad theology.
The most vocal "mainstream" group has to be the Southern Baptists, the church of my mother and most of her side of the family. The last Southern Baptist Sunday service that I attended was given by Charles Stanley here in Atlanta. Stanley managed to lump gays with murderers, rapists, and child molesters. I was polite enough not to walk out of the sermon, but only because I was attending with an aunt and several cousins. Since then, I have not been back in any Southern Baptist church except for funerals.
The only mainstream denominations that welcome gays are the Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ (UCC), both of which are fairly recent developments. Indeed, the Episcopal Church is now being turn apart because of its commitment to gays.
During the 1970s, gays started a denomination, the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), to provide a home for worship. As the name implies, most of the metro areas in the United States have at least one of their churches. The Cathedral of Hope (don't you love the name?) located in Dallas was the flagship church until they recently split from the MCC and joined the UCC. (The Cathedral of Hope was designed by a famous architect, and yet I think it is one of the ugliest buildings I have ever seen.)
I do wish the mainstream churches would stop crucifying gays in their sermons.
2 comments:
Hello! Thank you for mentioning the Cathedral of Hope. To clarify, the sanctuary in which we currently worship was not designed by a famous architect. The Philip Johnson-designed cathedral has yet to be built. The next phase in the project is the Interfaith Peace Chapel, on which we will break ground on November 11.
Thanks again!
Blessings,
David Plunkett
When I attended the UUC in Germantown this morning, a gay male couple came in with a daughter and son. There was a children's ministry during the service and then the kids went off to a separate activity. You'd never see that in a Catholic or Baptist church.
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