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All God's children have a place in the choir
Speaking to a meeting of Hasidic Jewish leaders on Sunday, New York GOP gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino said, "I don't want [children] to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option" to heterosexuality.
Religious organizations and people frequently lead opposition to gay rights in the United States.
In the August ruling which overturned California's Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage, a witness asserted, "Religion is the chief obstacle for gay and lesbian political progress."
Why does religion play such a central role in debates about homosexuality?
The debate in America about whether or not lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people should be given all the rights that other Americans have is a theological debate. Just like when our country was debating whether or not I am equal to a man - or less than. Just like when we were debating whether my Executive Vice President the Rev. John Vaughn, an African American Baptist minister, was equal - or just 3/5ths human. Again Americans find ourselves pondering the value of human lives - this time lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lives. Are these lives half as good as heterosexual lives? 3/5ths? What did God intend when God created someone who calls themselves lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender? Have they lost their way and succumbed to sinful behavior? Or are they - like we've seen that women and African Americans are - made in the image of God?
When GOP candidate for governor Carl Paladino addressed a community of Hasidic Jews about the immorality of the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, my guess is that he was unaware of the progress our faith communities have made in the last 30 years. In 2006 the Conservative Jewish Movement voted for full equality of lesbians and gays. In a recent poll by the Public Religion Research Institute, a majority of mainline Protestants and Catholics supported marriage for lesbian and gay couples. Last year saw definitive wins for the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America's movements towards inclusion. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, "The arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice."
I am the president of Auburn Theological Seminary, founded in 1818 to create clergy hardy enough for the frontier. A primary goal of the work of Auburn now is to equip religious leaders to pastor all God's children, preaching the good news of the Gospel that God's love does not discriminate and that we are all created in the image of God. Here at Auburn, one of our staff, the son of three generations of Presbyterian ministers, is raising two children and is legally married to a man in the eyes of both the church and the state. Another at Auburn is the 27 year-old daughter of lesbians, who was raised in the church and looks forward to serving as an ordained minister. It's yesterday's debate whether or not these families are beloved in the eyes of God. It is yesterday's politicians who speak hate at the expense of the lives of God's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. If we can't draw the connections between Paladino's bigotry and the brutal torture of three gay men in the Bronx this week, then we don't understand the power of leadership, the power of hate speech, and the critical moment of history in which we stand.
By God's grace, the movements of religious people and institutions are bending towards justice. We will no longer join forces with the politicians who pervert our traditions for their own political gain. May this be a message not only to the particular candidate, but to all in America who dare invoke the name of God at the expense of God's beloved children.
By
Katharine Henderson
|
October 15, 2010; 1:07 PM ET
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Posted by: JamesK1 | October 26, 2010 4:27 PM
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Or you could simply dismiss this discussion of history as "hooray for our side" because you disagree with her.
Posted by: JamesK1
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Alternatively, one might point out that this article is just gibberish, lacking any thread of reasoning that a person of intellect might discern and appreciate.
Posted by: ZZim | October 19, 2010 3:37 PM
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To a mainline Protestant, it makes perfect sense considering our history. If you don't understand, I recommend you read up on how the Church changed its views over slavery (which Henderson directly addresses), the reaction in the northern Presbyterian Church to fundamentalism in the 1920s (called "The Auburn Affirmation"--wanna guess why?), the ordination of women, the ordination of divorcees, and now the inclusion of GLBT Christians and Jews in different denominations (which Henderson directly addresses).
Or you could simply dismiss this discussion of history as "hooray for our side" because you disagree with her.
Posted by: JamesK1 | October 19, 2010 11:51 AM
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Or could it be that because you disagree with her, you didn't hear what she had to say.
Posted by: JamesK1
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No, she just failed to present an argument other than "hooray for our side."
Which isn't an argument, it's just a blurting of emotion.
Posted by: ZZim | October 18, 2010 5:12 PM
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Dr. Henderson, right on! I am a faithful Christian in the Presbyterian Church (USA), and I support an equal place at the table for GLBT folks. Those are not contradictory statements, and I'm tired of being spoken for. Faithful Christians can disagree with each other while still remaining faithful Christians.
I highly recommend Dr. Jack Rogers' "Jesus, the Bible and Homosexuality" for a brief, yet detailed look of how the mainline Protestant churches (with a focus on Rogers' northern Presbyterians) have definitely Been Here Before, even using the same language, when it came to supporting slavery, banning the ordination of women and divorcees, and mixed-race marriage.
Posted by: JamesK1 | October 18, 2010 5:01 PM
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Or could it be that because you disagree with her, you didn't hear what she had to say.
Posted by: JamesK1 | October 18, 2010 4:58 PM
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I read this whole article. Were there any ideas in it, other than "Hooray for our side!?"
Did she say anything at all?
Posted by: ZZim | October 18, 2010 1:40 PM
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"Alternatively, one might point out that this article is just gibberish, lacking any thread of reasoning that a person of intellect might discern and appreciate."
And that person would be wrong, since he or she obviously has never read about the history of Protestantism in the United States and is covering up his or her ignorance with arrogance.