Nostra Aetate and the Church’s Relationship With Muslims and Jews

When I heard about the Boston Marathon bombings I was shocked and saddened at the suffering of the victims of the bombing. Americans came together to help the victims of the bombings get medical attention, shelter, food and monetary donations. One of the sad things, though, is the use of this event by a small group of people to blame all Muslims for the actions of two extremists. On April 15, 2013, Max Fisher wrote about the the Muslim world condemning the Boston Marathon bombings and the sense of dread that they held about the potential Islamophobic response as a result of the bombing. One has to be reminded of the decades of work of Christians, Jews and Muslims to reach out to each other and overcome a history of hostility to try to gain a new understanding and gain a greater respect for each other. One of the seminal events in the history of interfaith relationship between Christians, Jews and Muslims was the release of the document Nostra Aetate in 1965.

Nostra Aetate was one of the seminal documents that came out of the Vatican II Council that changed the relationship between the Catholic Church and other religions. This document was the result of several decades of work of Catholic reformers. John Connelly, a professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote the book From Enemy to Brother: the Revolution in Catholic Teaching on the Jews, 1933-1965 talked about how Catholic converts from Judaism in Switzerland and Austria had tried to form Catholic arguments against antisemitism during the Nazi era. One of the most important Catholic reformers was Johannes Oesterreicher, who spoke out against the Nazis and worked to change antisemitic teachings within the Church. Connelly wrote an article for the Jewish Daily Forward website talked about the fruits of these Catholic reformers efforts in the 1965 document Nostra Aetate:

Part four of this declaration, a statement on the Jews, proved most controversial, several times almost failing because of the opposition of conservative bishops.
Nostra Aetate confirmed that Christ, his mother and the apostles were Jews, and that the church had its origin in the Old Testament. It denied that the Jews may be held collectively responsible for Jesus Christ’s death, and decried all forms of hatred, including anti-Semitism. Citing the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans, Nostra Aetate called the Jews “most beloved” by God. These words seem commonsensical today, but they staged a revolution in Catholic teaching.

Despite opposition from within their ranks, the bishops knew that they could not be silent on the Jews. When the document stalled in May 1965, one of them explained why they must push on: “The historical context: 6 million Jewish dead. If the council, taking place 20 years after these facts, remains silent about them, then it would inevitably evoke the reaction expressed by Hochhuth in ‘The Deputy.’” This bishop was referring to German playwright Rolf Hochhuth’s depiction of a silent and uncaring Pius XII in the face of the Holocaust. That was no longer the church these bishops wished to live in.

As well as change the Church’s relationship with Jews, Nostra Aetate also changed the Catholic Church’s relationship with Muslims. Since the Crusades, the Catholic Church had several hostile encounters with believers of Islam and held hostile teachings towards Islam that were similar to its teachings towards Judaism. The Catholic reformers wanted a Church that would reach out and have friendlier and more respectful relationships with Islam. In Nostra Aetate is a section on the Church’s relationship with Islam:

The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting.

Since in the course of centuries not a few quarrels and hostilities have arisen between Christians and Moslems, this sacred synod urges all to forget the past and to work sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well as to promote together for the benefit of all mankind social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom.

As the sacred synod searches into the mystery of the Church, it remembers the bond that spiritually ties the people of the New Covenant to Abraham’s stock.

Since Nostra Aetate, Catholics have worked in interfaith meetings with Jews and Muslims to work for peace and social justice issues. Pope John Paul II, who lost several Jewish friends to the Holocaust, was especially important in improving the Church’s relationship with Muslims and Jews. In the year 2000, John Paul II extended an apology by the Catholic Church for its sins of violence and intolerance against Jews and Muslims, especially for the Church’s actions during the Inquisition and the Crusades.

The new Pope Francis is looked upon with optimism from the Muslim and Jewish community to continue the legacy of Nostra Aetate. Almudena Calatrava and Damian Pachter wrote an article for the March 18, 2013 Associated Press about Pope Francis’s interfaith work:

Bergoglio brought leaders of the Jewish, Muslim, evangelical and Orthodox Christian faiths into the Metropolitan Cathedral to pray for peace in the Middle East last November. “Everything is lost with war, everything is gained through peace,” Bergoglio said then. “With peace wins victory and respect.”

The archbishop also welcomed Jews for a joint service on the 74th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night in 1938 when nearly 200 synagogues were destroyed, Jewish shops were looted and tens of thousands of Jews were sent to be exterminated in Adolf Hitler’s Germany.

And he also sponsored interfaith prayers after Pope Benedict XVI offended Muslims in 2006 by quoting a Byzantine emperor as saying some of the Prophet Muhammad’s teachings were “evil and inhuman.”

That time, rather than criticize Benedict directly, Bergoglio let a lower-ranking priest lead a service in which he himself did not participate. But leaders of other religions were impressed nonetheless.

This dialogue between religions “isn’t just a photo op,” Omar Abboud of the Islamic Center of the Argentine Republic said then. “It’s a genuine and well-reasoned commitment under construction, because we know that we cannot get by without this dialogue.”

Maha Elgenaidi of the Islamic Networks Group wrote an article for the Huffington Post about her optimism of Pope Francis:

What was heartening to learn recently that I didn’t know then, was the respectful rebuttal to Pope Benedict XVI’s comment of an Argentine Cardinal not well known outside the region. He shared, “Pope Benedict’s statement don’t reflect my own opinions. These statements will serve to destroy in 20 seconds the careful construction of a relationship with Islam that Pope John Paul II built over the last twenty years.” While mild in tone, they represent a rare and bold stand for pluralism.

Perspectives of the new pope provide a fertile new context for increasing our efforts with the Catholic community. In the past when we’ve called on regional bishops to endorse our statements condemning Islamophobia such as the one relating to attacks against Park51 the bishops have, but not without going through a third party to reach the bishops. However, in response to our outreach efforts more recently, ING hosted Bishop Patrick Joseph McGrath of the San Jose Diocese in a meeting with Muslim leaders in 2012 where we committed to working together. One of the outcomes of that meeting is an effort that is underway to collaborate with the Catholic and Jewish communities on five interfaith service days where we meet to volunteer for a local service organization, break bread, and have a conversation around a shared value. Through these we hope to build relations with the Catholic communities from the ground up. We thank Pope Francis for being a crucial part of that.

Here is a youtube video of the response of Muslim and Jewish groups towards the election of Pope Francis

A youtube video of Muslim thinkers talking about their hopes of the new pope

A youtube video of Bishop Matthew and the Diocese of Rochester, New York, and their work of interfaith dialogue

The United Methodist Women

Christmas time was created to celebrate the birth of a man named Jesus who had a profound effect on our religious and moral views. This Christmas, I thought I’d do a few blogs on some Christian groups who are fighting for social justice causes. Randy Leer wrote a blog with various quotes from the Bible showing how God wants people to be concerned and helpful to the needy and the poor. I just recently did some blogs about the work of the Catholic Worker and the the American Friends Service Committee. Another group that I recently discovered that does great work for social justice is the United Methodist Women.

The United Methodist Women has a membership of over 800,000 and its mission is to foster spiritual growth, develope leaders and advocate for justice. Each year they raise over $20 million for programs to help women, children and young people in the United States and 100 countries. This group was formed in 1869, when Mrs. William Butler and Mrs. Edwin Parker and the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society first organized in Boston in response to a lack of women’s health in India. Through the merger of various women’s missionary societies, the United Methodist Women took its modern shape.

The United Methodist Women are very active in social justice issues. Among the issues that the United Methodist Women are involved in are women’s rights, immigration, health care, the environment, economic justice, racial justice, economic justice, public educatiom, child advocacy, global justice, domestic violence, and human trafficking.

On December 11, 2012, the United Methodist Women has done an action alert on the problem of child marriages, where 10 million girls will be forced to become wives, said a report by the Global Partnership to End Child Marriage. Southeast Asia has a rate of 48 percent of girls married before 18; in Africa that number is 42 percent; and in Latin America it is 29 percent, according to NOW. It is illegal for anyone to marry before the age of 18 in India, yet India still has one of the highest rates of child brides in the world – 18 percent of the girls in India were married by the time they were 15, and 47 percent were married by the time were 18. According to the PBS documentary Child Marriage: What We Know, child brides are more likely to suffer both mental and physical domestic abuse; more likely to show signs of child sexual abuse and post traumatic stress; have lower status in the household; and become isolated from their peers or support networks. The United Methodist Women urges you to urge your representative to support H.R. 6087: The International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2012.

You can follow the United Methodist Women on their facebook page. The United Methodist Women are doing their best to keep in the spirit of Isaiah 58, which reads in part:

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Here are some youtube videos that I found showing the work of the United Methodist Women.

On October 15, 2012, the United Methodist Women protest against an anti-Islamic transit ad campaign that denigrates Muslims

On October 9, 2011, the United Methodist Women join an Occupy Wall Street protest

On May 1, 2010, the United Methodist Women conduct a March and Rally for Justice for civil rights, human rights, and an end to racial profiling

Harriett Jane Olson, chief executive of United Methodist Women, and Inelda Gonzalez, president of United Methodist Women, speak at an immigrants rights rally in 2010

On Feb. 28, 2012, Beatrice Fofanah, United Methodist Women coordinator in Sierra Leone and United Methodist Women-sponsored delegate to to the 56th Commission on the Status of Women, spoke at “Voices of Rural Women,”

Lynda Turet from the Center for Social Inclusion discusses structural racism at the 2010 United Methodist Women Legislative Event

Jasper and the Church

I wrote this blog to let off some steam about some conflicts that I’ve gotten into. But also to just think over what it is that I think about religion. I have a love-hate relationship with Christianity and the church. But I’m still grateful for the things that the church has taught me and I still admire the good parts of the church. I still think the good parts of the church outweigh the bad parts, although on some days I waver in that belief.

If you enjoy this cartoon, take a look at these links for more of my political cartoons at Everyday Citizen. You could also join my Jasper the Cat facebook page. If you’d like to email me, you can write a comment at alopezcartoons@yahoo.com

Jasper and the Tea Partier
Jasper Writes A Blog
Conversations During The Holidays
Jasper and the Cop
The Parents Visit the Occupation
Cartoons About Occupy Wall Street
Jasper and the Moderate Republican
Obama and the Republicans
Jasper And the Homeless Veteran
Jasper Celebrates the 4th of July
Jasper Meets Howard Zinn
Jasper and the Nature Poem
The Reunion
Government and the Market Economy
Jasper Joins Two Protests
Bob the Nerd Vampire
Jasper Debates War
Jasper Finds His Way Home
Jasper Escapes the Detention Center
Jasper At A Detention Center
Jasper Meets a Poet
Jasper’s Day
Jasper Tackles Health Care
Jasper Protests the War
Jasper and the Economy
Jasper Sings a Protest Song
The Road To Health Care Reform Cartoon
A Cartoon about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
A Cartoon about My Experience in an Evangelical Church
A Cartoon about Political Debate
A Cartoon On Gay Marriage

Even More Christian Women for Social Justice

Here is a short list of some individual Christian women who have worked for social justice. Most of these Christian women, though not all, represent a more progressive, social activist type of Christianity. Like today’s Leadership Conference of Women Religious, many of these strong Christian women clashed with their church hierarchy in their fight for social justice.

Lucretia Mott was an American Quaker, abolitionist, women’s rights activist, and social reformer. Here is a youtube video of Lucretia Mott

Anna Howard Shaw was an American suffragist, the first woman minister of the Methodist Church, a physician and served as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Here is a youtube video of the Anna Howard Shaw Foundation

Sojourner Truth was an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist. Truth spoke about abolition, women’s rights, prison reform, and preached to the Michigan Legislature against capital punishment. Here is a youtube video of Sojourner Truth

Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch Christian, who helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. After the war she set up rehabilitation centers to help concentration camp survivors and shelter the jobless Dutch who previously collaborated with Germans. Here is a youtube video of Corrie Ten Boom

Jane Addams was a Presbyterian, the founder of Hull House in Chicago, a sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace. She was national chairperson of the Woman’s Peace Party, president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and one of the cofounders of the NAACP. Here is a youtube video of Jane Addams

Dorothy Day was a devout Catholic and Christian anarchist who established the Catholic Worker movement, a nonviolent, pacifist movement that combined helping the poor and social activism.

Pauli Murray was a civil rights and women’s rights activist, lawyer, and the first black woman ordained as an Episcopalian priest. Here is a youtube video of Pauli Murray

Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation, which in 2012 consisted of over 4,500 sisters and is active in 133 countries. The Missionaries of Charity served in hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children’s and family counselling programmes, orphanages and schools. Here is a youtube video of Mother Teresa

Coretta Scott King was a leader of the struggle for racial equality, the anti-apartheid movment, and women’s equality. King also was a strong advocate for the Peace Movement and for LGBT equality.

More Christian Women for Social Justice and Gender Equality

Here are more Christian women fighting for social justice and women’s rights that I discovered:

The Evangelical & Ecumenical Women’s Caucus (also known as the Christian Feminism Today, or EEWC-CFT) is a Christian feminist organization founded in 1973 who believe that the Bible supports the equality of the sexes in the Christian Church. EEWC welcomes members of any gender, race, ethnicity, color, creed, marital status, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, age, political party, parental status, economic class, or disability. Their facebook page is here

A vimeo video on a Waneta Dawn discussion of domestic abuse in the church for the Seneca Falls 2 Evangelical Women’s Rights Convention, July 24, 2010

Submission Abuse and Domestic Violence ~ Waneta Dawn from FreeCWC on Vimeo.

A youtube video of Shirley Taylor and Jocelyn Andersen criticizing the Danver Statement, which told Christians to live in rigid sex roles for men and women, in a discussion at the Seneca Falls 2 Evangelical Women’s Rights Convention

A youtube video of Jocelyn Andersen talking about the history of Christian history of supporting women’s rights in the Seneca Falls 2 Evangelical Women’s Rights Convention

Christians for Biblical Equality is a nonprofit Christian organization who believe that the Bible, properly interpreted, teaches the fundamental equality of men and women based on the teachings of Scriptures such as Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”. Their facebook page is here

A vimeo video of Christians for Biblical Equality president Dr. Mimi Haddad speaks on “Wisdom from the Early Evangelicals” at Fuller Theological Seminary on January 26, 2012

Why Women’s Leadership in the Church is a Primary Issue: Wisdom from the Early Evangelicals with Mimi Haddad from Fuller Theological Seminary on Vimeo.

A youtube video of Christian women sharing their journey in believing in gender equality

A youtube video of Rev. Dr. Katie Hays–pastor and speaker at the 2012 Conference “A New Creation. A New Tradition. Reclaiming the Biblical Tradition of Man and Woman, One in Christ” in Houston, TX–endorsing Christians for Biblical Equality

Baptist Women For Equality is a group of Baptists who support gender equality in the Baptist Church.

A youtube video of Shirley Taylor criticizing the Counsel on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood statement that “Women are equal, but different.”

Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation UUWF was formed in 1963 through consolidation of the Association of Universalist Women and the Alliance of Unitarian Women. It aims for justice for women and promotes their spiritual growth. Their facebook page is here

Women Advocating for Voice and Equality or WAVE is an organization dedicated to advancing gender equality in the LDS church. Their facebook page is here

The Catholic Network for Women’s Equality has worked since 1981 for equality for women in all aspects of church and society. Their facebook page is here

“Nuns On The Bus” and Christian Women for Social Justice

In the past few months, the big news in the Christian world has been the clash between the Vatican and the American nuns over the issue of social justice. In April, the Vatican reprimanded the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which has challenged church teaching on homosexuality and the male-only priesthood, for deviating from some aspects of Catholic doctrine. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents about 80 percent of the United States’ 57,000 nuns, decided they could not accept the Vatican’s verdict, and sent their president and executive director to Rome on June 12 to open a dialogue with Vatican officials. In the meanwhile, several nuns decided to organize a Nuns On The Bus tour around the nation to emphasize their commitment economic justice and to persuade Congress to consider the poor and the struggling middle class when deciding on budget issues. The American nuns are just the latest examples of Christian women who have made great contributions to the great Christian tradition of fighting for social justice for the poor and marginalized in society.

Nuns On The Bus traveled through 9 states on June and July to support the poor and struggling families and to criticize the proposed budget cuts to social programs that Republicans in Congress support. The Nuns on the Bus journey was sponsored by NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, and the NETWORK Education Program. In their webiste, the nuns stated their goals:

Every hour of each day, Catholic Sisters stand in solidarity with all who live in poverty, and we confront injustice and systems that cause suffering.

We cannot stand by silently when the U.S. Congress considers further enriching the wealthiest Americans at the expense of struggling, impoverished families.

As part of our campaign for budget fairness we are taking a bus trip. Our bus will travel to places in many states where Sisters actively serve people in need. For they are our best witnesses to the suffering our federal government must not ignore.

We ask all who visit this website to join us in prayer and to support our work to defeat government actions that would add to the suffering of already struggling families.

In their website are details on how the proposed Republican budget would harm the poor:

As Catholic Sisters, we must speak out against the current House Republican budget, authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). We do so because it harms people who are already suffering.

The Ryan Budget would:

Raise taxes on 18 million hardworking low-income families while cutting taxes for millionaires and big corporations.

Push the families of 2 million children into poverty.

Kick 8 million people off food stamps and 30 million off health care.

The American Catholic nuns are keeping in the Christian tradition of fighting for the poor and those without a voice in society. They are specifically following spirit of the Papal Encyclicals, like Rerum Novarum, Quadragesimo Anno, Mater et Magistra, Populorum Progressio, and Laborem Exercens. As Populorum Progressio stated over 50 years ago:

The introduction of industry is a necessity for economic growth and human progress; it is also a sign of development and contributes to it. By persistent work and use of his intelligence man gradually wrests nature’s secrets from her and finds a better application for her riches. As his self-mastery increases, he develops a taste for research and discovery, an ability to take a calculated risk, boldness in enterprises, generosity in what he does and a sense of responsibility.

But it is unfortunate that on these new conditions of society a system has been constructed which considers profit as the key motive for economic progress, competition as the supreme law of economics, and private ownership of the means of production as an absolute right that has no limits and carries no corresponding social obligation. This unchecked liberalism leads to dictatorship rightly denounced by Pius XI as producing “the international imperialism of money”. One cannot condemn such abuses too strongly by solemnly recalling once again that the economy is at the service of man.

Christian women have always been involved in the fight for economic justice. St. Clare, Dorothy Day, Mother Theresa, Pauli Murray, Corrie Ten Boom, Sojourner Truth and countless Christian women have reached out to help the poor and the marginalized in keeping with the spirit of Jesus’ saying in Matthew 25:31-46:

Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, `Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, `Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, `You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, `Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, `Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Here are other Christian women’s groups involved in social justice ministry.

The United Methodist Women has approximately 800,000 members and they aim to support spiritual growth, developing leaders and advocating for justice. They have raised up to $20 million each year for programs and projects related to women, children and youth in the United States and in more than 100 countries around the world. You can visit their facebook page here

A youtube video of United Methodist Women at Occupy Wall Street

A youtube video of a United Methodist Women rally for justice

Presbyterian Women in the PC(USA) is the women’s organization of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Numbering around 300,000 members, the Presbyterian Women are committed to prayer and Bible study, mission work of the church worldwide, working for justice and peace, and building an inclusive, caring community of women that strengthens the PC(USA) and witnesses to the promise of God’s kingdom. You can visit their facebook page here. A subgroup of the Presbyterian Women is the The Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns

Youtube videos of the history of the Presbyterian Women

Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America work to combat commercial sexual exploitation, human trafficking and support families with special needs. They also advocate for racial and cultural equity through anti-racism training and cross-cultural programs. Their facebook page is here.

A youtube video of the Women of the ELCA working at a food pantry

A youtube video of the Women of the ELCA quilting ministry

The Episcopal Women’s Caucus was formed on October 30, 1971, as a justice organization dedicated to Gospel values of equality and liberation and committed to the incarnation of God’s unconditional love. Their facebook page is here.

Youtube videos of Nuns on the Bus

Bible Cartoons for 2012 and Thoughts About Church

The Christmas season has always been a time to be with family members and close friends for me. This year especially, it’s a time to rest and recover from a lingering cold. It’s also a time for me to reflect and think of the birth of Jesus and to think about this Christian church that I’ve called my home for all of my life. I first became passionate about my faith when I was fourteen years old, when I was taking my confirmation classes in a Roman Catholic church. I would read books and articles about Vatican II, St. Francis and an itinerant Jewish preacher named Jesus who lived two thousand years ago and preached a message of loving God and loving our neighbors. Since that time, I’ve attended several churches from several different denominations and have had wonderful experiences and some painful conflicts. These various experiences have given me a love/hate relationship with Christianity, as I’ve strugged with the church’s various contradictions, as well as my own personal struggles and doubts about God. Yet I still feel it is important to go to church and I still consider myself a Christian.

About a month ago, I listened to a sermon on Christian orthodoxy, about its use and misuse in church history. After the service, I attended a sermon discussion, and in the middle of the various conversations, it began to hit me that I’m not a very orthodox Christian. I’m not for or against church orthodoxy. But over the years, I’ve developed a real fear of the word “orthodoxy” as I’ve seen too often groups of Christians do some cruel things to individuals to maintain their vision of what orthodoxy is. I’ve witssed many individuals get hurt by that and never return to church. Through out my life, I’ve tended to have the most trouble with people who have a black and white view of the world, and this has been most pronounced in the various conflicts that I’ve had in churches. These experiences have led me to be very wary of certain types of Christians and it has led to a deep dislike of the Christian Right.

Balancing some of these bad experiences though, are the good encounters that I’ve had with Christians who sincerely try to follow their Christian precepts and lead a life of humility and prayer. They have their human faults, but they also try to transcend their own weaknesses to try to love their neighbor as they love their God: they try to love their enemy, they try to forgive seventy times seven, they try to reach out to their community and help the poor and marginalized, they take time for prayer and quiet reflection. I’ve met these people in Catholic churches, in Evangelical churches, and now in Episcopalian churches. These Christians make it impossible for me to stereotype all Christians as being hypocrites or being all bad, as I know too many good Christians and have witnessed their struggles to lead good Christian lives.

So when I look at the Christian church, I see a lot of good and a lot of bad. The people in these churches are just people, no better and no worse than any other group of people, struggling with their own issues, trying in their own ways to understand and get closer to God. I’m in the same boat. I’m not all good or all bad. Sometimes I’ve done really good things and have had the courage to take strong stands to help people out. Sometimes I’ve hurt people and have been a real coward. I have struggles with faith and have real doubts about God. Then I think of Peter and his denial of Jesus. I think of St. Paul struggling with the thorn at his side. I think of Moses’s doubts and Jeremiah’s frustrations in being listened to. I think of the book of Ecclesiastes and Habukuk. And it makes me realize that even the people in the Bible struggled with God. I’ve grown to believe that being a truly religious person, means just being persistent.

Many years ago, when I attended an evangelical small group study, I learned that Christians naturally gravitate towards one of 4 different areas, based on what spiritual gifts that they are blessed with. Some Christians gravitate towards a more contemplative tradition, where they have a deep desire to live a life of prayer and spirituality. Some Christians are moved to a more analytic tradition, where they feel most at home studying the Bible and learning about theology. Some Christians are talented in the hospitality tradition, where they enjoy welcoming people to church and have a gift of evangelism. And some Christians are moved by the social justice tradition, where they feel a desire to fight for justice for the marginalized and the poor. All four of those Christian traditions are valid avenues for the Christian life.

The social justice tradition includes Christians like Martin Luther King Jr., William Sloane Coffin, Bayard Rustin, Dorothy Day, Mother Theresa, St. Francis. A person cannot read Jesus’ parables or look at who Jesus associated with or read the Old Testament prophets without concluding that God has a deep empathy for the suffering of the poor and the marginalized. Throughout my life, I’ve been most attracted to the social justice tradition of Christianity.

I think Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers were correct to put up a separation of Church and State in our country. Ken Poland is a Christian who has been very eloquent in arguing in his Everyday Citizen blogs on the necessity to keep our government a secular government, to not impose a Christian litmus test on office holders and to respect the diversity of nonChristian religions that make up the American landscape. I am deeply worried about the attempts by some conservative Christians to make our nation a “Christian nation”.

On the other hand, Christians have played important roles in many of the social movements that have made our nation a fairer, more democratic country. Christians played important roles in the abolitionist movement, the women’s suffragist movement, the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement. These Christians collaborated with Jews, atheists, Muslims, agnostics, socialists and others who shared a passion to fight injustice. They were able to fight for social justice without having to impose their religion on other people.

This Christmas I’m grateful for Jesus’ birth and for the life that he led and the people that he touched. I’m a Christian because there is still that fourteen year old inside of me who grew to love this Jesus who loved his enemies and reached out to the poor and the outcasts. This Jesus had a lot of courage to challenge the religious authorities and to accept the company of the type of people who would usually have been shunned by respectable people. He talked to rich people and poor people, he accepted fishermen and tax collectors, he showed sympathy to Roman officers and prostitutes. This egalitarian outlook on his part is one of the most appealing things to me. I think an egalitarian outlook is a truly religious outlook. It says that God loves all people, that we are all equally valued in God’s eyes.

Isaiah 58
(Dedicated to Jonathan Daniels, an Episcopalian priest who was killed while participating in the Freedom Summer civil rights campaign in 1964)

““Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Psalm 2:10-12
(Inspired by the Arab Spring in Egypt, where Coptic Christians and Muslims joined in protest)

Therefore, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear
and celebrate his rule with trembling.
Kiss his son, or he will be angry
and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Matthew 13:1-9

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

Psalm 68:1-10

May God arise, may his enemies be scattered;
may his foes flee before him.
May you blow them away like smoke—
as wax melts before the fire,
may the wicked perish before God.
But may the righteous be glad
and rejoice before God;
may they be happy and joyful.

Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds;
rejoice before him—his name is the LORD.
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families,
he leads out the prisoners with singing;
but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

When you, God, went out before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness,
the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain,
before God, the One of Sinai,
before God, the God of Israel.
You gave abundant showers, O God;
you refreshed your weary inheritance.
Your people settled in it,
and from your bounty, God, you provided for the poor.

Matthew 5:1-12

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

To see more of my church cartoons you can go click the link to the St. Thomas lectionary illustrations or see these cartoons at Everyday Citzen:

Church Cartoons for the Year

A Year Back In Church

Lenten Cartoons

Church Cartoons for February

Osama Bin Laden and Extremism

When I heard that Osama Bin Laden was killed, I had many mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was relieved that this man was no longer around to mastermind terrorist acts that would kill more innocent people. I hope Bin Laden’s death put closure for the family and friends of all the people that Bin Laden had a hand in killing. On the other hand, I felt uncomfortable celebrating the killing of a human being, no matter how evil that person has been. In many ways, the way people are acting now is probably similar to the way previous generations reacted to the death of Adolph Hitler or Jospeh Stalin.

Osama Bin Laden represents to me the type of extremism that is at the heart of so much terrorism. Because of Bin Laden, Al Queda and the Iranian revolution, most Americans tend to associate religious extremism with Islam, but all religions are plagued with examples of extremism. The three Abrahamic religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam have had sad episodes of religious extremism where its partisans have used their religion to harass and kill those who do not hold their religious tenets.

In Pakistan, Muslim Salman Taseer, governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, and Christian Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister of minorities, were both killed for speaking out against the country’s blasphemy laws. Pakistan’s blasphemy laws punishes people for speaking out against the prophet Muhammad and it has been used by Islamist extremists to harass Muslims, Christians and other people who are not as extremist. According to an article by Shabhano Taseer, from 1986 to 2009, 479 Muslims, 340 Ahmadis, 119 Christians, 14 Hindus, and 10 others have been charged with blasphemy, according to the National Commission for Justice and Peace, an advocacy group set up by Pakistan’s Catholic bishops. Many of them were killed by Islamist vigilante groups.

The Christian minority in Pakistan has been especially harassed by the blasphemy laws. In one infamous case, Aasia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, is awaiting a death sentence for blaspheming the prophet Muhammad. In the summer of 2009, some women workers pressured Aasia to renounce her Christian faith and accept Islam. Aasia resisted them and she asked what Muhammad had done for them. Salman Taseer was speaking out for the release of Aasia Bibi and for the rejection of the blasphemy laws in the country. Taseer was killed for speaking out.

Shabhano Taseer notes that eight days after her father Salman Taseer was killed, a court in Punjab sentenced a Muslim prayer leader and his son to life in jail for blasphemy. They were found guilty of tearing down a poster of a gathering to mark the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. Pakistan’s blasphemy laws is a danger to all free thinking people. Taseer wrote:

The biggest danger faced by Islam comes from those who claim to serve it. Its first victims are its own adherents. But our fight against these forces of darkness—forces that seek to snuff out the voices they disagree with—must begin with the strengthening of basic law and order. The extremists are a small minority, but they’re raucously vocal, well armed, and well funded. They operate by instilling fear in those they oppose. This intimidation works all too well.

Some Christians in this country hear news like this and want to stereotype all Muslims as being extremists. Christianity, though, has its own sad history of religious extremism. From Torquemada and the Inquisition to the Salem Witch Trails to various Russian pogroms against Jews in the 19th and early 20th century, Christians have also had episodes where a group of extremists have persecuted Jews, Muslims and other minorities.

In Uganda, Evangelical Christians have been preaching anti-gay messages, which have been feeding into the homophobic prejudices that were already a part of the country’s culture. After American evangelicals held a series of workshops and rallies in Uganda against homosexuality in April 2009, Uganda legislator David Bahati introduced the anti-gay bill which strengthens the criminalisation of homosexuality in Uganda. Originally the bill imposed the death penalty for people who have engaged in homosexual acts, but after international pressure, the death penalty was dropped and life imprisonment was substituted for those people caught in homosexual acts. Furthermore, if passed, the bill will require anyone who is aware of an offense or an offender, including individuals, companies, media organisations, or non-governmental organisations who support LGBT rights, to report the offender within 24 hours. If an individual does not do so he or she is also considered an offender and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding 250 “currency points” or imprisonment up to three years.

Many Christian groups in Uganda have pushed to have the Uganda Parliament to pass the anti-gay laws. Pastor Martin Ssempa, a charismatic and vocal opponent of homosexuality in Uganda, and Pastor Julius Oyet lead the Inter-Religious Taskforce Against Homosexuality. During the session with Speaker Kiwanuka, the Task Force presented a portion of over 2 million signatures it gathered from around Uganda in support of the bill.

Jeffrey Gettleman wrote in the January 27, 2011 edition of the New York Times

Many Africans view homosexuality as an immoral Western import, and the continent is full of harsh homophobic laws. In northern Nigeria, gay men can face death by stoning. In Kenya, which is considered one of the more Westernized nations in Africa, gay people can be sentenced to years in prison.

But Uganda seems to be on the front lines of this battle. Conservative Christian groups that espouse antigay beliefs have made great headway in this country and wield considerable influence. Uganda’s minister of ethics and integrity, James Nsaba Buturo, who describes himself as a devout Christian, has said, “Homosexuals can forget about human rights.”

At the same time, American groups that defend gay rights have also poured money into Uganda to help the beleaguered gay community.

In October, a Ugandan newspaper called Rolling Stone (with a circulation of roughly 2,000 and no connection to the American magazine) published an article that included photos and the whereabouts of gay men and lesbians, including several well-known activists like Mr. Kato.

The Mr. Kato referred to in this quote is David Kato, one of Uganda’s most outspoken gay rights activists. After an anti-gay newspaper published photos of Kato with other prominent Ugandan gays and lesbians with the words “Hang Them”, David Kato was beaten to death on January 26.

Extremism is not just the province of religion. There are many instances of secular extremism in history, from the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, the purges of Joseph Stalin to the Cultural Revolution in China in the 1960s and early 1970s.

All extremism, whether it is religious or secular, is bad. Barry Goldwater was wrong when he said that that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. I remember reading somewhere that a good idea taken to an extreme is no longer a good idea. I think all people are capable of good and bad. Nice people are capable of doing cruel things. Bad people are capable of surprising acts of kindness. Our human nature makes all people capable of great good and great evil. That was one of the reasons that the Founding Fathers of this country set up a series of checks and balances to allow a government of the people while offsetting a tyranny of the minority and a tyranny of the majority. I appreciate the checks and balances of the United States because it allows for the rule of the majority and the protection of the rights of the minority. It has produced the American melting pot where a toleration of different cultures and religions and races is valued. Thomas Jefferson wrote about the American freedom of religion from his Notes on the State of Virginia:

The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. If it be said his testimony in a court of justice cannot be relied on, reject it then, and be the stigma on him. Constraint may make him worse by making him a hypocrite, but it will never make him a truer man.

…Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitor? Fallible men; men governed by bad passions, by private as well as public reasons. And why subject it to coercion? To produce uniformity. But is uniformity of opinion desirable? No more than of face and stature. Introduce the bed of Procrustes then; and , as there is a danger that the large men may beat the small, make us all of a size by lopping the former and stretching the latter.

Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of censor morum over each other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burned, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth. Let us reflect that it is inhabited by a thousand different systems of religion; that ours is but one of that thousand; that if there be but one right, and ours that one, we should wish to see the nine hundred and ninety-nine wandering sects gathered into the fold of truth. But against such a majority we cannot effect this by force. Reason and persuasion are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these, free inquiry must be indulged; and how can we wish others to indulge it while we refuse it ourselves?

But every state , says an inquisitor, has established some religion. No two, say I have established the same. Is this a proof of the infallibility of establishments? Our sister States of Pennsylvania and New York, however, have long subsisted without any establishment at all. The experiment was new and doubtful when they made it. It has answered beyond conception. They flourished infinitely. Religion is well supported; of various kinds, indeed, but all good enough; all sufficiently to preserve peace and order; or if a sect arises whose tenets would subvert morals, good sense has fair play, and reasons and laughs it out of doors without suffering the state to be troubled with it.

They do not hang more malefactors than we do. They are not more disturbed with religious dissensions. On the contrary, their harmony is unparalleled and can be ascribed to nothing but their unbounded tolerance, because there is no other circumstance in which they differ from every nation on earth. They have made the happy discovery that the way to silence religious disputes is to take no notice of them. Let us too give this experiment fair play and get rid, while we may, of those tyrannical laws.

It is true we are as yet secured against them by the spirit of the times. I doubt whether the people of this country would suffer an execution for heresy, or a three years’ imprisonment for not comprehending the mysteries of the Trinity. But is the spirit of the people an infallible, a permanent reliance? Is it government? Is this the kind of protection we receive in return for the rights we give up? Besides, the spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless. A single zealot may commence persecutor, and better men be his victims. It can never be too often repeated that the time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis is while our rulers are honest and ourselves united. From the conclusion of this war we shall be going downhill. It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the people for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves but in the sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights. The shackles, therefore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this war will remain on long, will be made heavier and heavier, till our rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion.

Churches and Houses of Worship Against Homophobia

A few months ago I had written a post on religious people who have spoken in youtube against homophobia. Since then, I have found in youtube various houses of worship who have collectively taken a stand against bullying against LGBT youth. In here I’ll post some of those youtube videos.

Here are some religious groups that are fighting homophobia within their own denominations:

SOULFORCE is a group founded by Mel White (a former a former seminary professor and ghostwriter for the Rev. Jerry Falwell) and his partner Gary Nixon to fight homophobia within the Evangelical church. Soulforce promotes activism to show the connection between anti-gay religious dogma and the resulting attacks on the lives and civil liberties of LGBT Americans.

DIGNITY USA fights for the rights of LGBT Catholics within the Catholic Church. Athe United States, Dignity USA worships openly with other GLBT and supportive Catholics, socialize, share personal and spiritual concerns, and work together on educational and justice issues.

NEW WAYS MINISTRY is a gay-positive ministry of advocacy and justice for lesbian and gay Catholics and reconciliation within the larger Christian and civil communities. Through research, publication and education about homosexuality, the ministry fosters dialogue among groups and individuals, identify and combat personal and structural homophobia, work for changes in attitudes and promote the acceptance of gay and lesbian people as full and equal member of church and society.

AFFIRMATION serves the needs of gay Mormon women and men, as well as bisexual and transgender LDS and their supportive family and friends, through social and educational activities.

CATHOLICS FOR EQUALITY was founded in 2010 to support, educate, and mobilize Catholics in the advancement of freedom and equality at the federal, state, and local levels for our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered family, parish and community members.

FAITH IN AMERICA is an Evangelical group fighting religious based bigotry

I believe that since much of the homophobia in today’s culture is a result of the teachings of many Christian and religious institutions, then religious people who believe in gay rights have to speak out within the church and answer back their more conservative counterparts. From the organizations and churches who are taking a stand against bullying and homophobia, it gives me hope that a change is taking place within Christianity and other religions that’ll bring it more in the spirit of inclusivity that God wants for all people. As Coretta Scott King once said:

I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice… But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King, Jr., said, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere’ … I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.

WALLINGFORD UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OF BERKELEY

CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHARD UCC IN ANN ARBOR

MIDDLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH

GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

MARBLE CHURCH, NEW YORK

TRINITY METROPALITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH IN GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA

ST MATTHEW’S CHURCH

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

SEATTLE UNITED METHODIST PASTORS

GRACE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

BEIT SIMCHAT TORAH CONGREGATION

MCKINLEY MEMORIAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

TEL AVIV GAY AND LESBIAN JEWISH YOUTH GROUP

FAITH GETS BETTER

Religious People Against Homophobia

Recently advice columnist Dan Savage launched the “It Gets Better Project” on youtube in response to the recent deaths of Tyler Clementi, Billy Lucas, Asher Brown, and Seth Walsh, four teens who committed suicide after being bullied for being gay. The intent of this project is to encourage LGBT youth who may be harassed to perservere into adulthood, where they can find a better life and choose to be around people who could give them the love and respect that they deserve. Over 800 videos have been submitted for this project, and among those who have submitted are Christians, Muslims and Jews who are either gay or lesbian or who want to show support for their LGBT friends. Nicole Neroulias wrote in the October 18, 2010 edition of the Huffington Post of religious figures like Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, Catholic author Gregory Gerard, Muslim student Ibad Shah, and Mormon Natalie Sperry talking about the homophobia within their places of worship and the support they have with those who don’t agree with the teachings of the more intolerant members of their religion. In looking at these youtube videos, I grew very proud of those religious people who have the courage to take a stand against homophobia in their place of worship.

I am particularly sympathetic to this because in the 1990s I attended an evangelical church for a number of years and witnessed certain members of the church express hostile feelings towards gays and lesbians. There were a number of Christians within that church who were either gay, or supported gay rights, or had gay and lesbian friends and family and didn’t like the way their loved ones were treated by their more intolerent church members. The problem was that these Christians didn’t speak up when an individual was harassed by a group or when a group said disparaging remarks against gays and lesbians. They didn’t want to go against the majority of the church. I was glad to have found a blog by evangelical Christian Kathy Baldock who found many Christians who quietly support gay rights:

Yes, I run into closeted Christians all the time. And no, they are not gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. They are straight, like me. But, they love their GLBT friends and family and are coming to a realization that what they’ve been told or thought they understood may not be the heart of God. They see honor, integrity and even Jesus and the Holy Spirit in their GLBT friends. Evidenced in the very same group they have been told cannot possible be Christian because they are queer. In some churches, it is not safe to even ask questions about homosexuality, about any thing. So, how can they dare openly dialogue about this issue, this hot button topic in most Christian congregations?

Because I am so open about my theology and cause for equality, I get lots of comments, mail, and calls about the issue of “coming out” as a straight allies. Pastors wives who are disgusted with the church’s (universal) treatment of the queer community. Friends who have left church over the bigotry against a gay relative. Other people who don’t want to follow a God who hates their Jesus-professing gay friend. I hear from gay twenty-somethings who are closeted and serving in church ministries scared to be honest because they will lose ministry positions and church home. Or a bisexual young woman who was ready to walk away from the faith because of small town anti-gay rhetoric in and out of church. “I don’t want anything to do with that kind of God,” she told me. You may not realize the number of people this affects in the church who, in utter disgust, turn because His followers display clear bigotry towards the GLBT Christian community. I do have a clue as to the number; they talk to me. They feel compassion not intolerance, love, not hate and mercy, not judgment.

Mark Osler, a Professor of Law in the University of St. Thomas, wrote a blog in the Huffington Post about his conversion from an anti-gay bigot to someone who became more tolerant due to getting gay friends in college. He wrote:

I am straight, and though everyone gets made fun of for something, I never faced the relentless teasing, bullying and violence that gay and lesbian kids did and do. In fact, I was a bigot. I didn’t take part in violence, but I probably did bully and tease other kids in school, given my attitude toward gays and lesbians when I was young. I know for certain that I did not do anything to stop others from bullying and in that way was complicit with what happened around me.

These actions and inactions were a failure of my faith, both personally and in the failure of the church to teach me anything else. In short, I thought that gays and lesbians (I doubt I knew about bisexuals or transgendered people) were deviant and to be condemned. My bigotry was consistent with what the culture, the church and my friends thought and said, and it was not countered by those who knew better. When I used the word “gay,” it was pejorative, and if I thought someone was gay, I kept my distance or worse.

But I got better. I’m not perfect, but better.

What changed? That is simple: A handful of brave men and women changed me, people who were willing to challenge my bigotry through leadership, friendship and warmth.

I’ve always had the belief that if a main source of homophobia is religion, then the people within that particular religion should speak out and fight to change things. Bishop Gene Robinson makes this point in a post for the website Center for American Progress:

It is not enough for good people—religious or otherwise—to simply be feeling more positive toward gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Tolerance and a live-and-let-live attitude beats discrimination and abuse by a mile. But it’s not enough. Tolerant people, especially tolerant religious people, need to get over their squeamishness about being vocal advocates and unapologetic supporters of LGBT people. It really is a matter of life and death, as we’ve seen.

I learned this in my dealing with racism. It’s not enough to be tolerant of other races. I benefit from a racist society just by being white. I don’t ever have to use the “n” word, treat any person of color with discourtesy, or even think ill of anyone. But as long as I am not working to dismantle the systemic racism that benefits me, a white man, at the expense of people of color, I am a racist. And my faith calls me to become an anti-racist—pro-active, vocal, and committed.

Some progressive religious groups—the United Church of Christ, Unitarians, Metropolitan Community Church—have long been advocates for LGBT people. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America has recently made great strides in welcoming gay clergy. And my own Episcopal Church has put itself at great risk on behalf of full inclusion of LGBT people in electing two openly gay priests to be bishops.

Faced with the evidence of intolerence within their churches, even those Christians who may believe that homosexuality is a sin have had to face the hatred that their beliefs feed into. In an October 26, 2010 post in The Progressive Christian Alliance website, David R. Gillespie wrote:

I disagree with Mohler when it comes to a blanket statement regarding the moral standing of homosexual acts. I do agree that some homosexual acts can be sinful; but then some heterosexual acts can be sinful as well. For me, that sinful status is contextual in nature. But I do agree with Mohler when he writes:

“When gay activists accuse conservative Christians of homophobia, they are wrong. Our concern about the sinfulness of homosexuality is not rooted in fear… Yet, when gay activists accuse conservative Christians of homophobia, they are also right. Much of our response to homosexuality is rooted in ignorance and fear. We speak of homosexuals as a particular class of especially depraved sinners and we lie about homosexuals experience their own struggle….far too many find comfort in their own moralism, consigning homosexuals to a theological or moral category all their own.”

I disagree with Bishop Robinson when he wants to paint that straight line of causality from a particular understanding of the moral nature of homosexual acts to mean-spirited, violence prone and hateful bullies. But I agree with him that “religious voices denouncing LGBT people contribute to the atmosphere in which violence against LGBT people and bullying can flourish.”

I don’t think that guy who wanted to beat the crap out of me in junior high school because of my perceived sexual orientation was religiously motivated. I really don’t think he even went to church at all. He did it because he was mean, because he liked violence, because he liked picking on guys who were smaller or weaker than he was. He did it because he was, in good Christian terms, a sinful being in rebellion against God.

I would argue that contemporary bullying has roots, not in a conservative or evangelical Christianity, but rather, in a culture of violence which we Christians must speak prophetically to and preach/teach about in our churches; it has it deeper roots in the sinful heart of humankind, hearts which are called back to relationship with God in the Gospel we preach. We can do that regardless of our views of homosexuality.

I do not believe that homosexuality is any sort of sin. I’m glad though that even those who do believe so are questioning how their beliefs could contribute to hostility and hatred towards gays and lesbians. I do not know much about Judaism and Islam, but I have a feeling that a similar debate is going on between the more moderate and progressive Jews and Muslims and their more intolerant co-religionists. In the youtube, I found a few Jewish and Muslim speakers talk about against homophobia. In the 1990s, no one in my church was willing to speak out when someone was harassed. I’m glad that now there are religious people of all denominations and religions taking a stand for individuals who can’t fight back.