What does a dilapidated gay bar on Manhattan's Christopher Street have in common with a 15th Century church on Germany's Elbe River? Maybe nothing, maybe everything. Only time and history will tell.
Likely no one could have--or would have dared-- predicted that in the early 21st Century homosexuality would become a tipping point initiating a Second Protestant Reformation. Surely the Stonewall bar patrons who rioted on that late June night in 1969 never envisioned that their protest would one day be compared to Martin Luther's protest at Wittenberg's Castle Church in 1517. To say the least, most will find this to be an outrageous and almost ridiculous analogy. But the fact is that homosexuality, a radical and exceedingly uncomfortable issue is likely once again splitting Christianity in two. And from an historical perspective one could cautiously suggest that the second reformation began--albeit unintentionally--at Stonewall.
If you look past the pain, anger and frustration of the relentless assault by so- called Christian fundamentalists on the dignity and rights of gay men and women, you can easily discern an emerging phenomenon of historical proportions as many Christians find themselves compelled to take a stand against bigotry and hate mongering.
In fact, I would contend that we are already irrevocably engaged in an epic struggle that will go down in the history books as the Second Protestant Reformation.
Ironically, the first Protestant Reformation hinged on very similar issues that now seem bundled into the homosexual question and are driving this Second Protestant Reformation, in particular the interpretation of scripture and the nature of sin as it relates to human sexuality. How ironic that one of the driving issues of the first Protestant Reformation was also marriage, the right of the clergy to wed and the right of a king to divorce and marry again and again and again.
Many of you will be appalled or at least skeptical that one might see the battle for gay rights on a scale as historically significant as the impact of Martin Luther and Henry Tudor. It may seem an audacious and arrogant claim. But the insistence by Evangelicals, the Catholic clergy and others to impose their antiquated religious beliefs on matters concerning secular constitutional law has forced those who would rather separate their spiritual and political lives into a global conflict.
Consider the issues and advances that fueled the 16th Century Protestant Reformation, they have an all too familiar ring: Individual rights, separation of church and state, the emergence of mass media (the printing press,) education, secularism and humanism. While there are certainly some 16th Century issues that are not analogous to the 21st Century, I would argue that there are many more similarities than not. Furthermore,, in both cases religious revolution has been enabled by a communications revolution. In the 16th Century it was the invention of the printing press which led to growing literacy and access to information among the so-called masses. In the 20th and 21st Centuries revolution is almost instantly fueled and catapulted forward by yet another communications advance, the Internet.
Of course, Martin Luther's 95 Theses and desire to marry and Henry's taste for Ann Boleyn's potential fecundity did not cause the Protestant Reformation but they were certainly tipping points. And while homosexuality is not the singular cause of the Second Protestant Reformation, it has certainly shown itself to be a critical, if not the key tipping point.
Baptists, Episcopalians, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans and Methodists to name but a few are clearly splitting into two very opposite sides on the homosexuality issue. And unless some miraculous coming together occurs on gay marriage, the ordination of gay clergy and the acceptance of practicing homosexuals in congregations, each one of these major denominations will split right down the middle.
Looking at many historical "events" such as the Renaissance and the Fall of the Roman Empire, it is difficult to imagine how such a sea change can occur relatively over night and of course they didn't. Many elements evolving over decades suddenly converged and the world changed.
And if you carefully examine social and political forces as they've evolved over the past 100 years, the Second Protestant Reformation as caused by homosexuality has been a slow process easily discerned in retrospect but difficult until now to understand within the immediate present. Even five years ago, who could have predicted that Christianity in 2006 would be in such upheaval and splitting down the middle over gay issues? Until recently the common wisdom was that Protestantism would go the way of immutable Catholicism: black or white. But instead it is quite otherwise. Furthermore, as Catholic nations around the world defy Rome and legalize gay marriage and ban discrimination against gays, the next step may very well be a new and separate neo-Catholic Church.
And while these are desperately trying times, these are also extraordinarily thrilling times. Despite much of the pain and chaos around us, this is a time of enormous historical significance and the emergence of a new Christian movement unlike anything we've seen in 500 years. And for gay men and women, it is a time of change unequaled in human history and should be savored and appreciated as such. It is not often that one can actually see profound change result from the efforts of individuals who stand by their principles and do battle against injustice.
History is not only being made, but we live in a time that future generations will see as a revolution. One day, in retrospect, the Stonewall riot that began on June 28, 1969 may be as revered and as dreaded as October 31, 1517, the day Martin Luther hammered his gripes on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.
"It seems we are at the moment of fracture," the Rev. William Murdoch told the Boston Globe. Murdoch heads up a group of churches in New England that are leaving their various denominations to form a new union founded on the issue of homosexuality.
ABC News reports, "The debate over whether gays should be ordained is getting louder and more rancorous throughout denominations across the country and is threatening to rip apart congregations. [The] issue of ordinating homosexuals threatens schism in mainline churches."
The December 12 UK Telegraph reports, "In a dramatic escalation in the Church of England's civil war over homosexual clergy, scores of evangelical churches will break their historic links with liberal bishops who oversee their parishes. The deepening of the conflict represents the ultimate protest by conservative clergy against liberal bishops' support for homosexual priests who have used the Civil Partnerships Act to marry their boyfriends. Up to 100 churches have said that they intend to split from their bishops...That is likely to mark only the beginning of the schism..."
I think it will be very difficult for most of us to imagine--and shocking for many others--that acceptance of homosexuality and sexual diversity is responsible for something as huge as a Second Protestant Reformation, but the accumulation of facts may soon make it undeniable. And Stonewall may take on a significance far exceeding it's meaning to the gay community.
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