Too many folks still believe that it's an either/or proposition ... you either side with the gays and are for their rights or you side with G-d/Christianity/religion and reject rights for gay folks. That is a false narrative, and Matthew Vines explains it to us in this video. I'm liking this young man more and more every time I listen to him speak.
Frank Bruni at the New York Times gives us his take on the issue.
From The New York Times:
And homosexuality and Christianity don’t have to be in conflict in any church anywhere.
That many Christians regard them as incompatible is understandable, an example not so much of hatred’s pull as of tradition’s sway. Beliefs ossified over centuries aren’t easily shaken.
But in the end, the continued view of gays, lesbians and bisexuals as sinners is a decision. It’s a choice. It prioritizes scattered passages of ancient texts over all that has been learned since — as if time had stood still, as if the advances of science and knowledge meant nothing.
It disregards the degree to which all writings reflect the biases and blind spots of their authors, cultures and eras.
The Advocate decided to resurrect what the magazine calls its "most famous cover story" today in response to the issue. Here is that cover.
The article is about Metropolitan Community Churches and how the denomination has been shaking up religion since its founding in 1968 as a denomination that ministers to the LGBT community. From
The Advocate:
The Metropolitan Community Church has been shaking up religion since its founding in 1968 as a Christian denomination especially for LGBT people. The Advocate covered the transformative MCC in a December 1994 cover story, and the editor in chief at the time, Jeff Yarbrough, inspired by polemic issues of Time and Rolling Stone, branded the cover with a very provocative title: "Is God Gay?" Reaction was swift:
"Advertisers pulled out," Yarbrough recalls. "My publisher screamed at me and told me someone had called in a death threat. Readers and a lot of nonreaders sent us hate mail. The straight press said we’d stepped over some imaginary line.
So the 'Is God Gay?' cover and story was just another way to point out how marginalized we were at the time. I think it did its job. And I don’t think Jesus would have minded us using him to convey a message of tolerance."
It's a great read. I encourage you to go and read the entire article.