Peacetrain5’s Weblog

I came across this article from the blog called “A Fettered Heart.”  The writer is named Ryan and speaks with great passion.  I share his stance on this topic and wish people would acknowledge we are all one in the eyes of our God.  I think having a willingness to converse on the topic is a good stating place.  Let’s see where this goes.

He writes…

I am mad! I am pissed off. I am hurt. I am a straight, white Christian male setting foot in the Louisville Gay Community with hopes of organizing support and attention to the unjust isolation of equal rights in America.  What do I have to be upset, angry, or hurt about? The Gay Community does not directly effect me in any way.

If the Gay Community is not guaranteed the right to marriage it does not make my marriage any less sacred.

If the Gay Community is not guarenteed the right to adopt or act as foster parents it does not inhibit me from adopting or fostering if I should so chose.

If the Gay Community is not allowed to answer the call to minister to this hurting, dying world it does not make my ordination any less valid.

I am angry that these are a few of the questions I and many others have asked ourselves.  The Gay Community is so small their rights do not matter.  I am angry that these questions are not only being asked, but they are being used to justify the systemic oppression of a people.

I am angry that Jesus, God, and moral values are being used to justify the injustice being perpetrated upon citizens of this nation.

Gone is the separation of Church and State when it suits us.  Gone are the manifold witness to a Gospel that proclaims a place for all as we all fall short of the glory of God.

Gone is the voice of champions of equality demanding that injustice be turned away from the swift application of justice.

I am angry that silence has paralyzed justice.  I am angry that religion, Jesus, and God are being used to silence the full inclusion of all citizen of the United States of America.  I am nation that guarantees that all of us are created equal, born with certain inalienable rights.

Those inaliable rights were once denied to folks due to the color of their skin.  Those rights were once denied to women because they were not men.  Those rights are being denied to a people because of who they love, who they share a life with.

I am angry because the silence is perpetrated in the shadows of religion.  A perverse application of Gods grace is used to deem a people unworthy of full inclusion into the fearfully and wonderfully made part of creation.

I am tired.  I am angry.  I am coming out!

In the recent film “Milk” Harvey speaks to a gathered crowd of the Gay Community.  He tells them in order to defeat Prop 6 they must “come out.”  They must share their store with their friends, families, employers, everyone!  Everyone must know their story.   They must humanize the struggle against injustice.

In my anger, in my exhaustion I speak to the straight allies out there.  You must come out.  You got to share your story with your family, friends, EVERYONE!

Our silence is killing people.  Our silence is making it OK to isolate, interrogate, and victimize the Gay Community.  Every time you say, “I am not sure about this.  I just need more time.”  You are denying justice to a human being and endangering their very life as you dangle the carrot of justice before their eyes.

We are responsible for the harsh treatment of the Gay Community.  We may not be the ones harassing the Gay Community directly.  We may not be the ones actively fighting to exclude equal rights to all.  We may be quietly sitting in support of equal rights for the Gay Community.  My silence hurts, our silence kills.  Our silence is hurting people.  We got to come out!

Sisters and brothers in your faith communities speak up, in your classrooms speak out, in your homes share.  The Gay Community is unjustly being denied basic human rights in our silence.  Let us join together in a loud voice to demand that just be restored in this wind of hope, this sweeping march towards change.  Let us be a part of history that we can be proud of.  Let us come out and speak up in support of our sisters and brothers of the Gay Community.

Recently I was approached to discuss and defend my political viewpoint in light of my theological perspective.  This aquantance doesn’t have the ability to couple a Christ follower the opportunity to be anything but a conservative Republican.  My present beliefs and lifestyle hopefully represent consistencies formed from years of learning, mistakes, and values.  These beliefs certainly are polar to what I accepted and practiced in my younger and less evolved life.

We agreed to have a civil discourse dealing with certain topics without need for debate, just plain discussion for the purpose of understanding each other.  I respect the willingness of my friend to comprehend other viewpoints and hopefully this will stay civil.  I personally feel no compulsion to persuade others to my belief system, especially dealing with politics.  There is no right answer, no right side to align with, no need for us versus them.  We each come to the place of understanding having walked divergent roads of growth and experience.  Therefore expecting each of us to completely agree seems fool-hearty at best.

The first question posed to me asked what is the purpose of the church?  A rather open ended question that leaves much room for opinion. 

Here is what I wrote…

In short the purpose of the church should encompass providing a sanctuary of hope and healing for the lost and hurting.  A place where action impacting the community near us and and the world around us is initiated and continued.  A safe haven of rest where the outcast of society are able to find refuge.  A locale of challenge for believers to walk more in the true image of the Christ.

I don’t feel the church is an induction station or boot camp preparing for battle.  I find the analogy of warfare offensive.  The church is about mobilizing its people to be lovers of other people.  Just like Jesus taught.  Loving people implies not killing them with hateful attitudes and actions.  Love is the overarching theme of the bible, not judgement.

The church, to me, is not looking for complete obedience to it whereby acceptance is granted to only those who willingly comply.  Individuality is what drives the healthy church.  The collective gathering of differences sharing the cause of kindness is what makes church so meaningful.  I feel no need to act like everyone else, look like everyone else, nor believe like everyone else.  I find no calling in scripture to enter into a personal cloning program.

Relationship forces us to encounter contact with Christ in a much more personal manner than rules could ever hope for.  Rules, especially one devised for the purpose of control, force us to withdraw from relationship and focus on a tally system of merit.  This is not my understanding of grace.

The church should be a place where ALL are welcome, loved , and accepted.  This is the responsibility of the bride-this is the promise of the bride.  We come as life finds us…filthy, unworthy, and in great need.  Each of us a sinner in desperate need of grace.  At no time is sin ever detailed by degrees of shame or offense.  All sin is equally problematic.  No sin worse than any other.

I understand the need to shower first before getting into a pool.  I do not understand the thinking that demands we come to the church already clean.  Besides, who are we cleaning up for?

When the church spends its time focusing on particular sins and grossly overlooking others—then the church has simply lost its way.

Actually when the church casts more care on shortcomings of others instead of sharing compassion and understanding then it truely has lost its way.

I tend to ramble.