Homosexuality
More than 100 Mennonite pastors and lay ministers released a letter in April to the Mennonite Church USA, calling for the denomination to extend full welcome to gay and lesbian people and inviting
The first female president of the Disciples of Christ.
During the summer of 2003, my cousin and his girlfriend celebrated the birth of their son Glenn Molex, III. I remember getting the call from his father and hearing the pride in his voice when he told me about the birth. My cousin and his girlfriend live in the inner city and by social definitions, they are poor. But in spite of their financial situation, when [...]
As we draw closer to the candidate forum at Saddleback Church, I've had several conversations with clergy on the West Coast. Many are wondering if candidates will be asked about abortion and gay marriage. In California there is a ballot initiative on gay marriage, and I'm also hearing that this issue is on the ballot in Florida. No matter how much some people don't want to talk about it, these issues are not going away [...]
The tide of political priorities among white evangelicals may be turning.
I was disappointed with Sojourners on reading "Family Matters" (by Julie Polter, January 2007).
Thank you for including an article about Christians who are gay in the September-October 2006 issue (“Mutual Grace,” by Amy McDougall and Jake Nyberg).
Gay rights activists seek - and find - dialogue on (some) Christian campuses.
The April 2006 issue was well-written, especially the articles on abortion and immigration. Janet Parker’s article, “Can These Bones Live?” especially moved me.
St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church turned the tables on hate-monger Fred Phelps in May when Phelps brought 10 of his followers to protest the ordination of Anita Hill, a lesbian pastor.
In all my 17 years in Mississippi, I never heard anyone say they were gay. A year ago I moved to Vermont where unmarried couples, both heterosexual and homosexual, live together without shame. The word "partner" has entered my vocabulary. I see adopted children with two mothers or two fathers.
As I awkwardly discern how to ask new friends about their lives and families, Vermont may become the first state to adopt a domestic partnership law giving same-sex couples the benefits, rights, and responsibilities of marriage. Letters pro and con fill my Burlington Free Press. Public radio aired emotional testimony on the subject from packed statehouse chambers. In our small-town church, several people walked out of a Sunday School classroom when a mother shared about her gay son and that she had testified in favor of the law.
I decided to write about Vermont's debate on homosexuality and domestic partnership in "Grace Matters." Before submitting it to the editors, I e-mailed the first draft to 200 friends, asking for critique.
The next evening 57 e-mails greeted me. Slapped me in the face, actually. And they kept coming-eventually I had more than 70 pages of responses printed in 10-point, tightly squeezed type. Old friends came out of the woodwork to offer emotional three-page opinions.
These are all friends I dearly love. All people of sincere faith. And they are deeply divided. I went to bed heartbroken.
A recent consultation among United Methodist Church officials on the "authority of scripture and the nature of God’s revelation" acknowledged that the most divisive debates of the church hinge largely on one’s view of the nature and authority of the Bible.