The Los Angeles Times has an article today that looks at the debate between Christianists and other religious conservatives on the one side and moderates who do not seek to use the Bible and Koran as abasis for demonizing gays. I guess what gets me personally is that Christ had a very much affirming message and in the Gospels ministered to and socialized with those marginalized by the legalistic and santimonious religious leaders of His day. Yet this fact utterly escapes the hate merchant element of today's Christian denominations. Rather than look at this broader message, they seek out isolated passages to condemn gays. Not surprsingly, many of their forebears also used the Bible to justify slavery, segregation and the subordination of women. If one takes the selective passage approach that these less than Christian individuals apply to gays, then using their analysis, slavery should still be permissible today. As would the application of the death penalty to all sorts of ridiculous infractions. Here are some story highlights:
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With same-sex marriage now legal in California, people of faith are renewing a passionate debate over whether homosexuality is sanctioned by God. Christians, Jews and Muslims on both sides of the issue cite the holy writings of their religions. Some note that the Bible depicts man-lying-with-man as an "abomination," while others say it speaks of God's love for all people created in his image. Both sides defend their positions with the zeal of the biblical warriors who inhabit their scriptures.
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"Homosexual intimacy is out of bounds. It's not what God created us for," said Richard Mouw, president of the evangelical Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena.Mouw cites Romans 1 in the New Testament that decries men and women abandoning "natural relations" and men "inflamed with lust for one another" committing "indecent acts with other men" -- behavior that carried death as punishment."Sexuality within the context of marriage is the order of creation," he said.
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Nonsense, says the Rev. Mel White, a former Fuller professor and evangelical author who married his partner of 27 years in a ceremony Wednesday at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. White calls the Bible a living document that must be understood in its historical context -- a view shared by reform-minded clergy and theologians from other faiths.
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Perhaps the most frequently cited is Leviticus 18:22: "You shall not lie with a man as one lies with a woman: It is an abomination."The passage from the Torah is repeated, with slight variations, in Christian scripture, which, like the Jewish text, orders death for violators. The Koran also denounces homosexuality, in Chapter 7, Verse 81: "For you practice your lust on men in preference to women: You are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds."
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But other clergy criticize what they see as a selective analysis of the texts. Jesus condemned divorce and remarriage, they point out, but that hasn't stopped many Christians from splitting and remarrying. The Old Testament not only denounces adulterers and children who curse their parents, it demands the death penalty for both. It prohibits sex between husbands and wives during menstruation, even though theologians acknowledge the practice occurs without any formal reprimands.
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One small Muslim group voiced objections, calling on the faithful to embrace a more pluralistic view of gays and lesbians."We're not reinventing the faith," Ani Zonneveld, president of Muslims for Progressive Values, which claims about 1,500 members nationwide. "The Koran says that it is a book for all times and all generations. It is not a stagnant text."If Muslims cannot interpret the Koran, she said, "then it is irrelevant to how we live our lives today."
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