The "godly folk" continue to do violence to the lives and well being of countless gays and lesbians with their insistence on clinging to a few scattered passages in the Bible - a book originally authored by ignorant Bronze Age herders. The original authors of the fiction and myths in the Bible knew nothing of modern science, thought the earth was the center of the universe, and had no knowledge of sexual orientation. Yet, today's self-satisfied, self-congratulatory "godly folk" insist that these passages are the "word of God." Why? Brainwashing both as children and in the pews as they grew older. But, in my view, most importantly because of a sick psychological state that drives them with a constant need to (i) view themselves as better than others and (ii) a fear of thinking and realizing that the fantasy faith world is a house of cards with no fact or substance to support it. Thankfully, the revolt against this embrace of ignorance is growing, especially among the younger generations who are literally walking away from institutional Christianity. But it is also happening among members of the clergy who can no longer support the Church's demand that discrimination is ordained by God. Frank Schaefer (pictured above) is a United Methodist pastor who is being drummed out of his denomination because he married his gay son and his son's partner/lover. Schaefer is not backing down and summed up the Church's homophobia this way via a story in Huffington Post:
“I cannot fathom how I would change my mind in that time or in any time,” Shaefer said. “To me this is discrimination. It’s not right. So many people have been hurt. Not just my son -- my children -- but thousands of gay, lesbian bisexual, transgender people have been hurt by the church and by society. It has to stop. We’ve got to realize what we’re doing here with our theology, our doctrine, and really, our hate speech.”
What set Shaefer on this collision course with institutionalized anti-gay animus was when his son had came out to him in 2000, when Schaefer spoke to his son after an anonymous caller told him his son was
gay and was contemplating suicide. Schaefer noted:
“We said to him, 'You are made in the image of God just like everyone else,'” Shaefer said, thinking back to when he son first described his struggles with his homosexuality. “So when he asked me in 2007, ‘Dad, would you do my wedding?’ I was just honored.”
[A] United Methodist Church jury of fellow pastors that last week sentenced him to a 30-day suspension after convicting him of violating church law for having officiated over his son’s same-sex wedding in 2007. At the end of the 30-day period, the Lebanon, Penn., pastor will be defrocked unless he renounces same-sex marriage, including his own son’s marriage.
“I said to the jury, ‘Look, all of this, in the last few weeks, has really outed me to the world in terms of where I stand on my theology,’” he told me in an interview on SiriusXM Progress. “I have become an advocate for the LGBT community. I can no longer be a silent supporter.”
Shaefer described his statements to the jury as a "moment of honesty" in which he challenged the leadership of the nation's largest mainline Protestant denomination, which teaches that homosexuality is "not compatible with Christian teaching." He said he’d marry any other gay or lesbian couples who want to be married while he is a still a pastor. So far, none have come forward, but he has until December 18.
Kudos to pastor Schaefer. Meanwhile, if there truly is a Hell, it will be full of the truly evil and the "godly folk" who are the antithesis to what Christ called us to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment