Welcoming Christians

I talk a great deal about the less than Christian "godly Christians" who make the dissemination of anti-gay hatred and lies the lynch pin of their alleged Christian faith. In addition to gays, many of these churches and professional Christian organizations like Focus on the Family (and its Virginia affiliate, The Family Foundation), Family Research Council, American Family Association, and Concerned Women for America, hate many more people and groups besides just gays. Blacks, Hispanics, non-Christians, and immigrants are also on the roster of classes of people these un-godly folk would just as soon see disappear from the American landscape. In short, the version of Christianity that they peddle is a strong indictment against anyone wanting to be called a Christian.

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Often lost in all of this hate filled noise is the fact that there ARE churches and denominations which are welcoming to all. I was reminded of this today when the boyfriend and I attended the baptism of my office manager's young daughters at a small Evangelical Lutheran Church of America parish. Performing the baptisms was the Bishop of Virginia's assistant, a full ordained pastor in her own right, and also in attendance were my young paralegal and his boyfriend and the secretary for the Bishop's office (which sub-lets space from me) and her husband and family. The church is much smaller than my ELCA parish in the Ghent area of Norfolk, but there was the same feeling that all were welcomed. Indeed, we two gay couples were warmly embraced and not a soul flinched when the four of us, each with our respective partner, went up to the communion rail were we received communion from the Bishop's assistant. This is the face of true Christian conduct and what - at least in my view - all Christian denominations should be like.

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As retired Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong has written often, the ultra- conservative, anti-gay Christians over the long term are killing Christianity. With increased medical and mental health knowledge about sexual orientation and ever expanding scientific knowledge on a host of issues, at some point either the rigid Bible beating form of Christianity must adapt to the modern, educated world, or else it will eventual die as it becomes ever more irrelevant and looks increasingly as nothing more than ancient superstitious belief used as an excuse for bigotry. In short, some of those who most loudly proclaim that they love their faith - and it's usually the far right element that do this - are the ones making the strongest argument for Christianity's demise due to their hatred of so many people and intolerance for anyone not precisely like themselves.

We Could Support Gay SCOTUS, But Not One With "Pro-Gay Ideology"

The caption of this post describes recent remarks attributed to Focus on the Family and Family Research Council in connection with the opening on the U. S. Supreme Court arising from David Souter's announced retirement. Do I believe it? No - I don't believe anything that either of these organizations say unless it is a statement that they detest gays and will do all in their power to depict us as sub-human. Why then these remarks? Perhaps its merely a smoke screen given the disastrous anti-gay marriage campaign of the National Organization for Marriage which was become a comical farce and hence the efforts of FOTF and FRC to appear less whacked out than they truly are once one looks at their websites and historic agendas. Moreover, I suspect that a "pro-gay ideology" would encompass anything other than one hiding in the closest and/or someone riddled with internalized homophobia. It will be interesting to see how quickly FOTF and FRC show their true colors. Here are highlights:

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Yesterday I reported that the religious right group Focus on the Family said that they wouldn’t oppose an openly-gay nominee to the Supreme Court on the basis of their sexual orientation. Now a second top religious right organization, Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council, is declaring something similar — it’s a shift in emphasis from its harder-line stance against gay judges two years ago, and another sign of the changing times. To be sure, the group is hedging a bit. Its position : Being gay would not in and of itself rule out getting the group’s support, though having a “pro-gay ideology” would.

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“But if a person does publicly identify as gay or lesbian, or particularly if a person has been involved with homosexual rights activism at any level, then there would have to be serious questions asked about whether he or she would impose a pro-gay ideology on the court.” Sprigg added that homosexuality in and of itself would not be a “determinant” against the acceptability of the nominee.

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That’s not as hard-line as two years ago, when the Family Research Council argued: “We don’t accept that homosexuality is any kind of cultural identity that should be sought in a judge.” To be sure, it’s unlikely that either of these groups would support any Obama nominee, simply because of philosophical differences. But the unwillingness of these groups to rule out opposition to an openly-gay nominee is a big sign of how much things have shifted towards tolerance of gays and lesbians.

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Goups that see homosexuality as a fundamentally illegitimate and morally questionable lifestyle are no longer willing to say openly that its a disqualifier from serving on the highest court.