BBC NEWS | UK | Magaze | What do the Bible actually say about beg gay?

Contents:

• QUEER THEOLOGY: DO GOD HATE GAY PEOPLE?
• WHAT DO THE BIBLE ACTUALLY SAY ABOUT BEG GAY?
• BELIEF GOD SUPPORTS PREJUDICE AGAST GAYS AND ATHEISTS
• IS GOD ANTI-GAY?
• DO GOD HATE GAYS / HOMOSEXUALS?

QUEER THEOLOGY: DO GOD HATE GAY PEOPLE?

Those who would exclu homosexuals om God’s kgdom choose to ignore J, turng stead to the Old Ttament – most particularly to Genis 19, the stctn of the ci of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Levic 18:22 and 20:13, for example, are not about “homosexualy” as we now unrstand – as the rg, lovg and sexual relatnship between people of the same sex. At the heart of the claim that the Bible is clear "that homosexualy is forbidn by God" is poor biblil scholarship and a cultural bias read to the Bible. Although s unlikely that the biblil thors had any notn of sexual orientatn (for example, the term homosexual wasn't even ed until the late 19th century) for many people of fah, the Bible is looked to for timels guidance on what means to honor God wh our liv; and this most certaly clus our sexualy.

” In askg, “What do the Bible say about homosexualy” (or more appropriately stated, “what do the Bible say about attractn to someone of the same sex, ”) our task is to explore what the relevant biblil passag on the topic meant their origal ntext and what they mean for today. Do not be ceived: neher the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practise homosexualy, nor thiev, nor the greedy, nor dnkards, nor revilers, nor swdlers will her the kgdom of God.

WHAT DO THE BIBLE ACTUALLY SAY ABOUT BEG GAY?

You might not expect openmdns about stereotypg to e up a semar lled Queer Theology, which studi qutns about God and relign posed by gay, transgenr, bisexual, and genr-qutng people, many of whom, acrdg to teacher Pamela Lightsey, ask, “Do God hate me?

After class, Gray said that while sexual orientatn wouldn’t be an issue an ial world, the one we actually live is such that “assumptns of who is gay by means of appearance is judgg wh whom you n be safe. A multextured approach is necsary not only bee nservative church flat-out nmn homosexualy, but also, Lightsey believ, bee male church, cludg Roman Catholicism and Methodism, preach a nfg msage, damng homosexual acts as s while exhortg members to love the sner. Matthew V, an openly gay, evangelil Christian and the thor of “God and the Gay Christian: The Biblil Case Support of Same-Sex Relatnships, ” has been actively enuragg nservative Christians to re-evaluate their beliefs about homosexualy.

Caleb Kaltenbach, lead pastor of Disvery Church Simi Valley, Calif,, to talk privately wh a small group of evangelil lears to discs what the Bible says about gay relatnships. Kaltenbach is the thor of the forthg book “Msy Grace, ” which is about how he rencil his nservative Christian nvictns wh his experience as the child of gay the ssn, they were each asked to terpret some of the most ced vers relatg to homosexualy the Bible. Do not be ceived: Neher the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostut nor homosexual offenrs nor thiev nor the greedy nor dnkards nor slanrers nor swdlers will her the kgdom of God.

BELIEF GOD SUPPORTS PREJUDICE AGAST GAYS AND ATHEISTS

In this text, Pl two Greek words—malakoi and arsenokoai—that likely refer to some forms of male same-sex behavr, but not the morn ncept of homosexualy. The Bible mak very few mentns of homosexualy - lbianism isn't mentned at all the Old Ttament - and as the exampl below show, terpretatns of the vers that do exist differ hugely. Pl later wr: "Make no mistake: no fornitor or idolator, none who are guilty eher of adultery or of homosexual perversn, no thiev or grabbers of dnkards of slanrers or swdlers, will posss the kgdom of God.

It is clear om the pro-gay viewpots that they will twist and turn every Bible verse they want to say what they want to say, or otherwise jt bsh over and say that we are apparently a more enlightened society the 21st Century. While ncerns about the ordance’s lack of relig liberty protectns buoyed her effort, Bryant’s rhetoric about the threat gay people ostensibly posed to children was the mpaign’s lastg legacy.

IS GOD ANTI-GAY?

While praisg her urage and ldg her for “emphasizg that God lov the homosexual, ” Graham also suggted that he would not have said “some thgs she and her associat said … the same way. Graham add that, while he saw his votn as foced on preachg the gospel, he “was also fearful that her mpaign might galvanize and brg out to the open homosexualy throughout the untry, so that homosexuals would end up a stronger posn. As Ta Fetner argu How the Relig Right Shaped Lbian and Gay Activism, Bryant and Briggs advertently revigorated what had been an creasgly dormant movement, givg a more ant and opposnal edge than had prevly.

DO GOD HATE GAYS / HOMOSEXUALS?

Activists personalized the issue for the first time: Openly gay polician Harvey Milk enuraged people to e out of the closet to their iends and neighbors, rhapg public opn about the challeng they faced. The televisn mpaign tentnally prented the most flamboyant, non-bourgeois pictns of gay pri paras—ostensibly to show the “realy” of the LGBT movement, but effect to generate fear. Some 16 years later, California voters reenacted a nearly intil pattern when—after a tumultuo fight—they simultaneoly prohibed gay marriage wh Proposn 8 and ma Barack Obama print.