Blacks, Gays And The Church: A Complex Relatnship : NPR

Contents:

• TEXAS PASTOR SAYS GAY PEOPLE SHOULD BE 'SHOT THE BACK OF THE HEAD' SHOCKG SERMON
• GEIA MEGACHURCH PASTOR REVEALS HE'S GAY
• FIVE EVANGELIL PASTORS WHO BACK GAY MARRIAGE
• ANTI-GAY PASTOR RIGNS AFTER ALLEGEDLY 'BEG WH PROSTUT'
• I'M A GAY, CELIBATE PASTOR OF A NSERVATIVE CHURCH. HERE'S A TRICK FOR -LATN.
• A GAY PASTOR EXPLAS WHAT THE BIBLE REALLY SAYS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALY
• IS BIBLILLY ALLOWABLE FOR A PASTOR TO BE GAY?
• HOW A GAY ST. LOUIS PASTOR TRIGGERED A WAR WH THE PRBYTERIAN CHURCH AMERI
• JEROME GAY
• MAJOR EVANGELIL FIGURE OUT AS GAY
• PASTOR AT OBAMA'S FORMER CHURCH DEFENDS PRINT ON GAY MARRIAGE
• BLACKS, GAYS AND THE CHURCH: A COMPLEX RELATNSHIP

TEXAS PASTOR SAYS GAY PEOPLE SHOULD BE 'SHOT THE BACK OF THE HEAD' SHOCKG SERMON

A Texas baptist church — labeled an "anti-LGBT hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center — has ed outrage after a pastor said gay people should be "led up agast the wall and shot the back of the head. ""I’m not sayg that every sgle homosexual that’s alive right now has mted that act wh a child already bee uld be they haven’t had the opportuny yet and they will at some pot later their life, " he said. The church's ma pastor, Jonathan Shelley, fend Aw sayg a lengthy statement that Ameri has weakened "punishments for homosexualy.

2, 2010— -- The pastor of a Geia megachurch wh thoands of followers, who was twice married and is a father of four, is speakg out about his recent cisn to publicly clare he is gay. I want to tell you that is not, " Jim Swilley said a vio shot the nonnomatnal megachuch Swilley found 25 years Swilley said g out was a cisn he's stggled wh sce childhood, he ma the announcement last month not for personal reasons -- he said he hop to save 52-year-old founr of Church the Now Conyers, Ga., said he's g out to help stem the recent ti of gay suicis Ameri and won't be swayed by some hateful msag that have been wrten about him onle. ""Hearg about the kids who are mtg suici, the reactn as a gay adult is, 'I wish I uld have jt talked to them for 15 mut or five mut and told them gets better, '" Savage said.

GEIA MEGACHURCH PASTOR REVEALS HE'S GAY

"Officials, Celebri Jo 'It Gets Better'Three weeks later, a cy uncil meetg Fort Worth, Texas, gay cy uncilman Joel Burns was moved to share his own emotnal story about how close he me to killg himself at age 13.

If you said someone was evangelil you knew pretty much what you were gettg – errancy of the Bible, importance of preachg, a foc on evangelism, warngs of hell and most of all – opposn to gay marriage. While still far om the mastream and the overwhelmg majory of self-scribed evangelils are still opposed to gay marriage, there are a growg list of pastors who scribe themselv as evangelil and yet support same sex upl.

'It has taken untls hours of prayer, study, nversatn and emotnal turmoil to brg me to the place where I am fally ready to ll for the full acceptance of Christian gay upl to the Church, ' he wrote. In a bate at San Francis's Grace Cathedral 2013, the thor and pastor Rob Bell, already discreded by many evangelils for his book Love Ws, gave a blanket endorsement of gay marriage.

FIVE EVANGELIL PASTORS WHO BACK GAY MARRIAGE

An outspoken cric of the Relig Right and print of the Sojourners magaze, Jim Wallis reversed his stance on gay marriage an terview wh the Huffgton Post  2013. Several of Jen Hatmaker's books have been produced by LifeWay's B&H Publishg, who announced they would no longer work wh her after she changed her stance on gay marriageFacebook / Jen Hatmaker. One of the relatively few proment female voic on the evangelil scene, Hatmaker received a fierce backlash when she said she thought God saw monogamo gay relatnships as holy.

In an terview wh Relign News Service she said: 'From a spirual perspective, sce gay marriage is legal all 50 stat, our muni have plenty of gay upl who, jt like the rt of , need marriage support and parentg help and Christian muny.

Asked if she would attend a gay iend's weddg she said was an easy answer: 'I would attend that weddg wh gladns, and I would drk champagne. The Southern Baptist church pastor om Los Angel, California, announced 2014 he is 'gay affirmg' and had accepted his son's homosexualy.

ANTI-GAY PASTOR RIGNS AFTER ALLEGEDLY 'BEG WH PROSTUT'

'In Augt of 2013, on a sunny day at the beach, I realized I no longer believed the tradnal [church] teachgs regardg homosexualy, ' Cortez said a letter published on Patheos blog.

I'M A GAY, CELIBATE PASTOR OF A NSERVATIVE CHURCH. HERE'S A TRICK FOR -LATN.

'And was pecially the ttimony of my gay iends that helped me to see how they have been margalised that my ey beme open to the jtice that the church has wrought.

Donnie Romero, a Baptist pastor who has ma natnal headl for his vilently homophobic sermons, recently rigned om his Texas church after admtg he has been “a terrible hband and father. Courty Stedfast Baptist Church / YouTubeWhile Romero — who has pared LGBTQ people to pedophil, lled gays “scum of the earth” and appld the 2016 mass killg of gay people at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub — did not provi tails about his behavr, Steven Anrson, a pastor who joed Romero last week durg his rignatn sermon, shared sight on YouTube to his iend’s “grievo ss. Shelley, like Anrson, said equentg prostut led to Romero’s rignatn, though Shelley add that he did not know the genr of the Romero, Shelley strongly nmns homosexualy.

“The bible mak clear that homosexuals should be put to ath acrdg to God's law, and at the foundg of Ameri that once was the law, ” he claimed.

A GAY PASTOR EXPLAS WHAT THE BIBLE REALLY SAYS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALY

Among the many enuragg ments on that post was one om a gay pastor who betifully explaed his unrstandg of the Bible, Christiany, and pastor gracly agreed to let me share his ment as blog post here. If I ever meet a fe gay man who is Spirual and lovg and mutually attractive, and if I felt the Lord leadg me to him and him to me, I would feel ee to be his mate. So may be biblilly allowable for a pastor to nsir himself gay—that is, he stggl wh homosexual attractn—if he is mted to sexual pury, never acts on those sir, and never enurag anyone else to do so (see Romans 1:32).

God’s Word is as clear on the s of homosexual behavr as has always been (Levic 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:26–27; 1 Timothy 1:10; 1 Corthians 6:9). A pastor is a fallible human beg jt like those his ngregatn; so is biblilly allowable for him to stggle wh homosexual sir, adultero sir, greedy sir, priful sir, etc. A pastor who choos to live a homosexual liftyle is unf to gui a ngregatn and has missed the pot of what means to follow J (John 14:15, 23).

IS BIBLILLY ALLOWABLE FOR A PASTOR TO BE GAY?

Jt as we nnot clare that is allowable for a pastor to actively pursue other ss, we nnot clare that is biblilly allowable for a pastor to be gay.

Greg Johnson scrib himself as a “gay atheist teenager” who fell for J — and found himself at the center of evangelil Christiany’s ternal battl over nearly 20 years, Johnson has pastored Memorial Prbyterian Church St. When he me out to his church, he said he received a standg ovatn and shouts of “We love you, Greg” om sce Johnson went public wh his orientatn Christiany Today, pastors his nomatn, the Prbyterian Church Ameri, have tried to banish clergy who intify as gay, even if they m to celibacy. “I spent a lot of years nvcg myself that I was a straight man wh a disease lled homosexualy that uld be cured, ” Johnson said on Wednday’s St.

HOW A GAY ST. LOUIS PASTOR TRIGGERED A WAR WH THE PRBYTERIAN CHURCH AMERI

”The ln Johnson is referrg to are people who participated the so-lled “ex-gay movement, ” which centered on the theory that one n change sexual orientatn. Last year, Johnson released a book lled “Still Time To Care: What We Can Learn om the Church’s Failed Attempt to Cure Homosexualy, ” which scrib the fall of the ex-gay movement. ”When the PCA nomatn voted last year on whether to keep gay people om beg clergy members, one observer wrote that the actn was signed to “prevent another Greg Johnson.

”More than 60% of regnal church bodi voted favor of barrg people who intify as gay om beg clergy, even if they do not engage sexual behavr.

JEROME GAY

”Johnson said there’s a huge need wh the evangelil church to tra parents and pastors to love gay youth whout tryg to ntrol them. “If you're gog to be a nomatn that says you n't have gay marriage, then you've got to provi alternate forms of muny, ” Johnson said. Kimberly Stt about last week's meetg of the Uned Methodist Church's Council of Bishops and s impedg vote on whether to orda gay pastors.

And then the other part was always send-gusg myself - whether or not I was supposed to be open about my sexual orientatn, whether or not I was supposed to play the game of don't ask, don't Jt so that I'm clear, is the church's official stance on homosexualy today ambiguo or is pretty clearly fed and you'd like to see changed? S., church have gone beyond what the Book of Disciple says to make the church open and accsible to gay and lbian clergy like Do you know other pastors who aren't as open as you or haven't been able to be as open as you - have ma this choice to keep this important si of their liv quiet or secret om their ngregatns? The liberal Jewish movements have unrgone dramatic shifts their approach to gay, lbian and transgenr Jews the past two s, but among the Orthodox the chang have been far ls dramatic — and many quarters, virtually seemgly clear biblil nunciatns of homosexual sex, as well as the rp of rabbic mentari and legal s based on those vers, lim how far Orthodox Judaism, marked by s fily to tradnal unrstandgs of Jewish law, or halacha, n move on this several efforts have emerged recent years to lend more support to Orthodox Jews experiencg homosexual sir and make the muny more passnate and welg toward them, all the efforts stop short of sanctng gay relatnships.

Theologil and Legal LimatnsAcross the spectm of Orthodox practice, the nsens view is that gay sex and marriage are nsistent wh Jewish tradn.

MAJOR EVANGELIL FIGURE OUT AS GAY

Consired s totaly, Orthodox Jewish tradn down firmly favor of heterosexualy as God’s tentn for humany, which has turn severely limed the acceptance of homosexualy wh the Orthodox muny. Diversy Orthodox ApproachWhile virtually no Orthodox rabbi explicly sanctns homosexual relatnships, there is some diversy of opn how the Orthodox muny ought to rpond to gay Jews.

The two pol of this bate are fairly well leated by two petg statements on the first, entled “Statement of Prcipl on the Place of Jews wh a Homosexual Orientatn Our Communy, ” was drafted by a faculty member at the liberal Orthodox rabbil school Yhivat Chovevei Torah and released 2010. While acknowledgg the halachic (Jewish legal) ban on homosexual sex and rejectg any acceptance of same-sex marriage, the statement neverthels asserted that gays should be weled as full and equal members of Orthodox muni and should, most s, not be enuraged to marry someone of the oppose genr.

The Statement of Prcipl cled to weigh on the qutn of whether homosexual orientatn is geic and unchangeable, or if is a choice, as some people 2016, the Israeli Morn Orthodox rabbil group Be Hillel issued a siar statement, urgg that gays be allowed to serve “any munal pacy. ”In 2011, a group of mostly ultra-Orthodox rabbis, along wh some Morn Orthodox on and a number of mental health profsnals, released “The Declaratn On The Torah Approach to Homosexualy. However, rejected the notn that homosexualy is an sentially unchangeable orientatn as a theologil impossibily and sisted that “healg” gay urg is the only religly acceptable approach.

PASTOR AT OBAMA'S FORMER CHURCH DEFENDS PRINT ON GAY MARRIAGE

Conversn TherapyConversn therapy — sometim also lled reparative or change therapy — refers to the effort to “cure” gays of same-sex attractn and enable them to lead heterosexual liv. It is regard as effective and potentially harmful by the Amerin Medil Associatn, the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, the Amerin Psychologil Associatn and many the Orthodox muny, who for theologil reasons fd impossible to accept that a homosexual orientatn is unchangeable, ntue to advote for such therapi.

The ultra-Orthodox claratn on homosexualy sists that homosexual impuls n be modified and that therapy n help wh “healg” the “emotnal wounds” that lead to homosexual sir. The claratn is featured on a webse that clus extensive rourc aimed at unterg the “misrmatn” that homosexualy is blogilly termed and atttg to the possibily of Orthodox rabbis have e to renounce their support for nversn therapy. The RCA had prevly endorsed JONAH’s work, but whdrawg s endorsement the uncil ced evince that the therapy was effective and had potentially negative 2010 Statement of Prcipl assertg that gays should be weled affirmed “the relig right of those wh a homosexual orientatn to reject theraptic approach they reasonably see as els or dangero.

”Incln and OrthodoxyA number of anizatns have spng up the Uned Stat and Israel an effort to promote acceptance and clivy for gays and lbians wh Orthodox muni. Jewish Queer Youth, or JQY, was found 2001 and acts as a support group and advocy group for LGBTQ Jews, wh a particular emphasis on Orthodox Orthodox Parents Uned by Love of Torah…And Our LGBT ChildrenIn 2015, JQY helped anize a nference that brought together Orthodox rabbis and mental health profsnals to talk about homosexualy what is believed to have been the first public discsn of s Tremblg Before G-d EffectThe progrs of gays and lbians gag acceptance wh Orthodoxy, limed though may be, is often creded to the 2001 documentary Tremblg Before G-d, which thst the stggl of Orthodox gays and lbians to the public nscns as never before. The film’s sympathetic portrayal of dividuals tryg to rencile their sexualy wh their relig mments earned high praise, but some the Orthodox muny saw as a shallow attempt to legimize viant sexual film promently featured Steven Greenberg, wily known as the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi.

BLACKS, GAYS AND THE CHURCH: A COMPLEX RELATNSHIP

In 2004, Greenberg published Wrtlg wh God and Men: Homosexualy the Jewish Tradn, which sought to rest the tradnal biblil prohibn on gay sex as a ban on exploative sex that aims to exercise power or to mean. Earlier this year, Towne View lost s relatnship wh the Southern Baptist Conventn (SBC) and almost half s membership, along wh their du, as a rult of Conrad’s cisn 2019 to accept a gay uple and their three children as members of Towne View.

He and McClanah were eager to raise their sons, then ag 7, 9 and 11, the Southern Baptist tradn that meant so much to them, but unrstood the difficulty their fay would face fdg a ngregatn given the SBC’s stnch posn agast homosexualy.