Personally, I was thrilled to join such a conversation! What a chance to build common ground!
As many of you know, the Texas Republicans had quite a
convention this summer, and passed a party platform that was alarming, even
terrifying, to those who believe in full inclusion of all people. And for LGBT, the platform advocated for the
use of Reparative Therapy, which is extremely damaging and hurtful. I have yet to meet anyone who chose to be gay. Ludicrous!
I instead believe that we are all beautiful children of God and our
sexuality is a gift.
Not only did the platform anger those who fight for full
inclusion, but the Texas Republicans also would not let the Log Cabin
Republicans have a booth!
As distressing as this sounds, Jeff Davis, president of the Log
Cabin Republicans, shared that as their group were deciding what to do about
all this, even leaning on doing nothing, he was encouraged that both the
Liberty Caucus and the Young Republicans reached out to share their displeasure
about the platform and their willingness to fight it.
And further, many in the religious community came out strongly
against it. The Log Cabin Republicans realized
they had allies they didn’t know anything about. Their experiences with religious folk in
their own party was quite hostile, and so they were pleasantly surprised and
deeply grateful to know people of faith supported them. And so they felt strongly they should try to
build more bridges with these religious allies and learn more.
Like many people on the margin of organized religion, they were
unaware there is a great variety of religious expression.
And so we talked.
When
it comes to the Christian faith, most people’s views about Gay Rights are tied
to their understanding of the Bible.
Ever heard, “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve?” They take it all literally. It’s God’s Word, after all; you should be
able to depend on it. But I certainly
don’t take it that way, for I believe God’s Word is much more wonderfully rich
and complex, often holding seemingly contradictory concepts. The bible has and can be used to justify
slavery, ethnic cleansing, subjugation of women, the beating and killing of
children. Indeed, the Nazis used
religion to justify the holocaust.
Now
I could almost see the point of a literal understanding of the bible if people
followed all of it instead of picking and choosing those passages which only
support their point of view. What about
the sermon on the mount, loving your enemies, giving away all of your
possessions?
And
then you have Jesus, who often spoke in parable and metaphor. Not only that, he found fault with the bible
thumpers of his day who he thought we’re missing the point of faith and would
never receive the grace God offers. If
anyone is using the bible as a sledge hammer to hurt and wound others, they are
nothing but a Pharisee.
Now
as the bible relates to homosexuality, there are 7 verses which speak against
it, most in the Hebrew or Old Testament, a couple from Paul. Now for me, context is everything and you
have to understand the culture in which these were written. Though we have the Geneva conventions today
and we like to think warfare can be more civilized today, back in the Old
Testament times when armies fought or sacked a village, the men would often
rape the losing soldiers. They weren’t
gay; we’re not talking about a loving relationship. And you know what, God said male rape was
wrong.
You
could say the same thing about lust or even promiscuity, which all have their
hurtful consequences. I do not believe
those verses (so often quoted out of context) in the bible speak of love between two people,
love to build a life upon, a life partnership, which can happen regardless of
whether the two people are of the same gender.
It
was a great privilege to have this conversation with the Log Cabin
Republicans! If you would like to learn
more about their chapter, click here to visit their website.
Ron
Trimmer is pastor of Hope United, a new church in Georgetown, Texas.
Click here to visit Hope United’s website.
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