According to Murray Richmond, a Presbyterian minister, here are two very good reasons that churches choose to keep the culture war against glbt folk alive:
1 If they just gave in and said homosexuality is acceptable then a large portion of their congregation would leave, and take their tithing with them.
2 It's so much easier to discuss the mote in your neighbor's eye than remove the beam in your own eye.
I'm writing this because I believe it is the voices of Christians themselves that will shame the haters into coming clean about their motives. I know that many Christians including the author of this essay are more interested in social justice than culture wars.
The truth is, I was put out that this was an issue. Feeding the hungry, preaching the gospel, comforting the afflicted, standing up to racial intolerance -- these were the struggles I signed up for, not determining the morality of what adults did in their bedrooms.
Richmond transparently discusses the financial considerations of his stand on homosexuality:
Looking back, I see how much my own opinions had been formed by the fact that I was representing a split congregation. Our church, like so many, was divided. And while the people who believed it should be accepted were not going to leave if we maintained a position of non-acceptance, those who felt it was a sin would bolt in a heartbeat if we ever allowed gay clergy or gay marriage. If they bolted, half our budget would go out the door. I knew the issue could tear the church apart. What I didn't realize was how it could tear apart the people in the church as well.
With distance, I could see the mean-spirited nature of the anti-gay movement, and the naked way large Christian organizations used the "gay threat" to raise money.
And then talks about how much easier it is to judge some darned glbt person from a distance about something you do not understand than it is to honestly wrestle with your own human weakness:
So why had we singled out homosexuality as a litmus test for True Christianity in the first place? Why had it become such a lightning rod for self-righteousness?
One reason, I think, is that it's easy to condemn homosexuality if you are not gay. It is much harder than condemning pride, or lust or greed, things that most practicing Christians have struggled with. It is all too easy to make homosexuality about "those people," and not me. If I were to judge someone for their inflated sense of pride, or their tendency to worship various cultural idols, I would feel some personal stake, some cringe of self-judgment. Not so with homosexuality.
This is an essay that I think is important for everyone to read. If you are an ally and you want to forward it to your friends and family who disagree with homosexuality on religious terms, that would be helpful. There are many courageous Christians standing up against the bigotry that many are cloaking themselves in their religion to justify.
Each time I read about someone who earnestly has tried praying the gay away I just want to weep. As I have said before, the Churches who use this issue to solidify their political hold on their members have blood on their hands.
If you have made it this far and you want to do something useful, please consider signing this petition to defend the Ali Forney Center for homeless glbt youth against budget cuts. Often, the glbt youth are homeless because their good Christian families have thrown them out for being different.
I heard about Murray Richmond's essay from the excellent Joe.My.God blog.