c. 1999 Religion News Service
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. _ A national coalition of religious leaders who support gays and lesbians brought their semiannual conference to this strongly evangelical Christian city to demonstrate they’re unwillingness to let one perspective dominate the debate over how homosexuality squares with faith.
The meeting of the National Religious Leadership Roundtable convened as several denominations grapple with divisive issues ranging from the ordination of non-celibate gays to whether ministers should be allowed to officiate at same-sex union ceremonies. The two-day conference ended Tuesday (Aug. 24).
The conference’s centerpiece, a public forum titled”Spirituality and Sexuality: In the Image of God,”drew about 200 people to a hotel ballroom Monday night.
Though organizers invited a wide range of churches and groups, the crowd was largely supportive and protest was limited to a man standing at the back who shouted,”Blasphemy! Blasphemy! Repent before the Lord returns!”before walking out. Conference organizers hired two security guards as a precaution.
The conference was sponsored by two Washington-based groups, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Policy Institute and Equal Partners in Faith, a pro-gay religious group.”My belief is that the religious right has taken the advantage of framing the debate,”said Laura Montgomery-Rutt, national organizer for Equal Partners in Faith.”They started this as Christians vs. gays. We’re here to say you can’t claim the religious ground; you can’t speak for all people of faith because you don’t.” The Rev. Jimmy Creech, a minister who has prompted controversy in the United Methodist Church for performing same-sex union ceremonies, used Monday’s forum to argue that Christians in particular need to assume leadership roles on gay equality.
He said the church is the”principal carrier of blame for the oppression of gays and lesbians throughout history,”dating to the 13th century, and that the time has come for redemption.”It’s important for us to acknowledge that and say we’ve been wrong, and we need to end the oppression,”he said.
Denver Reform Rabbi Steven Foster, who fought Amendment 2, the controversial 1992 ballot initiative that prompted critics to label Colorado”the hate state,”emphasized reaching out to heterosexuals.”We have framed it as a gay-rights issue,”said Foster, referring in part to Amendment 2, which won at the polls but was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1996. The measure sought to prohibit laws protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation.”I truly believe this is a civil rights issue,”Foster said.”We have to make the highway broader and make more opportunities. It’s much easier for people to be involved in a civil-rights issue than a gay-rights issue.” The National Religious Leadership Roundtable, which began in 1998, is an interfaith group numbering about 40 individuals and including Muslims, Methodists, Quakers, Mormons, Lutherans, Mennonites, Jews, Presbyterians, Catholics and Unitarians.
The institutions represented at the conference fit into a couple of categories. Some were denominations or faiths that ordain gay men and lesbians, such as the Unitarian Universalist Association, the United Church of Christ and Reform Judaism. Others were gay and lesbian groups tied to a denomination without the recognition or support of that denomination, such as the Catholic group Dignity/USA and the Episcopal group Integrity.
Questions about gays and religion have arisen as major Christian denominations either have voted on position changes related to gay rights or dealt with churches that have taken stands that run counter to denominational rules.
On Saturday, in Denver, delegates to the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to maintain the denomination’s stance forbidding the ordination of practicing homosexuals. In June, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted against allowing ordination of gay men and lesbians as ministers.
Four Baptist churches in California were expelled by the American Baptist Churches USA for welcoming gay men and lesbians, but that decision has been put on hold pending an adjudication process.
Both the Washington think -tank Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Policy Institute recently issued thick reports on religious attitudes toward homosexuals.
The HRC report, released Aug. 11, concluded that there is no single religious view on whether homosexuality is a sin, or whether ministers and rabbis should bless same-sex unions. The policy institute, citing gay-friendly denominations, groups and churches, counted”millions”of members of religious institutions who affirm homosexuals.
The debate over homosexuality in the Christian world often boils down to dueling Bible verses. The Bible includes passages that condemn homosexuality; conservatives read it literally while liberals urge interpretation in historical context.
John Paulk, a self-professed former homosexual and a specialist on gay issues for the Colorado Springs-based evangelical ministry Focus on the Family, said during a break at Monday’s forum that he could relate to the stories of pain and struggling he heard.
One of about eight Focus representatives in attendance Monday, Paulk also is chairman of Exodus International, an organization that believes people can”overcome”homosexuality.”It’s just the conclusion I came to was different,”he said.”I don’t want to oppress someone’s right to be gay if they want to be. But there also must be equal validity to the testimony of people who’ve come out of homosexuality.” IR END GORSKI
