DOC and LGBTQ Issues
Our General Minister and President recently offered some words about Disciples and LGBTQ persons. Marriage equality, 21st century civil rights, and justice are issues that divide our expression of Christian witness as well as the whole Church. If you have not read her words or watched her remarks use this link to visit her blog to do so. Informed consent or dissent are necessary, more than ever before, in the saturated marketing and information culture in which we live and participate.
How long did it take this nation, and many Christians, to come to the conclusion that breathing humans, though differently pigmented skin color, were fully human, not 3/5ths human, and deserved the same basic protections afforded male citizens of our nation? How long did it take for women to gain the right to vote and earn .77 cents on the dollar to men? Too long and we continue to struggle with gender, race and racism all these years after the Women’s Suffrage movement, all these years after churches were bombed, Jim Crowe laws, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That act was signed into law the year before I was born. It’s been 48 years. How short is our American memory? How segregated is that memory? It is short enough and segregated enough for Klan style open racism to return to the halls of state capitals and our nation’s legislative branch of government. Our President is, was, working hard to pull our nation into a post-racial political future that white plutocrats and their legislative surrogates, Democrat and Republican, determined was too dangerous to the status quo. Allowing a non white face to govern well would undermine myths about manifest destiny and the preference of white male authority. This would have happened to a woman, even a white woman, that did not follow directions.(1) The backlash is a brand of Republican leader that is governing in state capitals and in the national legislature from a “winner take all” perspective. If I had it this is where I would insert footage of Sen. McConnell noting the agenda of the Senate, “Make President Obama a one term President.” How short and segregated is American memory? It is short enough and segregated enough for modern day robber barons to be to big to fail. How is it that Mormonism can be accepted as Christianity, but LGBTQ persons cannot be accepted as fully human in some religious circles?
This week’s Sightings, which I will post next, explores the response of six Catholics to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops statement, “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty.” This document speaks of a “war on religious freedom.” I contend that there is no war on religious freedom in this nation. If anything, Christianity has maintained a place of preference and it could be argued, when weighed against the backdrop of history, has done as much harm as good in our culture. The last paragraph of the first respondent concludes:
“There is no guarantee that public opinion will converge on what justice requires. The conscience of the community has often erred and will continue to do so. There are compelling reasons within modern states to carve out a protected space for dissenting moral voices. But in the end, the tension between the laws of the state and the demands of faith cannot be fully resolved. It can only be managed, which means that understanding and goodwill on both sides is essential. These are scarce virtues in our shrill and divided times.”(2)
It is this point that I think Rev. Sharon Watkins, our General Minister and President, is addressing with her words. Understanding and good will are in short supply right now. But, also in short supply is the voice of Truth to power. Given our soundbite culture, the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court has made the voice of Truth to power even more difficult. What does it mean to be at table with one another? Would your congregation welcome a member of the Klan to the table on Sunday alongside your lesbian pastor? For me, it means trying to connect the dots of what a 21st century table of grace and reconciliation means? Right now it looks like it means, “separate but equal” in the way my expression of Christian witness organizes itself systemically and has redefined what being an ordained minister of the Gospel means for the short term 21st century. You have to want table fellowship. I don’t now how many people want it, really want it, right now.
The writers of “The American President,” 1995, offer two insights that are worth considering.
“The American people want leadership.” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKTqS4bXugg
“America isn’t easy. It’s advanced citizenship.” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BysLCCLdWKA
Note
1. Oklahoma’s female governor is a good example of a woman taking direction from male culture.
2. William Gaston, “The Bishops and Religious Liberty”, Commonweal, June 15, 2012.