Long arc of justice bends toward church inclusion
I grew up convinced that homosexuality was a sin, according to the Bible. When I began working as a chaplain and urban minister in San Francisco, I quickly learned how much pain this conviction brought upon the people to whom I felt called to minister, particularly AIDS patients. Although I know the “truth” can sometimes hurt, I felt deeply troubled by the fact that my ministry seemed to be pouring salt on other people’s wounds. This disturbing experience compelled me to research more thoroughly what the Bible really says about the subject. After years of prayerful study of the Bible in its historical and linguistic contexts, it became clear to me that, although the Bible certainly condemns sexual abuse, pedophilia, adultery, and prostitution, the Bible remains very unclear regarding the subject of homosexual behavior between two consenting adults.
When Jesus himself spoke of the sin of Sodom, he said nothing about sexuality. Rather, he highlighted Sodom’s sin of inhospitality (Matthew 10:15; Luke 10:12). So, I find it tragically ironic that Christians frequently use the very passage of Scripture that condemns inhospitality as a cudgel for exclusion and inhospitality. Also, biblical scholars widely agree that the two Greek words used in the New Testament for “homosexual” (malakoi and arsenokoitai) clearly do not refer to 21st century homosexuals in a consensual relationship.
Throughout history, Christians have sadly misinterpreted the Bible to justify violence, slavery, and misogyny; and I will confess that there are many more biblical verses that can be taken out of context to justify these sins than there are in justifying homophobia. However, most Christians today reject slavery and misogyny because they realize how incompatible they are with Christ’s clear teachings on liberating the oppressed and loving our neighbors as ourselves (Luke 4:18; Mark 12:31; John 15:12). Just like the millions of Christians who used the Bible to support slavery, I am convinced that those who continue to use the Bible to justify exclusion and hatred today will end up on the wrong side of history.
The Episcopal Church, in which I am ordained, understands the full inclusion of our LGBTQ+ siblings as a faithful expression of the same Spirit that swept through the early Church. The questions that preoccupied the early Christians at the first church council were, “Do we now include and embrace a group of people (the Gentiles) whom our Scriptures and our traditions have consistently called unclean and profane?” Although some Christians insisted that the Gentiles change who they were by altering their bodies, the ultimate decision was to embrace the Gentiles as they were, thanks to the leadership of St. Paul and St. Peter, who heard the Holy Spirit say to him, “Do not call profane what I have called clean!” (Acts 10:15). Since then, the long arc of the moral and spiritual universal has been bending towards love and inclusion of all; and I’m proud to be part of the Episcopal Church, which is still riding that wave today.