Our Political Debate - A National Embarrassment

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on 21 July 2011 7 Comments
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Question

I am the father of a gay daughter whom I feel was made beautiful and perfect.  Jesus says nothing condemnatory about sexual orientation.  How should I explain Romans 1 and I Cor. to her?  I love her deeply.

Answer

Dear Arthur,

I do not think you have to explain anything to your daughter.  The fact that you love her is the only thing that matters.

You need to “explain” that condemnatory passages in the Pauline corpus arise from the fact that culturally anything in the Bible has been called “The Word of God” and thus invested with enormous authority.  God did not write the two epistles you cite, Paul did and Paul was a very fallible first century human being.  Paul reflected cultural attitudes that no one today considers valid with regard to the institution of slavery, the role and place of women, and the meaning of homosexuality.  So quoting Paul to justify slavery makes about as much sense as quoting Paul to justify negativity toward gay and lesbian people.

The facts are, Arthur, that modern science and medicine have firmly established that sexual orientation is not a matter of choice, that homosexuality is neither abnormal nor unnatural; it is only a minority expression within the human family, like being left handed.  No one can cause another to become homosexual nor can anyone’s sexual orientation be changed by another or by any therapeutic process that uninformed people continue to suggest.  Those attitudes are simply ignorant and those who still parrot them or suggest them should be prosecuted for seeking to practice medicine without a license.

Your daughter is who she is and that is both beautiful and perfect to use your words.  She will have to contend with homophobic prejudice still present in our society which is a distorting and hate-filled reality, but your love and that of others will give your daughter the wholeness to withstand this evil.

The task of the Christian Church is to make life whole.  Acceptance and love do exactly that.  Judgment and condemnation are the exact opposites and they quite literally destroy human wholeness.  For the life of me I cannot understand how Christianity can be understood by anyone as condemning of homosexuality.  That stance violates everything I know about Jesus and you are correct, in the gospels Jesus never mentions it.

I’m glad you see through it and give to your “perfect and beautiful” daughter the love that enables her to grow into the fullness of her humanity.  She is a lucky daughter and you are a lucky Dad.

~John Shelby Spong

 

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