Recent insights from across the pond where gay marriage has been catapulted into the midst of the US presidential election.
Last week President Obama finally has publicly declared himself in favour of the same. By now he will have some sympathy and insight into Harold Macmillan’s response when he was asked what was the most difficult thing about being Prime Minister. Mac’s response was “Events, dear boy, events”.
One thing for certain as individual states continue to vote on whether or not to introduce legislation permitting civil partnerships, and the multi-million dollar presidential election machines continue to roll, the issue of gay relationships and marriage will not be far from the mighty US media.
Two important things have been identified recently.
Firstly, a new Gallup poll shows that a slight majority – 54 per cent of Americans – believe that homosexuality is acceptable. Forty-two per cent say that homosexuality is morally wrong. This represents a shift to a majority position.
Secondly, in a survey conducted by the Barna Group when asked what words or phrases best describe Christianity, the top response among Americans aged 16-29 was “antihomosexual.” For a staggering 91 percent of non-Christians, this was the first word that came to their mind when asked about the Christian faith. The same was true for 80 percent of young churchgoers. (The next most common negative images were – “judgmental,” “hypocritical,” and “too involved in politics.”).
Some commentators feel that this negative image of Christianity is a major contributor to the shrinking of the churches in American society. One stated, “The once near-universal brand of American Christianity is being associated with an ever-shrinking size of the American public. Like Burger King and Axe Body Spray, you may wake up one day and find that the overwhelming majority of the public has simply tuned out everything you have to say. Now, it’s always possible that the leaders of the major American churches may want it this way. But for those who don’t, the window of opportunity where people might be willing to consider a more relevant form of modern Christianity is closing.” (Nicholas Beaudrot: “Destroying the Christian Brand”).
The question of marriage equality in the USA is one of how and whether the church should shift when the culture does – or if it’s the other way around – or both – or something else entirely.
On Tuesday of this week a group of theologians in Texas contributed to the Dallas Morning News blog on religion on this theme. Katie Sherrod of Forth Worth outlined her understanding of the Episcopal Church’s position. She stated:
“In The Episcopal Church, change happens as a result of the church exploring scripture through the lenses of tradition and reason as we seek to understand what scripture is saying to us in our day. That, and the impetus of the Holy Spirit.
“For instance, deputies to the General Convention of The Episcopal Church in Indianapolis this summer will vote on a resolution “authorizing liturgical resources for blessing same-gender relationships . . .for trial use . . . beginning the First Sunday of Advent 2012, under the direction of a bishop exercising ecclesiastical authority.”
“If passed, it means that “bishops, particularly those in dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same-gender marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships are legal,may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this Church, including adaptation of the liturgy and declaration of intention” contained in the liturgical resources.
“A second resolution requests General Convention create a Task Force on the Study of Marriage “to identify and explore biblical, theological, historical, liturgical, and canonical dimensions of marriage” and to “consider issues raised by changing societal and cultural norms and legal structures, including legislation authorizing or forbidding marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships between two people of the same sex, in the U.S. and other countries where The Episcopal Church is located,” and that they “develop tools for theological reflection and norms for theological discussion at a local level” and report back to the 2015 General Convention.
“How did The Episcopal Church arrive at this astonishing point in its history? Well, it took more than thirty years of patient work by faithful lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Episcopalians and their allies. These individuals collaborated with each other and with other justice groups in the church such as the Episcopal Women’s Caucus (which led the effort to get the church to authorize ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate), and the Union of Black Episcopalians (the leader in ongoing efforts to eradicate racism in the church) to educate the church about the realities and astonishing diversity of human sexuality; to explore and develop theological and scriptural foundations for the full inclusion of LGBT people in the life and worship of the church, and — perhaps most important of all — to put a human face on what had been a theoretical issue for most Episcopalians.
“This patient witness and the hard work of education on this subject were perhaps slightly easier in The Episcopal Church than in other denominations because of our Anglican tradition.
“Anglicanism, of which The Episcopal Church is the expression in the United States and in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe, famously relies on the three-legged stool of scripture, tradition and reason to make the connections between our God-given reason and the scripture given to us by God. This connection, used in the context of the tradition of the church, enables us to apply our ability to reason to make sense of what scripture is saying to us in our day.
“Churches other than The Episcopal Church do this as well, of course. How else would so many Christian churches come to accept divorce, against which Jesus spoke with great clarity in scripture? Even so, along with many other denominations in the mid 1970’s, the Episcopal Church changed its canon law about divorce. Our forebears in Christian churches did the same in coming to terms with the evils of slavery, which scripture clearly condones.
“Jesus had nothing, not one word, to say about homosexuality. The famous story of Sodom in Hebrew Scripture is not about homosexuality, but about abuse of hospitality. Levitical passages refer to temple prostitution, not committed lifelong relationships among gay people. Indeed, the word “homosexual” did not exist until the mid-1800s. Patient and thorough work by numerous theologians and biblical scholars has undergirded the evolution of thought on this issue in The Episcopal Church.
“In the end, I think it all comes down to a theology of baptism. What does it mean to mark someone as Christ’s own forever? That is work The Episcopal Church has been doing for the last century, as it works to understand and live out our baptismal covenant to seek and serve Christ is all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”
Katie Sherrod’s review accurately reflects my own experience of The Episcopal Church, and I particularly warm to her concluding paragraph. Those who have taken a view that the Episcopal Church has rushed into a position without due consideration of scripture or the unity of the Church, do themselves and these fellow Anglicans a dis-service. As Katie said, it has been a journey of over thirty years.
Yesterday in this column we carried the statement of the C of E Evangelical Council. Can we of the Church of Ireland bridge these two positions -TEC and C of E – or at least create a hospitable and holy space where they can be held in loving tension? Or, do we wish to become as irrelevant as the poll in the USA found the churches to be, and especially due to the mindset on sexuality projected by some very powerful US evangelical bodies and individuals?
Houston McKelvey