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All too often, the conversations around sexuality and spiritually are polarized, with conservatives dominating and stirring the discourse in unhealthy and oppressive ways to marginalize and punish those of us who identify under the umbrella of queer. All too often, religious leaders use particular sections and passages of the bible as evidence that God hates or condemns non-heterosexuals, without fully understanding the historical context of the passages or sections of the bible. With that being said, I was pleased to hear this story about an Atlanta Pastor of a mega church come out to his congregation. It was sooooo refreshing to me to hear his interview with Don Lemon in which the pastor makes several great points:
1. sexuality is more than sex and that heterosexual people tend to make non-heterosexual identities only about sex. (I wonder what that is about)
2. that "rightly dividing the word" is necessary because the bible is a book with many authors speaking from many different experiences, contexts, and over hundreds of years. In order to "rightly divide", a critical look at what was going on at a particular time, the motivations of the writer, as well trying to understand what the author was trying to accomplish. &
3. that we need not allow people to continue to misuse the bible to punish, condemn, discriminate, or marginalize people.
The bible is a tool that should help people live the best, most authentic, and healthy lives possible. It is not a tool of hate or oppression and when used as such is a pollution of the larger message, which is that everyone is valuable and should be loved unconditionally.
To learn more about sexuality and spiritually, please check out SoulForce: http://www.soulforce.org.
Also, check out the awesome interview with Pastor Jim Swilly by Don Lemon.
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/living/2010/11/14/nr.pastor.comes.out.cnn.html
