There’s no pride in bashing gays, Bishop
If you’re reading, Bishop Michael, I really didn’t want to have another pop at you about your trenchant and sometimes bizarre views about what constitutes Christian truth. As to the rest of you reading this, I’m sorry if it looks as if whenever Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, who retires as Bishop of Rochester in September, makes a public statement I launch an attack on him. Believe me, the routine is tiresome for me, too.
But his comments in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph, which he is expected to repeat today, that homosexuals should “repent and be changed” cannot pass unchallenged. Or rather, they should not go challenged only by homosexual rights campaigners, such as Peter Tatchell, who you would expect to be somewhat antipathetic to the expressed view.
Because Dr Nazir-Ali is wrong in the eyes of a broad swath of kind and tolerant people of differing sexualities, social mores and of the Christian faith, other faiths and no faith at all. Badly, badly wrong.
I say that I didn’t want to have another fight with him because such fights polarise Anglicans, and we’re at our best when we’re talking. I went to a private lunch recently, to which Dr Nazir-Ali was also invited. He didn’t show. The seat next to me went empty. I do hope he didn’t bottle it; it’s important that religious leaders don’t just inhabit comfort zones with friends who share their views.
Dr Nazir-Ali’s friends are the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (Foca), who this week will try to get the Anglican schism over homosexuality going again, while denying that they are doing any such thing. Had he turned up to our lunch, I would have asked him why he and Foca are so convinced that they know the mind of God better than those who disagree with them and that their interpretation of scripture is with absolute certainty the one and only true one.
When I write about the Church and homosexuality, inevitably I receive messages that read simply “Romans 1:26-27″ or “1 Corinthians 6:9″, as if that settles something. We can argue scripture until we’re at the pearly gates. But the essential difference between Dr Nazir-Ali and me is this: I accept, disappointing as I would find it in my fiery furnace, that he might be right. By contrast, he and his friends cannot accept that I might be right, claim that I can’t be a proper Christian, and some of them go so far as to suggest that I’ll burn in hell for all eternity.
And there’s the real problem: it’s an issue of intolerance. Anglicanism has long been characterised by a broad tolerance. But my tolerance of Dr Nazir-Ali and his friends, that they are Anglicans with whom I happen vehemently to disagree, doesn’t seem to be reciprocated.
See There’s no pride in bashing gays, Bishop Telegraph.co.uk
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Condemnation for bishop who called for gay people to ‘repent’ Independent
The Bishop of Rochester has been accused of pandering to hate and homophobia after calling on homosexuals to repent. Michael Nazir-Ali provoked outrage among gay groups when he urged Church leaders to stick to traditional values instead of being swayed by “culture and trends”.
While calling for the “traditional teaching” of the Bible to be upheld, the Bishop said of homosexuals: “We want them to repent and be changed.”
His controversial remarks were published just hours after more than half a million people, including the Prime Minister’s wife, Sarah, took part in the Gay Pride parade in London.
Sharon Ferguson, of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, condemned Dr Nazir-Ali for making comments that she said would encourage hatred.
“It feeds to the more fundamental individuals who are looking to have their opinions ratified and speak hatefully and behave hatefully,” she said.
“His comments are likely to cause more of a schism within the Church of England. He’s saying their [gays and lesbians] sexuality is a sin. It’s not. It’s a gift from God. God made us all.”
She added: “He is telling people ‘You have to repent’ for something they have no control over. It’s like asking someone to repent because they have blue eyes.”
Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, said he was “shocked” at the level of anti-gay prejudice voiced by the bishop. “Homophobia is a social and moral evil, just like racism. Bigotry, even in the guise of religion, has no place in a compassionate, caring society,” he said. “I call on the bishop to repent his homophobia. His prejudice goes against Christ’s gospel of love and compassion.”
Labour MEP Michael Cashman accused the Bishop of Rochester of being “selective” about which parts of the Bible he upheld. “When he calls for the closure of all the banks, finance houses and credit card companies because of what it says in the Bible about usury, then I’ll take him seriously,” he said. “Until then, unless he can say anything good, he should shut up.”
In his comments, made to a Sunday newspaper, the bishop said homosexuals should be welcomed into the Church but that a person’s sexual nature could only be correctly expressed in a heterosexual union within marriage. His remarks reopened the row over homosexuality that has for years threatened to tear the Anglican Church apart.
He made them on the eve of today’s official launch of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans at Westminster Central Hall in London where he is expected to speak in support of the organisation. The UK branch of the Fellowship is regarded by many liberals within the Anglican movement as an attempt to create a church within a church with the aim of heading off moves to ease rules on homosexuality. Dr Nazir-Ali is to step down in the autumn and he is expected to play an important part in the Fellowship’s activities.
The Very Rev Colin Slee, the Dean of Southwark and a prominent liberal, was so alarmed by the the impending departure of Dr Nazir-Ali from the See of Rochester that he described it as “clearly a move towards a sectarian alternative church intentionally designed to create turbulence in the Anglican Communion”.
Canon Chris Sugden, of the Fellowship, said a message from the Queen will be read out during the ceremony but a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman called it nothing more than a “standard response” to the many requests made to the monarch each year. “It isn’t endorsing anyone’s point of view,” she said.
Zeal of the convert: The Bishop of Rochester
*Michael Nazir-Ali has been one of the most vocal and controversial of bishops of the past decade and has rarely been afraid to speak out.
He was a leading contender to become Archbishop of Canterbury when George Carey stood down but has found himself at odds with Rowan Williams, the incumbent.
The issue of homosexuality has been one of the biggest causes of friction between Dr Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, and the liberal wing of the Anglican Church.
In 2008 the rift was so marked that he boycotted the Lambeth Conference, a meeting of Anglican Church leaders held once a decade, because of the row over homosexuality. He is part of an evangelical wing urging the Church to stick to a traditional interpretation of the scriptures regarded by liberals, especially on the issues of homosexuality and women priests, as backward.
This year he announced he would step down as Bishop of Rochester in September to allow him time to concentrate on representing the Church in parts of the world where Anglicans are a minority religion or oppressed.
Born in Pakistan to Catholic parents, he converted at the age of 20 and holds dual British and Pakistani nationality. Appointed the 106th Bishop of Rochester in 1994, he was the first non-white diocesan bishop in the Church of England. Since then he has been a frequent critic of the rise of Islam in Britain.
See
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Pulitzer-winner Kushner revels over Bachmann’s possible response to ‘Homosexual’ ads
Periodically each evening, the “smokestack”/LED sign atop the Guthrie Theater on Minneapolis’ riverfront lights up to spell out, in gigantic letters, “HOMOSEXUAL.” The word, along with others in the title of playwright Tony Kushner’s newest work have given the gay Pulitzer Prize winner pleasure recently. In the intro to an interview with CNN today, he speaks about how he felt first seeing bus advertisements for the Guthrie’s production of the play, “The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures,” on streets in Rep. Michele Bachmann’s home state:
“I was excited to see a bus go by a couple of months ago when I first got to Minneapolis and the only words you could make out as the bus went by were ‘homosexual’ and ’socialism,’” Kushner says, adding that the first thing he did when he saw it was call his husband back home in New York City.
“He said, ‘Yeah, it’s great — You’ve come up with a perfectly shaped 14-word phrase of English that’s guaranteed to give [Republican U.S. Rep.] Michele Bachmann a heart attack, and it doesn’t even have an active verb in it.’”
Bachmann — a conservative who made national headlines during last year’s election when she called for an investigation into “anti-American” members of Congress (including then-presidential candidate Barack Obama) — is a vocal critic of gay rights and supports a federal ban on gay marriages.
“So it’s like … I feel good about that,” Kushner adds with a chuckle.
“The Intelligent Homosexual,” as t-shirts available at the Guthrie shorten it to, was commissioned by the Guthrie and gets its lengthy title from two 19th-century books: George Bernard Shaw’s The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism and Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. It closes June 28
See Pulitzer-winner Kushner revels over Bachmann’s possible response … Minnesota Independent
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Gay Muslims in the UK
Dominic James from www.tomdickandsally.com - takes a look at the lives of gay muslims in the UK.
With the advent of civil partnerships it is easy to forget that significant sections of the gay community in the UK live in fear. There are approximately 125,000 gay Muslims in the UK and most live with feelings of shame and guilt.
Although, leading clerics assert homosexuality to be against the teaching of The Quran, there are tentative signs of the beginnings of an acceptance within the Muslim establishment and the internet provides an important forum for gay Muslims to connect and support each other.
Most Muslims could never imagine that someone praying beside them at their local Mosque could possibly be gay. Islam teaches that homosexuality is evil, and as a result most gay men and lesbians will remain in the closet or choose not to follow their natural instincts. With around 1.25 million Muslims in the UK, it is estimated that the challenge of being homosexual in this community affects around 125,000 individuals every day.
This significant minority is likely to be living with feelings of shame, guilt and fear; aware of how their community will judge them and even ostracise them. Iftekhar Hai, Director of Interfaith Relations for the United Muslims of America, says that homosexuality is unnatural. He points to a verse in the Quoran where the prophet Lut says “For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women: ye are indeed a people transgressing.”
“According to the scripture, there’s no doubt,” Hai said. “It’s not right and proper.”
However, there are now alternative views being expressed. A number of Muslim scholars are arguing that in the Quoran men are punished for raping and abusing other men, not for engaging in consensual gay sex. Indeed, it is argued that the traditional interpretations were made by heterosexual men, whereas there are now some gay Muslim writers coming out of the closet to redress the balance.
In the context of this oppressive environment, gay Muslims seek alternative means of support in the community. An example I came across recently is the website forum Al-Fatiha, a support group for gay Muslims. A short visit to this site reveals just how deep and complex the issues are. One posting reads:
“I feel like a rag doll in the middle of a tug of war, and for all of you who are in the same boat, you know what a difficult position this puts us in…I’ve come to realize that I cannot be the only one in the world in this predicament. So if you are a lesbian Muslim in a similar situation, I’d love to talk to you, and maybe we could help each other out.”
Sir Iqbal Sacranie, Britain’s most senior Muslim, described homosexuality as a harmful, immoral vehicle for spreading disease, so it is no surprise that the internet remains the only place where many gay or bisexual Muslims can reveal their true selves.
As part of a piece on gay Muslim life, The Times contacted members of this community and described it as “underground”. The article reveals a world where thousands of lives have been wrecked by sham marriages, lying, unacknowledged HIV and crippling isolation.
Among a number of powerfully descriptive stories, “Zac”, 24, tells how he has been prevented from living as a gay man. He describes how his parents had forced him into an arranged marriage with his Pakistani cousin in the hope that it would “make me straight”. He is now “trapped” at home with his pregnant wife, overwhelmed by feelings of frustration and resentment towards his parents.
But what about your experience?
The gay support group Al-Fatiha are embarking on a historic survey of Muslims who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, and questioning or exploring their gender identity and/or sexual orientation (LGBTIQQ).
The results of the survey will tell Al-Fatiha about the muslim community, people’s experiences and concerns. The results will guide Al-Fatiha’s educational and advocacy work on behalf of LGBTIQQ Muslims, and will be shared with the entire community. To fill out the survey, click here.
It can be difficlt and confusing to come out in a faith which doesn’t allow you the freedom to be who you are, but in terms of the muslim faith, there are number of support groups who offer help and advice, including Imaan and Al-Fatiha.
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Michael Cristofer to Star in Kushner’s New Play
Originally scheduled to begin previews May 9 on the McGuire Proscenium Stage with an official opening scheduled for May 15, the production will now begin performances May 15.
“As planned,” a Guthrie spokesperson recently told Playbill.com, “the technical rehearsals will begin on May 5, but after discussions with Tony Kushner and [director] Michael Greif, [Guthrie artistic director] Joe Dowling decided to give the actors additional rehearsal time on the stage.” See Michael Cristofer to Star in Kushner’s The Intelligent …
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Kushner’s The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide Begins Guthrie Run May 15 Playbill.com -
The Guthrie Theater’s production of Tony Kushner’s The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures begins previews at the Minnesota venue May 15 on the McGuire Proscenium Stage.
Originally scheduled to begin performances May 9 with an official opening scheduled for May 15, the production was delayed by a week. “As planned,” a Guthrie spokesperson recently told Playbill.com, “the technical rehearsals [began] May 5, but after discussions with Tony Kushner and [director] Michael Greif, [Guthrie artistic director] Joe Dowling decided to give the actors additional rehearsal time on the stage.”
Opening night will now be May 22.
The title of Kushner’s new play, according to the Guthrie, is inspired by two 19th-century thinkers and their works — George Bernard Shaw’s The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism and Mary Baker Eddie’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.
The play, according to press notes, “looks at the life of a 20th-century thinker, retired longshoreman Gus Marcantonio (filmmaker, actor and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Michael Cristofer), who’s feeling confused and defeated by the 21st century. In summer 2007, he invites his sister and his three children (who in turn bring along spouses, ex-spouses, lovers and more) to a most unusual family reunion in their Brooklyn brownstone.”
Photo: The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide… stars Kathleen Chalfant and Michael Cristofer
photo by Michal Daniel
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Do Obama and Miss California Have the Same Position on Gay Marriage? Sort of.
By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I was at a, err, opposite-sex wedding
over the weekend when one of the guests asked me, presumably as the member of the MSM on hand, why Carrie Prejean, Miss California, gets lambasted for being anti-gay marriage, while Barack Obama
The answer lies in tone and nuance.
It is true that Obama’s position is that marriage is “between a man and a woman” and that he is “not in favor of gay marriage.” That said, he articulately advocates for the rights of gay couples on things like hospital visitation. See here, for example, starting at about 1:06: “When I sit down and read scripture and I think how would Jesus feel about somebody not being able to visit someone they love when they’re sick, I conclude that that is something that’s important.”
And it is possible that some portion of people suspect that Obama would favor gay marriage were it a politically viable position: He’s secretly with us, not like that nasty Miss California. And even if that’s not the case, he’s good on enough other stuff that he can get a pass on this.
Then there’s Miss California, whose now-famous answer to the question seems like instant, inadvertent beauty pageant satire. See Do Obama and Miss California Have the Same Position on Gay …
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Church of Scotland magazine backs gay partnerships
A potential rift within the Church of Scotland over gay relationships emerged yesterday after the Church’s house magazine backed civil partnerships and openly gay ministers.
Accusing religious traditionalists of selectively quoting the Bible to support their attacks on homosexual relations, the editorial in Life And Work urged the Kirk to show strong leadership on an issue that has threatened to split the Church of England and could prove just as divisive in Scotland.
The article, which was written by the magazine’s editor, Muriel Armstrong, comes ahead of next month’s General Assembly in Edinburgh and has been timed to influence a key debate on whether openly homosexual ministers can be appointed to the Church.
Ms Armstrong rounds on the “selective literalists” who use parts of the Bible to bolster their own views but ignore other parts that undermine them. She says that these commentators “presumably no longer accept biblical teaching on sexual matters such as polygamy and sex with slaves” but are happy to quote Leviticus 18:22 on homosexuality: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.”
The Church said yesterday that the magazine was editorially independent. “It is not the voice of the Church of Scotland, which is not trying to steer debate on this important issue,” the Rev Angus Morrison, convenor of the council of mission and discipleship said. He added that he had already received “a couple” of e-mails expressing concern that the magazine was interfering in the “due process” of the Church.
Senior figures within the Church fear that the issue of gay partnerships could prove as damaging for the Presbyterian ministry as the row that has split the Anglican Church.
A minority in the Presbytery of Aberdeen has already challenged the appointment of an openly gay minister, the Rev Scott Rennie, to Queen’s Cross Church in the city. They have appealed to the Commission of the General Assembly, with a final decision on the matter to be made next month.
In her editorial Ms Armstrong also champions the right of gay ministers to serve in the Church. She said said that two years ago the Church had effectively shelved its decision on the issue and that the moment had come to challenge those who use the “familiar arguments” of tradition, orthodoxy and the “plain meaning of scripture”.
“The question of the integrity of a relationship didn’t enter the \ argument. It has been suggested that if the Kirk stuck its neck out on this one it would upset other churches that are still in a reflective no man’s land on this issue. Isn’t it time for leadership?
“What is clear to the lay-person is that not everything Biblical is Christ-like. Every student of the Bible is a selective literalist. Those who swear by the anti-homosexual laws in the Book of Leviticus wouldn’t publicly advocate slavery or stoning women taken in adultery. They presumably no longer accept Biblical teaching on sexual matters such as polygamy and sex with slaves.
“And yet there are many who continue to be bound by a few Biblical verses — none of them in the Gospels — about homosexuality, nowadays understood as a matter of genetics rather than lifestyle.”
The debate on gays in the Church will involve members from every Presbytery, drawn from Scotland and overseas. It is likely to polarise opinion, just as it has in other Churches.
See Church of Scotland magazine backs gay partnerships Times Online
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Archbishop George Niederaurer of San Francisco cancels gay play
NBC Bay Area.com is reporting that Archbishop George Niederaurer of San Francisco’s Most Holy Redeemer Church refused to allow a group of Catholic high school students to peform a gay-themed play yesterday.
Apparently, students from Sacred Heart Preparatory in Atherton were scheduled to perform “Be Still and Know” at the church, but at the last minute Niederaurer changed his mind and told them to “go home.” The play is an adaptation of The God Box, a novel by Alex Sanchez, about a a male Christian high school student who struggles to reconcile bibilical scripture with his burgeoning homosexuality when he befriends a new student who is openly gay.
Neideraurer, who actively supported the Yes on Prop 8 campaign, came to San Francisco from Salt Lake City and is rumored to have been instrumental in getting the Mormons involved in the issue. He’s the Archbishop who took heat from the Catholic community when he gave communion to two members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence who were dressed in drag. His church “welcomes all people of good faith, regardless of their background, gender, race, social status, gender identity, or sexual orientation”, according to its website.
See Archbishop cancels gay play
Examiner.com
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Mainline Clergy Survey shows high support for activist government, growing support for LGBT equality
Leading researchers on religion and politics today released the results of an in‐depth survey of
Mainline Protestant clergy political engagement during the 2008 election season, attitudes on social and economic issues, and the public role of the church. The Mainline Protestant Clergy Voices Survey (CVS), conducted by Public Religion Research, is the largest survey of mainline clergy in seven years, and the broadest ever in scope. Mainline Protestants, who make up 18 percent of all Americans and nearly a quarter of all voters, have been trending Democratic in recent years, but remain fairly evenly divided in their political behavior.
“Mainline Protestants are probably the most under‐examined major religious group in the United States,” said Dr. Robert P. Jones, President of Public Religion Research. “That’s especially surprising when you consider that they occupy so much of the vital middle ground in American politics.” Jones said that Mainline Protestants, once the religious bedrock of the Republican Party, are now an important swing constituency that has been moving slowly but steadily away from the GOP since the early 1990s. He said the new survey will be invaluable in helping us understand Mainline Protestants’ role in the American religious landscape by shedding light on the attitudes and political engagement of mainline clergy.
“Mainline clergy are highly educated, political interested, and socially engaged,” said Jones. “They are strong supporters of church‐state separation, but they are also interested in being more personally involved on social and political issues.”
The CVS surveyed senior clergy from the seven largest mainline denominations: United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, American Baptist Churches USA, Presbyterian Church USA, Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ, and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The survey found significant differences across the denominations on religious and political measures.
Among its findings on social and political issues:
Mainline clergy are much more likely to identify as liberal and Democratic than conservative or Republican. Almost half (48%) of all mainline clergy identify as liberal, compared to about one‐third (34%) who say they are conservative. A majority (56%) of mainline clergy identify with or lean towards the Democratic Party, compared to roughly one‐third (34%) who claim a Republican affiliation, a 22‐point gap. Clergy political leanings vary considerably by denomination. Three quarters (74%) of UCC clergy identify as liberal, compared to less than a third (32%) of ABCUSA clergy.
Mainline Protestant clergy are broadly supportive of government’s role in addressing social problems such as unemployment, poverty and poor housing. More than three‐quarters (78%) agree that the federal government should do more to solve social problems, and more than 4‐in‐10 strongly agree.
Mainline clergy are strongly supportive of government action in the areas of health care and the environment. More than two‐thirds (67%) of clergy agree that government should guarantee health insurance for all citizens, even if it means raising taxes. And nearly 7‐in‐10 (69%) clergy say that more environmental protection is needed, even if it raises prices or costs jobs.
On a broad range of issues, mainline clergy affirm equality for gay and lesbian Americans. Roughly two‐thirds of mainline clergy support some legal recognition for same‐sex couples (65%), passing hate crime laws (67%), and employment nondiscrimination protections for gay and lesbian people (66%). A majority (55%) of mainline clergy support adoption rights for gay and lesbian people.
Mainline Protestant clergy are strong advocates of church‐state separation. A majority (65%) of mainline clergy agree that the U.S. should “maintain a strict separation of church and state.” Mainline clergy are more worried about public officials who are too close to religious leaders (59%) than about public officials who do not pay enough attention to religion (41%).\
Mainline clergy are more likely to publicly address hunger and poverty and family issues than controversial social issues. More than 8‐in‐10 clergy say they publicly expressed their views about hunger and poverty often in the last year, and three‐quarters say they addressed marriage and family issues often. Only about one‐quarter (26%) say they often discussed the issues of abortion and capital punishment.
The survey also includes findings on religious measures, including clergy religious self‐identification (mainline, evangelical, born‐again), their views on the interpretation of scripture, and the relative importance of evangelism and social action.
Dr. John Green, Director of the Bliss Institute for Applied Politics at the University of Akron, served as advisor to the project and supervised its data collection. Green also participated in two of the earlier studies of mainline clergy in 1989 and 2001 upon which this new survey builds.
“This survey adds significantly to our knowledge and understanding of mainline clergy,” said Green. “Scholars of religion as well as journalists and interested activists will benefit from the information and insights it offers.”
The survey, which was conducted by mail, contained over 250 separate questions and generated
2,658 respondents with a response rate of 44%. The Mainline Protestant Clergy Voices Survey was funded by the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund.
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