Wash Post: 3 Christian Groups Move To Condemn Gay Sex

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 11:44am

How long, O Lord, how long?

===

3 Christian Groups Move To Condemn Gay Sex

By Alan Cooperman and Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, November 15, 2006; A01

BALTIMORE, Nov. 14 -- Faced with rising public acceptance of same-sex relationships, three U.S. Christian denominations are taking strong measures this week to condemn homosexual acts as sinful.

The nation's Roman Catholic bishops, meeting in Baltimore, declared Tuesday that Catholics who minister to gays must firmly adhere to the church's teaching that same-sex attractions are "disordered." Catholics with "a homosexual inclination" should be encouraged to live in chastity and discouraged from making "general public announcements" about their sexual orientation, the bishops said.

The largest Baptist group in North Carolina, meanwhile, moved to expel any congregation that condones homosexuality, adopting a policy that allows the Baptist State Convention to investigate complaints that member churches are too "gay-friendly."

And on Wednesday in Pittsburgh, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a mainline Protestant denomination with about 3 million members, will put a minister on trial for conducting a marriage ceremony for two women.

The decisions are part of a mounting backlash in many U.S. denominations against church groups whose stated goal is not only to welcome but also to "affirm" gay congregants. For many religious groups, the biblical injunction to hate the sin but love the sinner is no longer sufficient, because many believers do not view homosexuality as a sin.

The impulse to restate traditional teachings against same-sex activity is complicated by the simultaneous desire to minister to gays. Thus, Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' committee on doctrine, stressed that the tone of the bishops' statement was intended to be "positive, pastoral and welcoming," even as it compared same-sex attractions to the temptations of "envy, malice or greed."

Asked how he could square those two messages, Serratelli told reporters that "the truth is always welcoming."

The bishops' statement came in the form of new guidelines for Catholic ministries aimed at gay men and lesbians. Bishops must take care, it says, "to ensure that those carrying out the ministry of the Church not use their position of leadership to advocate positions or behaviors not in keeping with the teachings of the Church."

It is not sufficient, the document adds, for those ministering to gays to take a position of "distant neutrality" toward the church's teachings.

Donald W. Wuerl, Washington's new archbishop, said the document should not be seen as a crackdown on pro-gay ministries. Rather, he said, "the starting point is the church living in a culture in which these things are being promoted, and our task is to keep saying: 'Remember, here are the true teachings of the church.' "

Serratelli, summarizing the document, said the church considers same-sex attractions to be "objectively disordered" because "they do not accord with the natural purpose of sexuality." Although "simply experiencing a homosexual inclination is not in itself a sin," he said, homosexual acts are "sinful," "never morally acceptable" and "do not lead to true human happiness."

A coalition of 15 Catholic groups that support the full inclusion of gays in the church, including Call to Action and DignityUSA, denounced the document as "not at all pastoral, but rather harmful."

"These guidelines try to make gay and lesbian people invisible in the church. The plan here is not to minister but to make a 'problem' disappear," said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Catholic outreach group for gays.

In North Carolina, the state Baptist Convention voted to broaden its fight against homosexuality by moving to expel churches that "affirm," "approve," or "bless" same-sex relationships.

The measure targets as many as a dozen Baptist churches in the state that position themselves as actively welcoming gays, but it could exclude any church that enrolls openly gay members.

The growing acceptance of gays in popular culture and the fact that homosexuality has powerful advocacy groups made the stance necessary, Baptist leaders said.

"In our day and time, no other sin marches so defiantly across our national landscape," Mark Harris, the head of the committee that introduced the measure, told the 2,600 delegates, or "messengers," assembled at a convention hall in Greensboro, N.C.

But while the proposal was approved by the required two-thirds majority, hundreds held up their hands to object. Some worried that churches would spy and report on one another. Others said the measure impinged on local church autonomy and reflected an unfounded obsession with homosexuality.

"It seems so contrary, at least to me, to the picture and posture of Jesus in the gospels," Nathan Parrish, from a church in Winston-Salem, N.C., told the assembly. "Jesus's life and ministry were marked by radical hospitality, openness, vulnerability, humility. By contrast, the Baptist State Convention is recommending that we . . . magnify the message that certain types of people, as well as their friends and perhaps their fellow believers and family members, are neither welcome nor worthy of a place at the table of this community."

What made the measure extraordinary, church members on both sides said, is that for what may be the first time in the convention's 176-year history, membership in the group would be contingent upon a specific policy -- that is, treatment of gays.

"This issue has emerged as a litmus test," said Andrew Wakefield, professor of biblical studies at Campbell University, in Buies Creek, N.C., which is affiliated with the Baptist State Convention.

On Wednesday in Pittsburgh, the Rev. Janet Edwards will go on trial before a Presbyterian Church tribunal for officiating at a same-sex marriage ceremony. Earlier this year, the Redwoods Presbytery in Northern California acquitted a minister in a similar trial, ruling that ceremonies for same-sex couples are not "contrary to the essentials of the Reformed faith."

Jimmy Creech, who was defrocked as a United Methodist minister in 1999 for performing a marriage ceremony for two men, said the number of U.S. churches that welcome openly gay members has been rising steadily, including many congregations in the Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ.

"But it's a social change that, for many, has theological implications they just are not willing to accept," he said.
3 Christian Groups Move To Condemn Gay Sex

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 12:00pm

Good God, why don't the puritans just keep to themselves? This really disgusts me.

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 12:00pm

That's right -- fight! FIGHT you bastards!!

Boy, they're really scared now, aren't they? :)

(Btw, love your avatar, PJ!)

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 12:05pm

Perhaps they should clean out their own closets and bedrooms first.
Updated On: 11/15/06 at 12:05 PM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 12:15pm

Yes, with Africa ravaged by heterosexual HIV infection, poverty, hunger, violence, ethnic cleansing, the mideast in tumult and at war, these loyal followers of Jesus Christ take up his loving cause ... by condemning sexual expression between consenting adults. As Max Von Sydow says in HANNAH AND HER SISTER, "If Jesus came back and saw what was being done in his name, he'd never stop throwing up."

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 12:22pm

I agree with WindyCityActor...they are probably fooling around with each other after mass anyway. The whole thing is ridiculous.

PJ: Do you search for articles like this every day? Or do you get google alerts or something?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 12:28pm

I don't get Google alerts. I AM a Google alert.

[lildogs]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 12:44pm

These people are more obsessed with gay sex than me, Jaily, Calvin and Kringas put together...okay, maybe not Jaily...but still!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 12:46pm

Whew. Glad I'm not on THAT list!

[lildogs]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 12:49pm

Please--you'd LOVE to be in, i mean, ON that list!

[DG]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 12:52pm

If it wasn't for the fact that their hate causes so much pain and torment, I'd find their fear and confusion amusing.

But I don't. I really don't.

[lildogs]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 12:57pm

But what's their real obsession DG? I really don't get it--is it disgust with gay sex, the minor biblical references, what?

If they think gay sex is gross, fine, then just say that and go about your business.

If you think a few lines in the Bible is reason enough, then why not follow all those other arcane "rules" in there?

I really want to know and since I don't go to church, I'm curious if any of you who do attend some kind of mass if the subject is ever broached or if anyone has had a conversation with their clergy about the subject of 'mos.

[DG]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:02pm

My theory in a nutshell:

Religion exists as a socio-political force that feeds off innate human fear of mortality and the unknown. In the last few decades, much of their foundation for control has been ripped away from them by social forces - such as racial equality and women's rights. At this point, the one thing they have left is this gay issue, and they're holding onto it for dear life. All the power and priveledge those in control have enjoyed is very difficult to give up.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:06pm

Here's the Catholic position, so to speak:

===

Catholic bishops tell gays to remain celibate

Tue Nov 14, 2006 2:41pm ET146

By Andy Sullivan

BALTIMORE (Reuters) - U.S. Catholic bishops said on Tuesday that gay men and women should be welcomed in the church but that those who engage in homosexual activity should not receive Communion.

Guidelines adopted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops encouraged gays and lesbians to participate in the church, while reaffirming long-standing church doctrine that same-sex activity, as with any extramarital sex, is inherently sinful.

"Because homosexual acts cannot fulfill the natural end of human sexuality they are never morally acceptable," said Bishop Arthur Serratelli, who headed the committee that crafted the guidelines. "Such act furthermore do not lead to true human happiness."

The church has publicly wrestled with sex in recent years amid a widespread pedophile priest scandal and the national debate on gay marriage.

The new guidelines acknowledge that gays and lesbians do not choose their sexual orientation and say that homosexual "inclinations" are not in themselves sinful.

But those who feel such inclinations should remain celibate and should not tell anybody other than close friends and family about them, the document says....

[more at link]
Catholic bishops tell gays to remain celibate--AND JUST SHUT UP ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lildogs]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:09pm

Wow--quite a nutshell...I think that IS the underlying and unspoken reason. I agree with your assessment of religion's purpose as well. It just seems like they're hanging their hopes by a very thin reed. There's just not enough of us to make a significant shift in culture; rather, it's our assimilation into society by cool straight folks that must really get them. We would still be in the dark if it wasn't for people like Elizabeth Taylor, Estelle Getty, Sharon Stone, etc who have embraced our community and helped build relationships between the str8 and the lgbters.

[DG]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:13pm

What cracks me up is that the foundation for the religious ban on homosexuality is they don't want chances for procreation wasted. It's all about building their numbers - as if breeding would ever stop. The fact is, they recognized it as a social phenomenon, and were concerned about all that wasted seed.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:13pm

"Catholic bishops tell gays to remain celibate"

That's what my dad told me...I'm glad I didn't listen.

[lildogs]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:17pm

Wasted seed...I'm going to let that golden opportunity slide right by (pun intended to slighty disgust)

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:35pm

Oh, great. Just freaking ducky.

My family attends a Southern Baptist church in a very rural area. The last time I was there was over five years ago to attend the funeral of my grandmother's older sister. (That's what, my great-aunt?) Right in the middle of HER MEMORIAL SERVICE the pastor spun off on a twenty minute tirade about homosexuals, directly to me. He didn't point me out or call me by name, but he was very obvious about it. Out of respect for my family, I didn't say anything about it at the time.

Tomorrow, I have to go back to this same church to attend my grandmother's funeral. (No condolences, please.) With this bit of added news, it makes the whole affair extra-special to know that I can probably look forward to another twenty minute harangue just by my very presence.

Sheesh. Tacky.

[DG]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:37pm

WW - how on earth did he manage that segue? Was your great-aunt a lesbian?

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:40pm

I'm actually not reasonably certain that my beloved Aunt Montine wasn't a dyke, but he wasn't talking about her sins. I can't even remember how he managed to go there. Something about her being a Godly woman who hated sin and homosexuality is a sin and blah blah blah.

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:42pm

Just wear an "I LOVED Ted Haggard" Button.

But oh, those wonderfully wicked Catholics:

http://members.aol.com/revising/history.html

A Short History of Catholic Teaching on Birth Control

A few highlights:

The Bible has virtually nothing to say about birth control per se. The story of Onan (Gn 38: 1-11) being condemned to death for practicing coitus interruptus pertains more to his refusal to father children for his deceased brother (as Jewish Law required) than the practice of a form of birth control."

306-Council of Elvira, Spain, decree #43: a priest who sleeps with his wife the night before Mass will lose his job.

385-Pope Siricius left his wife in order to become pope. Decreed that priests may no longer sleep with their wives.

567-2nd Council of Tours: any cleric found in bed with his wife would be excommunicated for a year and reduced to the lay state.

580-Pope Pelagius II: his policy was not to bother married priests as long as they did not hand over church property to wives or children.

836-Council of Aix-la-Chapelle openly admitted that abortions and infanticide took place in convents and monasteries to cover up activities of uncelibate clerics.

1074-Pope Gregory VII said anyone to be ordained must first pledge celibacy: 'priests [must] first escape from the clutches of their wives.'

1095-Pope Urban II had priests' wives sold into slavery, children were abandoned.




Updated On: 11/15/06 at 01:42 PM

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:48pm

The first thing that entered my head when I read the article was: You mean they HAVEN'T condemned it yet?? Could have fooled me...
And Auggie, that line from Hannah and Her Sisters is one of my all-time favorites.

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:49pm

As they scratch and squirm amd scream it just becomes more and more evident that these churches support a position that is ridiculous and contrary to any sense of life giving.

The church establishment historically has always supported racist, destructive policies and it takes splinter groups to challenge that assumption.

I grew up in a Southern Baptist church and there was never any need to segue, even in times of personal crisis, HATE was the main point.

These offenses must not stand.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 2:08pm

Serratelli, summarizing the document, said the church considers same-sex attractions to be "objectively disordered" because "they do not accord with the natural purpose of sexuality." Although "simply experiencing a homosexual inclination is not in itself a sin," he said, homosexual acts are "sinful," "never morally acceptable" and "do not lead to true human happiness."

I wonder where he got all that from? Because it's not in the Bible. It's not our fault he's never had a good lay.