Second Stone #58 - May/Jun 1998

Second Stone #58 - May/Jun 1998

58

1998

May/Jun 1998

SECOND STONE
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lssue#58 UVI NG l NT HEEMBRA CE OFALo v 1NGA NDJ USTGO D ·May/J une 1998
Bishops issue pastoral letter on same-sex unions
Gay Methcrlisstes nd
m~etobis
. oral le tter
A PRAYER THAT THE United Meth- 111 a much-aw ait ed pas t
8
.
odist bishops and pastors co ntinu e to issued April 30, the Council of /5 h~ps
shepherd the whole flock was dispatc hed addr essed the pain Unit ed MCI iod•sts
Apri l 26 to tbe denomination's Council ac ross the country have expressed as a
of Bishops. resu lt of a rece nt chur ch trial over a
The message came from Affinnation, same -se,c union in Nebraska - They also
an unofficial United Methodist caucus said they will proclaim and defe nd the
doctrine, order and missi0 11 of the
church.
suppor ting lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgcndcrcd concems. Affinnacion 's
national council met April 24-26 in
Miuneapolis.
In its greeting to the Council of
Bishops, who met during the last week
of Apri l in Lincoln, Neb., Affinnation
said, "We pray that the Holy Spirit will
continue to guide and inspire your deliberations
in the coming days, that you
may lead and nurture a church in which
all God's people arc truly welcome and
all pastors continue to shepherd all one
htuidred of the flock."
Morris Aoyd, Affirmation spokesper son.
said the council welcomes any
effort of the bishops "to find a path all
United Methodists can walk together,
despite important differences in under standing
God's will"
During their week long spring si:ssion,
the more than 100 active and
retired bishops from around the world
decided not to request a special ses~ion
of the denomin a tion' s top lawmaking
ho<ly to deal with the issue of same-sex
unions .
On March 13, Nebraska pastor Jimmy
Creech was acquitte d by a jury of his
peers of being disobedien t to church law
after he perfonned a same-se){ union ceremony
at Firs t Un ited lvfethod ist
Chu rch in Omaha. A key questio n in
the trial was whether the Social Principles,
which include the prosc ription
against same-sex unions, were guidelines
or church law. The principles arc
contained in the denomination's governing
Book of Discip line. but they arc in
a differe nt section from the main body
of law.
After tlie verdict, several groups asked
the Council of Bishops to request a special
session of the General Conference
to make the church's policy against
same-sex unions enforceable law. The
General Conference is the highest legislati
vc body of the United Methodist
Church . It meets every four yeari;. and
its next gathering will be in the year
SEE MElHODISTS, Page 19
MCC won'th onors tate0 011
• ons ame-secxe remomes
BY JAY REEVES
OI Rr>HN G II AM , Ala . - The U FM CC
affiliated church here will continue having
conunitm ent l:cremonies for gay and
lesbian couples , despi te the Legisla ture's
ban on same-sc:,. marri ages in Alabama.
Rev. Marge Ragona of Covenant
Metropolitan Community Churc h in
Binuingham said she perfonns 15 to 20
of the union ceremonies for gay couples
ruumally, and lawmakers' actions won't
stop her.
The Legislature, responding to a massi
\'c lobbying campaign b) dmrch
,:rroup .s. a .&ri',-~1.I 1\1 1n l 27 lo 1>1, u ., -au uc ~'-·~
marriages and 110 1 recognize 1ho,c f n, 111
olhcr sta les. even lhough no olhcr slate
c urre ntl y allows gay marr iages. Gov.
Fob James said he would sign the bill.
"I do n't think they have the right to
tell clergy what ntes they can do and
can't do," said Ragona, who has pi:rformcd
the ceremonies in Alabama for
SEE ALABAMA, Page 19
March on Washington
set for April 30, 2<XX)
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Organizers for
the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered
community's fourth March on
Washington announced the event will be
held on April 30, 2000.
The March aims to articu late the con cems
of the gay and lesbian community
and focus the nation's attention on the
quest for equality in all aspects of life.
"We expect one million of my gay.
lesbian, bisexual. and transgendercd
sisters mid hrothers and our enlightened
allies to stand on the Mall and call uixm
our nation to live out the promise of
equality under the law." said 1111R: ev
Troy D. Perry. long -time gtl) activi :.t
and founder of the Uni versa! Fellowship
of Metropolitan Commwtity Churches.
Organizers have taken sti:ps to begin
incorporation of a non-profit entity to
handle planning, production and financial
arrangements. Efforts are underway
to make sure tltis is a democratic process
where all segments of thi: conununity
are represented.
'The Millennium March promises to
continue its bold commitment to all
people of color," said Martin Omelas Quintero
. e:\ccuti\·e director of the
Latino l..aliualo , Lesbian, Gay. Bisexu -
SEE MARCH, Page 17
• Prayer •The Bible •Words & Deeds
~y gayC atholipcr iest
n:Ngntso p rotesht iss hunning
BY NANCY ARMOUR
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - When the invitations
to say Mass and hear confe ssions
stopped coming, the Rev. David Gani ck
didn't think anything was amiss. He was
on sabbatical, after all, and figured it
was simply an over sight.
But his reminders that he was still al
the Univ ersity of Notre Dame went
u'nanswered. Then, in the fall of 1996,
he discover ed his nameplate had been
removed from the confe ssional at the
Basilica of the Sacted Hean.on campus.
He was being shut out, and Garrick says
there could be only one reason:
He is an openl y gay priest. At a university
that has come to symboli ze the
Roman Catholic Church in tl1e United
States.
"I was devas tated. The word devastated
would not be too strong," Garrick said.
"I could not continue here under those
circumstances ."
In protest, he resigned his position as
an assistant professor of communic ation
and th e ate r, eff ect ive at the end of the
school year. Wi th that mo\·e, Garr ick
renewed the controve rsy at the university
over the rights and place of gays and
lesbians.
"I f cit tl1at I had a strong moral reason
for resigning in protest, and that more
good would come out of that than my
just trundling along pretending this
hadn't happened or saying, 'I'm pretty
upset about th.is,'" said Ganick, a Notre
Dame graduate who has been a full-time
professor since 1992. "I wanted to make
a public statement and get people's
auention."
The Rev. John Jenkins, religious
superior for the Holy Cross order at
Notre Dame, denies Garrick's duties
were limited in any way. Garrick was
never an official part of the Campus
Ministry staff, which handles most of
the priestly duties at Sacred Heart. Like
other Holy Cross priest s oo campus
who aren't part of Campus Ministry,
Garrick could volu111ecr for Mass at
Sacred Heart or hear e-0nfessious.
And Jenkin~ insists Garrick was never
2 MAY•JIINE 1998
discriminated against because of his sexu
al orientation, which Garrick
am1ounced in an April 1996 letter in the
school newspaper.
In fact, Jenkins sa id he and others
strongly urged Garrick not to resign.
"Fath er Garrick has alway s had and
- continues to have full facultie s to preside
at the Euchari st and hear confe ssions,
wherever he is invited ," Jenkin s
said in a written statement.
But Garrick said tl1e Rev. Richard
Warn er, dir ector of Campu s Ministry ,
advi sed him in Januar y of complaint s
about Garrick' s preaching. Warner, a
clo se adviser 10 Notre Dame's president
Rev. Edward Mall oy, has declin ed to
comment.
No matter what tbe truth, Garrick' s
resignation is a sign that the uni versity's
very public debate over homosex ualit
y is far from resolved.
Th e turm oil began in 1995, when
Gays and Lesbians at Notre Dame and
St. Mary' s Coll ege, a student group
fonned nine years ea rlier, was banned
from meeting on campus as an w1sanctio11ed
orga nizat ion. When the group
asked for offi cial recogni tion, administrators
refuse d, sayi ng its philosop hy
conni cted with church teachi ngs about
homosexuality.
In tl.1c wake of Garrick's resignation,
the Faculty Senate voted April 8 to
again ask administrators to modify the
university's nondiscrimination clause to
include sexual orientation . A similar
vote in May 1996 prompted the university
to publish a statement of inclusion.
yet stopped short of amending the nondiscrimination
clause.
"I had no way of knowing whether
this· would be a stone dropped into an
empty well or what. It turns out the
well is full, and it's made a splash,"
Garrick said. "That gives hope. People
arc paying attention . Smdents are conccmcd
. Faculty are conccmcd ."
As a private university, Nolfe Dame
has no obligation to include gays and
lesbians in it~ nondiscrimination policy
or do anythin g that would conflict with
church teaching . The Catholic church
continue s to teach that homo sexual
activity is wrong but some bishop s
recently admitted in a church document
tltnt sexual orientation is not a mallcr of
choice.
That's not tme, said Dc1mis Moore,
spoke sman for the uni versity. Garrick ,
he point ed out , preached at the Uasilica
several times after he came out and said
Mass at some residence halls recently.
Garrick isn't sure where he will go
when he leaves Notre Dame, but said he
That is why th~ univer sity should holds no bitterne ss toward the un.ivcrsihave
embraced Garrick, rather than shut ty. In fact , he is encouraged by the suphim
out, said John Blandford, a doctoral y ort he has received from student s mid
student and fonner co-chair l!J~3: w in1il1. y
cnt group . " fhe track record of the leader ship is
"David , in a sense, should -tie the : · very poor . I3ut the aw;ikcni ng conposter
child for the uni\'crsity because sGU)usness of the student s and fac ulty is
he embod ies chur ch tcaching /~~fi fJ '<~lcfndcrful. Inspirin g: · he said .
acknowledging orientati on but living a "I believe it will help Notre Dame ,
chaste life," Blandford said. 'That' s basi- the Notre Dame tliat I know imd love, to
cally the sum and substanc e of church speak the truth about gay people.
_ leaching . What's intere sting is the uui- "You j ust need to go get some fresh
versity couldn't e\'en hanclle his oricnta - air ," he said. "So that' s what I'm going
tion ." , to do ."
Aged resn'tkeepw omanfr om
answerincga llt o,minister
BY SANDRA SUTTON
MIDLA ND, Mich. - At a time when
many people are thinking about slowing
down, the Rev. Dori s Lyon has found
her callin g.
At age 65, she decided to enter the
mini stry . Now, 2 1/2 year s later, she
lea~s Sunday w?rship at Pleasant Valley
· U1utcd Meth~1s t Church, as pastor.
It started w. ith a late -ru'glit conversation,
Lyon said.
"I went to bed and the Lo d . d
lk.i
,, r start e
ta · ng to_ me, she said . "It wasn't m
tl1oughts, 11 was a ,,oicc." Y
Lyon said she was told ·to b ecome a
minister a, nd le. ad a small rural ' h 1
1
c urc 1.
She wasn t eas1 y convinced.
"I said, ' Lord, you have got 10 be ki 1_
ding. I'm 65 years old.• But it didn't 1~1
me get to sleep until 2 in the momin o ..
She telephoned Janet Lamer, ,thc s:~ior
pastor at Gordonv ille United Methodist
Church, where she was a member.
With Ms. Lamer's guidance and the.help
of a supervi sing elder, Lyon bec~e a
minister. She serves in the Central District
of the West Michigan Conference.
She waited for an assignment. Lyon
asked for a church like tl1e one Ilic Lord
described to her. Eventually, she was
telephoned and told about Pleasant Valley
United Methodist Church. ·111e little
chapel, a few miles outside St. Louis,
was being served by the same pastor
who led a Methodist church in
Shepherd. But district administrators
had decided to break that relationship, so
a new pastor was needed for Pleasant
Valley.
Because the church has no parsonage,
the caller was concerned about how far
the chapel is from Lyon's home Her
eyes twinkle when she recalls 1hc con -
versation .
"I told her i t wa s probably IO or 11
miles (from home). No t that I was
e;,;cited, you \U\dets\an c\, but af\er \ bung
up, I got in the car . It's 13 112 mil es ,"
Lyon said .
The little white clapb oa rd church was
founded in 1895. and tho ugh s0111e
things have been upd ated during the past
centur y, much of the original stmcture
and its content s remai n.
The doors ins ide the vestibule are
original, as ar e the Gothi c-a rched
window ope nings and a few chairs with
deep ro se -colored uphol stery and elaborately
car ved frames. Th e pews have
detail s like de ntil moldin g an d hymnal
holder s that blend metal aud wood
scroll work.
When Lyon came to the church for
the firs t time , she felt right at home.
"My first reaction was one of awe," she
said.
Ple asan t Val ley Unite d Metl1odist
Church is in the middl e off arm cow1try.
The roadway is speckled with large
farm houses where desce ndants of the
community 's founders sti ll live.
It's just the type of church commtlll·
ity Lyon was seeking, the kind of place
were everyone knows everyone else.
Lyon finds the one-to-one contact at a
small congregation rewarding.
"If I have someone gone (from a worship
service), I know it and I can drop a
card or visit," Lyon said.
She also is pleased witb the bond she
aud church members arc developing .
"When I came in, 1 was 'Reve rend
Lyon,' then I bccmnc 'Pastor Lyon' imd
now I'm 'Doris,"' she said. "I prefer
being one of them.•·
SEE AGE, Page H!
FAITH IN DAILY LIFE
Call to Renewal says 'come to the table'
Groupo fferso p);X)rtuntoi tfyig ht! X)Verty iny ourc ommunity
BY JIM WALLIS
THE CALL TO RENEW AL Coordinating
Committee recently held a two-day
retreat to review-our activities over the
past two years and to discuss the next
steps ahead. We made a series of important
decisions that could significantly
foster the cooperation of churches on the
urgent agenda of welfare refonn and strategically
strengthen the voice and role of
the faith community in the public discussion
of how really to overcome poverty.
. Call to Renewal has successfully convened
new Christian Roundtablcs on
poverty and welfare reform, both at the
national and local levels. The "table"
has become the metaphor and the identity
of the Call; rather than creating a
new organization, Call to Renewal is a
new table around which many organizations,
churches, and individuals who
want to work in a common mission to
overcome poverty can come together.
Call to Renewal will not seek to
duplicate existing efforts. but to join
and extend all of our efforts in new and
effective partnership s.
To move millions of poor families
off of welfare and out of poverty will
require nothing less than new civic partnerships
involving every sector of our
communities, including congregations,
non-profit organizations, business, and
government on all levels. Elected officials,
in particular, are looking to the
faith commwtity to offer a central leadership
role. Religious congregations
and faith-based non-profits are well situated
to play that leadership role and
indeed, the gospel requires it.
Yet poverty is not only material - our
society also faces a poverty of the soul
for which renewal is needed. The following
covenant is based in our desire
for that renewal. We arc committed first
of all to personal renewal, to ground
ourselves in prayer and in the Word of
God. We are committed to congregational
renewal, to live and serve our
communities as the body of Christ. We
are committed to societal renewal. to
recognize our interdependence in seeking
the common good in our commtmitics.
We therefore covenant together to
work for a national and grassroots mobilization
to create the conditions, relationships,
networks. preparation. and
training for a faith-based movement to
overcome poverty. The moral crisis is
already mohili:,.ing people around the
country, but we believe a broader corporate
commitment is needed to fully realize
this opportunity. There is a new
openness in the churches for community
ministry, and a new willingness in our
society to hear tl1e voice of the church.
Our mobilization will have three
major components:
A national voice and message: In our
coming together, we can strengthen our
impact on our society by giving a unified
voice to our ministry.
National and grassroots organizing for
action: All across our country, churches
· and ministries are serving their communities.
We can unite these efforts for
joint action.
Policy development: There is a new
moment of opportunity to forge new
civic partnerships between govcmmenl
agencies, business, and the churches.
We can develop and implement new
policy ideas, including use of Ilic new
"charitable choice" provisions, to realize
IJ1ese possibilities.
The Call to Renewal will use a
"f cderatcd" structure, including:
A national board made up of national
constituency and church leaders, together
with regional representatives: The board
will offer strategic direction, common
goals . and events, and guidelines for
action.
A national roundtable made up of
national churches and organizations who
affiliate with the Call: As in our two
meetings in 1997, the national roundtable
will work to share infonnation and
coordinate the efforts of national
churches and organizations .
Local roundtables in each community
made up of the local churches and organ izations
who chose to affiliate: These
local roundtables will have great flex iJ?
ility to determine their own strategics
and actions consistent with the national
direction.
Individuals who join Call to Renewal:
We will develop a "pledge to help overcome
poverty" by which individuals can
become members; pledging themselves
to prayer, giving of time and resources,
judging economic and political choices
by h,ow they impact those in poverty.
At all levels, we commit ourselves
to:
Renewal and revival: Recognizing
that ''unless the Lord bui(ds the house,
those who build it labor in vain" (Psalm
127: 1), we believe that renewal is fundamental
to our efforts. For example. we
discussed the creation of a Call to Renewal
"School of Evangelism," which
would work to train and educate young
evangelists with a concern for the poor.
Education leading lo action: Education
and training, the sharing of resources
and tools, between and among our various
ministries can inform and
strengthen our individual and joint
actions.
Local initiative and action: We
· believe that the best solution s to problem
s are usually found in initiatives
closest to the problem. We are therefore
committed to initiating and strengthening
community mini stries at the gras sroots
level.
Communication and networking: We
will communicate throughout the federated
network through the Call to Renewal
newsletter, web site, action alerts,
policy papers, and other means to share
ideas and successes.
National policy action: There may be
times when a wufied national action by
the network is necessary, in relation to
governmental actions, corporate abuses,
or other issues. We will provide the
infonnation and coordination for that
action.
In all of our work, we will develop
tangible, measurable goals that are:
preachable, practical, understandable, and
doable . We want to make a difference in
the lives of families and communities in
real, measurable ways.
A beginning goal will be to sharpen
our focus on welfare and poverty, committing
ourselves and our congregations
to help families move from welfare to
work with dignity in community. During
1998 and 1999, we will commit to
engage thousands of congregations and
church-based organizations is assisting
tens of thousands of families lo move
off welfare into work, dignity, and community.
Through our covenant together, we
will work toward that day when our
society can proclaim, as Acts 4:34 tells
of the first church, "There was not a
needy person among them."
For information contact Call to Renewal,
2401 15th St. NW, Washington
DC 20009, (202)328-8842,
Call_to_Renewal@convene.com.
Martin Marty leads discussion on
religion in a pluralistic society
BY SHEILA MULROONEY ELDRED
MINNEAPOLIS - Most of the hundred
Minnesota leaders who gathered in late
April for a symposium on faith in a
pluralistic society agreed with theologian
Martin Marty that religion merits
more public discussion.
"I've studied people killing people in
the name of God,'' said Marty, au
ordained Lutheran minister aud longtime
professor at the University of Chicago.
"Given thal , it's better to bring religion
out of the shadows. Most Americans
make moral decisions based on religion."
The event brought leaders from various
disciplines togeth er to debate what
role religion should play in the arts.
business. education. govenuueot, heallh
care, law, media, nonprofit orga nizations
and advertising.
Responses were consistently in favor
of more religious discussion in the public
realm: In a computerized survey conducted
during the symposium, 63 percent
said they thought religion should
be a greater part of public debate. And
85 percent said religious beliefs should
afTccl business decisions.
Among participants who identified
their religious affiliation, 34 said they
were Protestant, 18 were Roman
Catholic, four were Jewish and 21 said
lhey were "other," including atheist. - -
The symposium was design ed by
Marty and Minnesota Public Radio as
part of Marty's three -year Public Religion
Project, fw1dcd by the Pew Charitable
Tmsts in connection with the University
of Chicago Divinity School.
Marty, father of Mim1csota DFL gubernatorial
caudiclate John Marty, promotes
efforts to bring religion "out of the
shadows" and into public discussion,
mostly through publishing.
Even in areas where separation between
church and state bas been clearly
defined, like education and tl1e law. participants
said they hoped to promote
more discussion of religion.
"It's critical to accelerate dialogue and
build an enviromnent where we can talk
about religion in schools," said Jeanne
Kling, president of the State Board of
Education. She said she hopes such discussion
would avert destruction that can
result when talk is stifled.
Chuck Samuelson, executive director
of Minnesota Civil Liberties Union,
said he opposes organized religion in
public life. fearing religious wars. But
he said public discussion talking about
religion could be beneficial. (AP)
SECOND STONE 3
FAITH IN DAILY LIFE
'PromiseK eqxT' couplek eepsi nternebt uzzing~ th gcxxnl ewsf or gays
BY DEBBIE WOODELL
THEY ARE, Barbar a Purdom notes,
what a petfect Promise Keepers family
should be.
Husband , stay-at-home mom , two
children . White. Middle -class . Protes tant.
And in a world where so much
preached in the name of God brims with
hate, they are a godsend to the gay community
.
When many in the publi c, including
medi a, still equate religion with conservative
politics , Barbara and Chris Purdom
are spreading the gospel that a Liberal
reli giou s tradition embrace s gay
men and lesbian s and welcome s. them
fully into the religio us communitie s of
their choice.
The two are the key forces behind the
local Interfaith Working Group, a looseknit
coalition of religiou s organizati ons
and indiv iduals that advocates and demonstr11tes
for gay rights.
The Purd oms pretty much do every thing
out of their own home, and out of
the goodness of their hearts .
"We' ve real ly heard some horror stories
[from gay peopl e] , relating their
church experience s," Barbara recalls.
''Those people have been stung by
organized religion."
The Purdom s, members of Tabernacle
United Church, became devout supporters
of the gay rights movement after
congre gational discussions in the early
1990s about becoming a More Light
congregation, a designatio n that marks a
church as welcoming of gay men, lesbians,
bisexuals and transgendered people.
''Telling people , 'You can't serve your
church because you're gay' was something
we didn't want to buy into," Barbara
said.
"We' re not going to restrict who can
ser ve the church they love and they go
to."
For Chri s, ga y right s was not
something he gave much thought to.
"I think a lot of tim e, if you 're
straight, yon don 't hear those gay pas sages
[in the Bible] ," he said.
"When we started talkin g about it ~t
Tabernacl e, I thought of it as a fre espeech
issue - you can be ordaine d if
you don't talk about [being gay] ."
Subsequent di scussions led him to
conclude that a chur ch that had been part
of the Sanctuary movement to provide a
haven for Cen tral Amer ican re fugees
should not be dri ving away other peo-
. ple .
'The idea that the chur ch would kick
■
"The idea that
the church
would kick
people out was
unbelievable."
■
people out was unbeli eva ble, " he said.
From such modest beginnin gs have
come a growi ng pr es ence - at le ast
loc ally - in tl1e deb ate o ver God and
gays .
Scripturatrla, nslatioonpse ne x-atheist''ws indowto Christ' T he IWG ha s held press confer ences
and prov ided spe aker s on such issues as
dome stic partn er benefits for c~ty workers
. IWG hel ped run a sessio n on gay
marria ge and has part icipa ted in gay
pride events and marches .
BY JOSEPH ROSE
CLE ELUM, Wash. - When he wants a
smoke, George Blaisdell· rolls his own
cigarettes.
When he reads the Book of John, the
process is somewhat the same.
Blaisdell prefers to translate the New
Testamen t's fourth Gospel from Greek.
He tl1en jots down his own observations
of what the text says abo ut the life ,
death and resurrection of Jesus Chri st.
"You can't go too slow," said the 53-
year-o ld lock smith and forme r atheist.
who learne d Greek in co ll ege ... Every
word is a window lo Christ."
Many early Bible trans lators were
great reform ers who laid down their
lives to give the Scriptures to the public
. But with all due respect, Blaisdell
finds English versions "tenibl y supetfi cial."
It took the great precisio n of Greek,
the ancient language in which the New
Tes tamen t was first composed, to stir
Blaisdell's soul. He found Jesus in the
words.
"It was, simply, awesome," he said.
"I felt the winds of the Spirit moving
over my waters."
Jack Chan, this mountain communi ty's
Presbyterian pastor, once studied the
New Testament in Greek. He understands
its power.
"When you get into the original languages
of the Bible ... you get a broader
understanding of what the Scriptures are
saying," Chan said. "You begin to think
the way the people thought iu that day
and age."
Take, for example, the opening verse
'1 MAY•JUNE 1991!
in the King Jame s version of John's
Gospel: "In the begin ning the Word
alreadywas." .
Blaisdell spent days contemplating the
sentence. referring to Greek-Hebrew dictionarie
s and praying for guidance. He
came up with this: "Within the Godhead
the divine intelligence has always been ."
"Godhea d," Blaisdell said. "T hat could
symboli ze the Trinity . But I think it
involves much more , lik e ange ls and
miracles."
Looki ng back, Blaisdell believes God
guided him to tl1e Book of John .
Blaisdell was educated in Greek and
philosophy at San Diego State Univer sity.
Over the course of several years, he
constantly "bumped into" referen ces to
the Gospel in literature and in conversation
.
Last year, he search ed out a copy of
the Greek versi on of the New Tes tament.
"I wanted to see for myself what John
bad to say," he explain ed . "Along the
way, I discovered I was a Christian."
Akin to spiritu al poetry, translating
the Scripture often requires Blaisdell to
stop and think hard.
In many ways, he shows the dedication
of a monk. His monastery is a
house built on what used to be a junk
yard in a woodsy area north of Cle
Elum. Against a backdrop of aging
books in the house, beat-up Subarus
outside and a small zoo of domestic animals
everywhere, Blaisdell spends hours
at a time with his study guides and
Greek New Testament.
"The key that unlocks many of the
words is prayer," he said, "for God alone
gives meanin g."
One verse can res ult in seve ral pages
of hand -sc ribbled inte rpret atio n in his
spiral notebook.
"For th us lov es the Fat her the
cosmos," he recited. 'That's 'For God so
loved the world."'
Four Greek words mean love .' The
mos t com mon in the Book of John :
"phil os," broth erly love , and "agape,"
div ine love - pronounced a-ga-pay.
The first hal f of the book deal s with
wate r , the secon d half with blood . "I
love the metaphors ," Blaisde ll said.
The Book of John, be said, is as relevant
as anything else to human need
and aspiration . At the same time,
th0 ugh, he has begun exploring the
Greek versions of the New Testament 's
other books.
. Despite the renewed sense of spiritual tty
• Blaisdell said he still does n't know ·
wheth er to spit or swa llow w·hen it
come s 10 organi zed religio n . For too
lo ng. Chri Slians were merely Bibl e
lhumper s and hypocri tes in his eyes.
"I've j ust awake n from an cxtrao rdi?,
3;"ly dar~ period of my life," he said.
1 m n_iov10g toward the social aspect.
But with my atheis tic background I'm
shy about churches." •
Until he finds a church tha t feels
right, Blaisde ll considers himself a
"Bible Christian."
"I'm realizing the Spirit blows where
it will," he said. "We'll see what
happens."( YakimaH erald-Republic)
All along tl1e way, IWG knocks down
barriers.
'T he media [are] very much into rbc
concept of the religiou s right and ever;bod
y else," Chri s said . ''The y never
showe d anybo dy pra ying on tl1e other
side." .
Adde d Bar bara: 'Th ey need ed this
dichotomy ."
The Purdoms also have toppl ed some
barri ers betwe en the gay and religious
communities.
Chris wa s viewed with suspicion
when he attended Fight the Right Network
meeting s otherwi se popul ated large
ly by memb e rs of ACT UP a_nd
Gra ssroots Que ers and other gay aclivists.
"But tho se susp icio ns eve ntually went
away," he said .
IWG 's newslett er , "Kee ping the
Faith, " is four pages j ammed with informa
tion about the ga ys-an d-religion
struggle gleaned fro m the "hundreds" of
articl es Chris has access to eac h day.
About 330 people, clergy and lay,
rece ive the newsletter, which also lists
key upcoming events and suggests plans
of action to co unt eract an tigay religious
forces.
But beyon d the strong sense to do
·good, the Purdoms have a bit of a
selfish motive to their work .
"We're trying to raise our kids," Barbara
said, "and make it a better world for
them ."
So far. they've kept their promise.
(Philadelphia Daily Nl}Ws)
FAITH IN DAILY LIFE
Technologhye lpsc htrehes
interactr,e acho ut
BY JILLCALLISON
, SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Missionaries
can now e-mail fami l y members from
thousands of miles away and receive an
almos t instant response.
Parishioners no longer write out a
check for the offe ring plate but rely on
au tomatic withdrawal from a bank
account to fulfill church pledges.
Members of a church bitten by the flu
bug don't have to miss the Sun day
morning service. They can watch their
pastor deliver the sermon over their
computer.
Techno logy is changing the way
churches interac t with thei r members
and reach out to others. Record-keeping
is handled e.Jcctronical ly. Contac t is
made through e-mail. Bible studies are
online, providing not only information
for tl1e user's personal growth but also a
list of contacts for churches.
"In a little more than a month, we've
had 1,300 peopl e stop by," pastoral
intern Dan Wollman said , ref erring lo ·
computer "hits" on the homepage he
oversees at Our Savior's Lutheran
Church in Sioux Falls .
There arc blips along the way. For
one thing, technology comes slow in
the church - because of a lack of computer
skills and a general reluctance to
change.
And even the most devoted fans of
technology acknowledge that cyberhookups
would never replace the fellowship
that comes from being surrounded
by other worshipers in a sanctuary .
"God says go to church, and it's a
commandment, and people are in sin if
they don't," said Jeff Gilbert, who puts a
North Dakota church service on the
Internet each week. "What we do across
the Internet is help those who cannot
make it or want another service, but
we're not a repla cement for church.
Absolutely not. "
Gilbert set up the system that pennits
every service offered by Dakota Baptist
Church in Minot , N.D., to be broadcast
over the Internet. People at home can
see the pastor in a 3- by-4- inch box on
the compu ter screen and hear him speak.
The church deci ded to prov ide the
audio and video broadcast for members
who were ill or those who had moved to
an area where tl1ere was no chwch.
"We strongly advise that if someone
has a church in that area, and they can
make ii there, they do not log on," Gilbc:
rt said "My pastor is not their pastor.
If they have a local church, they should
attend it."
Randy Sorenson of Connecting Point
in Sioux Falls helped Dakota Baptist set
up the audio-visual site. He said technology
offers churches a variety of ways
to reach out, but many churches aren't
up to date.
"Pas tors and church sec retaries are not
accus tomed to using the technology like
they are in schools," said Sorenson , a
professional network engineer.
At Our Savior's Luthe ran, Wollman
started an online Bible study late last
November, in time for Advent.
"The goal was first of all to provide
an online devotional presence, trying to
target an audience that wouldn 't normally
com_e to Bible study in a home or
at church," said Wollman, a student at
Luther Seminary in St. Paul.
At a Huron business, techno logy is
making it easier for missionaries in
other countries to correspond with
fanulies, with church sponsors and with
each other. Marvie Tschetter of
Basec.N et is establishing a Web site,
Mission]. dedicated to missionaries .
More churches are getting involved
with the Internet. Tschetter said. When
searching for appropriate domain sites,
she typed in the word "missionaries" and
received more th.an 1.1 million responses.
In anotlter area of computer technology,
Christ the King Catholic Church
has been offering automatic withdrawal
for parishioners' offerings since last
September.
Office manager Lynda Wuebben said
she isn't sure how many of the 1,100
members are using the service, but it's
growing in acceptance.
"People were excited about it," she
said. "We get a couple of new people
every month who register at the church,
and they think it's a wonderful idea ."
Wuebben said some people are hesitant
to use the service because they are
concerned about the appearance of not
putting an off ering in the collection
plate. One man said he wants his contribution
to be a reminder to others that
they should be giv ing to the church ,
too.
Tschette r also knows churchgoe rs
who arc skeptic al of technology. She
think s that the Internet has gotten more
negative press than positive .
"But as it becomes more and more
availa ble and more common, the
churches will see this as a good
avenue," she said. (Sioux f-alls Argus
Leader)
Since 1988a, friend
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SEC'OND STONI::. 5
FAITH IN DAILY LIFE
Forg aysi n theB lackc hurch,i t's 'Don'ta sk,d on'tt ell.'
BY DONNETTE DUNBAR
TO SOME, IT counts for naught that
some of the most dynamic and influential
ministers and gospel musicians produced
by African-American churches
have been gay. Or lhat gays and lesbians
have -emerged nationally as a political
and social force. Or that, traditional-
1 y, black churches actively support
causes related to human rights.
In black churches, the approach
regarding homosexuality often mirrors
lhc military's policy of "Don't ask, don't
tell."
While not monolithic, black churches
by and large consider homo sexuality a
sin. Gay members occupy an ambiguous
position in their congregations.
They often are the leading musicians and
soloists, yet acknowledgment of their
sexuality is taboo.
"h's a cultural thing for us," said Merrit
Smilh, a black entrepreneur who volunteers
as an HIV/AIDS educator. "The
issue is so complex for us, because our
sexuality has always been degraded. It's
a sensitive subject.''
Now, however. in part because of the
impact of AIDS on the African American
community, there is a nationwide
push for black church es to begin
talking about sexuality . Nationwide,
though black s make up only 12 percent
of the U.S. populati on, they account for
35 percent of AIDS cases, according to
the Federal Center s for Disease Control
in Atlanta.
There still exist s in hlack cullure a
perce ption that AIDS is God's punishment
for homosexuality. And in March,
more than a dozen black churches were
among the sponsors of an advertisement
in The Omaha World-Herald that condemned
same-sex unions, citing several
verses from the Bible.
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, senior
pastor at Trini ty United Church of
Christ in Chicago, in a widely circulated
scnnon titled "Good News for Homosexual
s," cau tioned black ministers
against tl1e misuse of scripture.
"Racists tried to use or misuse certain
texts taken out of context to justify
holding black folks in chattel slavery,"
he said. "Just as we study those scrip tures
carefully and put them up against
the whole cowiscl of God. we need to do
the same with the Scriptures on homosexuulity
. Whether they are in Leviti cus,
Cori nthians. Romans or Genesis,
we need to study tbe text in context ."
Some black minister s said they stnigglc
to find the right spiritual and theological
position on homosexuality .
6 MAY•J U NE 1998
"I'm not so naive as to think that
every person in my church is a heterosexual,"
said the Rev. 1-1C. harles Farris,
pastor of Bethel AME Church. "But I
ca1mot go against the will or the word
' ofGod."
Bryan, 37, said God made him who
be is. "I didn't ask for this (to be gay).
I'm a child of God, and I shouldn't be
condemned for who I am."
Steve, anoth er black gay male, said he
feels the same way. That's why he
stopped going to Salem Baptist Church,
one of Omaha 's largest African :
■
But he labeled as hypocritical churches
that "attack homosexuality and excuse
fomication ."
But as long as a person doc s not
admit to or boast about being a homosexual,
he or she can function in a lcadershi
p position at the Seventh-day
Adventist Omrch, Roundtree said.
Not at Pilgrim Baptist Church, where
the Rev. Nigel McPher son is pastor. "If
I knew about it," he said, "they couldn't
serve in any responsible position ."
The Rev. Larry Mcnyweathcr-Woods,
pastor of Mount Moriah Baptist
"Racists tried .to use or misuse certain
texts taken out of context to justify
holding black folks in chattel slavety ...
Just as we study those scriptures
carefully and put them up against
the whole counsel of God, we need
to do the same with the scriptures
on homosexuality ... "
American congregation s. He now
attends Fir st Central Congregational
United Church of Chri st.
wrhe message from the pulpit was
that it (homosexuality) was an abomination
in the eyes of God , that if people
who were gay didn't repent we would all
go to hell," Steve said.
Steve said black churches and AfricanAmericans,
of all people should be sympath
etic to lesbians and gays. "I think
it's a case where the oppressed have
become the oppressor," he said.
Unlik e Steve, Brian , conti nues to
attend St. Jolm AME Church.
''We all have sins, and no 011c here is
perfect," Brian said. "Sexuality is a private
affair. I don't think it's an issue the
church needs to discuss. because what
people do in their bedroom is their own
business ." •
Some black ministers now say homosexuality
is no more sinful I.ban stealing.
lying or adultery . That positio n,
however, runs counter to what other
clergymen - and many church members
-bel ieve.
For example, the Rev. Reuben
Roundtree Jr., of Sharon Seventh-day
Adventis t Church, said that the homosexual
who wants to repent is embraced.
■
Church, has stmggled with the issue of
homosexuality for several years.
"The hypocrisy of the church," said
Menyweather-W oods , "is not being able
to deal with who we are and the reality
that in spite of ourselves , God can still
use us . I' ve seen God use gay people
j ust as he has heterosexuals."
But , Men yweather-Woo ds said,
'Th ose who I minis ter to view it as
wrong. An d I must deal with my congrega
tion until ano ther leve l can be
reached."
Some clergy. such as Mcnyweat herWoods,
say accepta nce by ehurch mcmbers
will never arrive unless black
churches begin to address issues of sexuality
in general.
"Sexuality ought to be addressed, but
we still ha\ •e some social and theologi cal
hang-ups that we have to overcome "
he said. '
Harvard professor and theologian Cornet
West said dealing with issues of sexuali
ty is a challenge for black church es
today.
"Black folk have been dcfiued by
means of our bodies and (by) the percep tion
of us as primarily bodily," West
said in a speech lhrcc years ago 111 a
training and leadership confer ence on
HIV /AIDS at Howard University in
Washington. D.C. "Attack s 011 black
beauty and black intelligence made it
very difficult for us to be able lo organize
arollJld issues relating to the body .
So we would hide it and conceal it and
let it flow and keep the focus on the
source - that white supremacy."
Pemcssa Seale , director of The Balm
in Gilead Inc .• in New York City, an
AIDS organization that takes its name
from a spiritual hymn about healing,
said hlack churches have never failed to
speak out on other political or social
issues before .
"The black church is the center of
communication in the black community,
and because the church has been silent,
it must take some responsibility for
the epidemic of this disease (HIV /
AIDS)," Scale said. "Wh at would have
happened if the church had mobilized
itself 15 years ago? The ignorance of
some black churches is fueling the epidemic
in our communities."
It also creates hatred, Bryan said .
"Black people arc more deeply rooted
in religion," he said. "They cling 10 old
values more than any other group. And
we tend lo be more unforgi"ing ."
And, Bryan said, because black
church es have a disproportionate membership
o[ women, he believes tl1ere is a
lot of resentment toward gay men .
"Many black women have diffi culty
finding African -Americ an men, and
when they see a gay man it's ju st one
more person who is not avail able ," he
said. "So it' s one more str ike agai nst
us ... The black chur ch will be the last
lo embrac e gays, if ever."
But Scale said lhe gay revolution has
already started in black churches.
'Th e hlack church will have to address
this iss ue," she said. "It won't happen
overnig ht. It will be a revolution
within the pew. Gays active in the
church will begin to stand up and say to
the churc h that it mus t embrace them
for who they are. Aud the church will
have to say , 'Yes, this person is gay,
but look at the contributions they have
made to my church.'
"There is only one body of Christ,
period," Scale said. "And that body is
made up of all of us - Caucasians, Latinos
and gays . Black churches that condemn
homosexuality are no t being tn1e
to the ministry and the truth of Jesus
Christ."
Menywealher -Woods snid he is hope ful
as well .
"I believe," he said. "we will reach a
point where the black church can teach
without hesitation and reservation on
scxuality ." (C)mnha World-1-lcmld)
FAITH IN DAILY LIFE
Case dismissed for lack of evidence
Nop roofg iventh att heB ible.c ondemngsa yr elationships
BY DR. REMBERT S. TRULUCK
SINCE MY WEB SITE on "Steps To
Recovery From Bible Abuse" at
http://www.truluck.com was published
on the Internet on September 14, 1997,
I have received e-roail letters almost
every day e:itpressing appreciation for
help that people have received .
I also regularly receive mail asking
me to give the proof or the evidence that
the Bible does not condemn gays and
lesbians.
My careful response is to say that the
question is backwards . The real issue
is: "Where is the proof that the Bible
condemns gays and lesbians?"
Perhaps a more basic question is:
"What does Jesus say about homose:ituality?"
Nothing! Jesus is the ultimate
authority for Christians about everything
. If Jesus had nothing to say that
condemns homosexuals, there is no reliable
Bible witness against gay, lesbian ,
bisexual and trans se:itual people. That
should settle the issue. Why doesn't it?
Careful and honest examination of the
six Bible passages used to cond emn lesbians
nnd gays are fow1d not to be talking
nbout homo sexuals but about heterosexuals.
There is no hint of homosexual
orientation or same sex romantic
love in any of the passages.
Ther e is not enough room here to
give the det ails, but you can find U1e
basic arguments in my web site and in
the books by John Boswell, Daniel A.
Helminiak , and others.
1 did not include material to answer
the "clob~r passages " again st gays in
the web site at first. Many oilier people
alre~dy have done a fine job of demonSlratm~
the truth about these passages.
~ y marn c?ucem in all of my ministry
m the le sbian and gay comm unity has
been to focus on tile positive message
of God's unconditional love for all people
as revea led in Jesus Christ. All of
us need encouragement and a boost to
our self es teem . E:itperiencing God's
love helps us to feel good about ourselves.
And tliat is good news !
The basic facts in the Bible case
against lesbians and gays are based on
passages in Genesis 19, Leviticus 18
and 20, Romans l :26-27, I Corinthians
6:9, and I Timothy 1: 10. No passage is
taken from the four Gospels to base
charge s against homosexuals on the life
or teachings of Jesus. Charges against
homosexuals based on the teaching s of
Jesus must be dismi ssed for lack of evidence.
The Genesis 19 story depends on a
distorted interpretation of the Hebrew
word "know" to build an anti-gay case.
The word means "know" and docs not
mean "have sex wiili" as some translations
insist. No Jewish teachers said
that the sin of Sodom was homose:itnality
or even sexual until after tile time of
Christ.
The tru.e message of tile story of
Sodom is that a small minority of peo-
■
No passage
· is taken
from the
four Gospels
to base
charges
against
homosexuals
on the life
or teachings
of Jesus.
■
pie who are different and have to be hidden
behind clo sed doors ("the closet") for
prot ection from an ignorant , fearful
01omophobia), angry (like fw1damentalist
attacks on gays) mob are God's true
messengers (angels) and need and receive
God's prot ection . The real meaning of
the story is the rever se of what
homophobi c bible bashing preachers and
teachers have made of it.
More people hav e cond emned me
beca use of my teac hings on Lcviticns
than any 0U1cr passage. The use: of Leviticus
and U1e label of "abomination" as a
weapon against gay and lesbim1 people
becomes ludicrous and absurd when the
whole body of lega l req uirements in
Levi ticus is e:itrunined objec tively and
honestly. Nobody today tries to keep
even a fraction of the legal requirements
laid down in Leviticus. Jesus has
brought an end to tile Law as a means of
pleasi ng God. as Paul said in Romans
I0:4 and in many other places. In Leviticus
as elsewhere, tile law is aimed at
heterosexual s who engage in cullic ritual
se:it act s and not al homosexuals
who love each other and express that
love in physical affection and se:it.
Romans 1:26-27 is the ne:itt favorite
weapon against gays after Leviticus.
The passage is filled with difficulties in
translation. Words are used here that
Paul does not use anywhere else and
familiar words are used in unusual and
unclear ways. The conte .xt of the passage
makes it clear that Paul is talking
about some kind of idolatrous worship .
What we know about the "mystery religious"
in and around Corinth at the time
tliat Paul wrote Romans from Corinth
fits the description in Romans 1:26-27.
Paul did not write about homosexuals
or about se:itual orientation in any of his
letters . Romans 1:26-27 is about heterosexuals
who enter into tile sexual religious
frenzy of fertility cult worship and
demonstrate tliat Uiey have abandoned
God and God's purpose for their Ii ves.
The final two passages in I Corintlrians
6:9 and I Timothy 1: 10 use a
word that is "male bed" in Greek and is
of uncertain origin and tmclear meaning .
It was not translated as "homose xual" ·
until the Revi sed Standard Version in
1946. It does not mean homo sexual.
We are 1101 sure what ii means. My personal
opinion is that it refers 10 male
pro stitute s with female customers,
which was a common custom at the
time, but tliat is a guess .
The word tran slated "effeminate" literally
means "soft" or "pliable" or
"without courage and weak ." It has no .
sexual implicati on in tl1e original language
and is not used with any sexual
significance in the rest of the New Testament.
Clear eviden ce that the Bible condenms
homosexual sexual orientation or
rej ects homos e:itual s simpl y docs not
exist.
How did so many relig ious people
st.ray so far from the truth about gays
and lesbians? Where did fundamentalist
homophobic Bible study jump off the
tracks of tn 1th and love? When Jesus
ceased to be tile guide to w1derstaucling
and usi ng the Bibl e! Jesus showed
many times tliat the Bible had been distorted
and incorrectly used to hurt and
condemn people.
Jesus touched, ate with, and called as
disciples the very people that the religious
leaders called unclean
("abomination" accorcling to Leviticus) .
Jesus offers no evidence at all against
gays and lesbians as the true children of
God . The whole religious arseuaJ of
oppr essiv e and destructiv e weapon s
hurled at gays and lesbians is separated
from Jesus and the Spirit of Jesus and
has no valid place in honest and objec:
live Bible study .
Where is tile Bible proof that God
condemns, hates and rejects homose:ituals?
There is none. The whole elaborate
homophobic system of condemnation
and rejection is based on "smoke
and mirrors" that have created "evidence"
that docs not reaJly exist. I don't have
to prove that the Bible docs not condcnm
homosexuals, because the biblical
charges against homosexuals do not
stand up under careful and objective
examination and are "dismissed for lack
of evidence."
I encourage you to go to my web site
at http://www.truluck.com and read tile
section on the "Six Passages Used
Against Lesbians and Gays," print it
out, study it, and pass it on to others.
Read .and study the entire web site. It
contains a great wealth of information .
It will take time and discipline to cover
all of it.
The author may be reached at
rembert@slip.net or at PO Box 24062,
Oakland, CA 94623.
- -..-....~ - 'K K-IRI<ffiEEI The "picket. pray and play " pl ace
wiLh ecumenlcity at its heart.
Gay, Lesbian and Christian:
Many Rooms
Virginia Ram ey Moll enkott ,
John McNeill, Christin e
Smith and Melvin Deal
June 11 - 14
Fathers and Their Adult
Sons and Daughters
Sidn ey B. Simon
June 26- 28
Victims No Longer :
A Men's Abuse
Recovery Weekend
Mike Lew
July 17 - 19
Simply Divine :
I Rites of the Gay Male Spirit
John Linscheid
and Ken White
August 21 - 23
f"orf urther information cun1t1.:c 1
KIRKJUDGE
2495 Fox Gap Rd.
Bangor, PA 18013
(610) 588 · 1793
www.klrk.rldge.org
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u mlltd 1111t ht bt11tuiful Kitwtlnny Ridge of
tll.ftern PA. 85 mi.fm m NYC 1111Pdh ilu.
SECO i'ID S iO NE 7
MANNA
BY REV. DONNA E. SCHAPER
f,
· why a simple hands grace, from the.
children's first Sunday School, suffices
to praise the nameless for our food and
our evenings. "God, be above us. God
below us. God be inside us. God be all
The alltliority to
know God
, around us. And God be with our
friends." Normally what happens next
. ' '
WE CAN KNOW GOD by tradition. \ · works . It works by transformation. .
Or experience. Or reason. -Or all thr\e i Warren 's hope is much less dialecti- .
I prefer the combination and the blend. cal. Or fluid. For him, what we do is ·
That 's why I, who love Jesus the , getdecperontothebandofGod'shistor- ·
Christ, married a Jew, who doubts that \ ical activity. We move from disobeJesus
is Christ. His religious authori-
1
dience to obedience. We become more
ties and mine often engage in personal i ourselves or more our "better" selves. I ·
warfare. I often don't ha.ve the energy for that self .
I may say that everything is going to I .. centering in history righteousness. He
turn out alright and he may say the I · rarely has the courage of the tomb. Of :
same thing: we rarely say the same course, we surprise each other. I have
thing at the same time. My faith is seen him transform overnight in :.
often based in the future, his in the past. response to the suggestion of a doctor; I ·
My hope is often based in a serious, have sruci:-~;~ healso hard ~ -it is he ·
death dueli~g transf~rmation, hi~ is who prays that great prayer "pry her off ..
often based m becommg more stauon - dead center ." Still, the authorities and ·
ary. more obedient. His faith is often i the way we know God are fundamentally .
based in stubborn rigidity, mine in 1 different
flighty fluidity. One is not better than. the other so ·
. is a long theological conversation about
who our friends are. This is the Jewish
part. I find the dialogue most amusing .
Usually one of the kids will offer that
so and so may once have been a friend
but is no longer. Warren then advocates ·
maintenance of the relationship and I ·
advocate change.
The grace is simple, as graces should
be. It is also a good compromise. The
motion of the grace is its grace for me. I
don't need the name of Jesus but I am
desperate for the sense of motion which
comprises my faith. Warren's sturdiness
is exemplified in the word, "Be" - which
is probably why we taught them 10 the
children in the first instance.
Theological analysis of one's table
grace is near enough to the absurd to
manage what is going on in our family
with God. We are trying not to fight.
We are blending. We are mixing. We
are compromising what many think
can't be compromised. We are leaning
on different authorities of experience:
I call these civil wars "the battle of
the world views." He insists I am
overly pessimistic and (his favorite
word) "apocalyptic." I insist that he is
overly pessimistic and "cynical." I don't
see his hope; he doesn't sec mine . I see
his hope as in sufficiently strong to.
wage war with my despair. He sees ·
miue the same way. If Jesus did not die .
on th.e cro ss and raise on the third day,
of course, be would see my tran sform ing
pushes as umeliable . My favorite ·
definition of the gospel is that it is the
permission and commandment to enter ,
difficulty with hope, borrowed from the
Canadian theologian , Douglas Hall. We
go into a kind of tomb. We come out of
a kind of tomb. That's how hope
: and reason, and tradi ti.on to know the
much as thoroughly different from the sameGod.
other . When we fight, as couples do, '
we fight the battle of the world views. I
advocate change or immersion in the dif-.
ficulty as gateway to .renewal. He advocate
s more deeply entering the experi- .
ence and staying there and surviving .
We also pray differently than I ever
thought I could pray . We have to stay ·
clear of the edge s and incorporate the
overlaps. If God is both present as a
transforming and lransfonned one, as a
Messiah and as an historical moving,
living, acting being, one whose mark
we are not to miss, then we must pray
to a kind of totally stable, totally chang- .
ing God at the same time.
Long ago it became clear that in my
home, I could not pray to Jesus. That's
I never thought Jesus would want
me to hang on too tight. That's the
gospel I hear from him, consistently.
We can have what we let go of. We can
be rich if we can be poor. We give to
get. We lose our life to gain it.
We relinquish, not hold.
8 MAY•JUN E 1998
Along the way, we are marrying a
Jewish historian and a Christian apocalyptic:
the one believes in a radical
eternal, the other in a radical discontinuity.
Both may tell the story of God .
Christians find that comforting; Jews do
not.
I would be lying if I said this battle of
the world views was easy. It is not. It is
. ofte.n horrifying . , What we think about
God and where God can be found is such
a life forming pattern that intimates can
find plenty lo quarrel about anywhere.
Their paths can di verge. When paths
diverge, we are oddly on our own with
· our God. We are out in left field while
our friend is out in right field, defending
our God. Alone.
Would this isolation cause me to recommend
that we marry our "own kind?"
No. That would be too easy. God
would be shrunk. But are different
authorities among intimates hard on !he
• intim acy? You bet. Harm is not done
to God; oddly we search more vigorously
for God when we differ with our
best friend on where God can be found.
But it is bard to remain friends without
constant confirmation of one's world
view. The very absence of that confir mation
can help religious authority
along: we must develop our own spirit ual
and intellectual muscles. In the
nearly constant self-explanation that
.• occurs within an interfaith marriage, a
new authority develops that is simultaneously
dialogical and independent.
Religious authority is aided by the
modesty afford ed it by the knowledge
that there is a right field - and that you
have no idea how to gel to it. Religi ous
authority is aided by knowing thal
God speaks differently to different people.
When someone we love and respect
constantly emerges in a different place,
we have no choice but to reverence that
place. It is not us. It is different. It is. genuinely
different.
We become religious open-.ended-ness
- right but not completely right. This
open-ended-ness, this lack of a closed
universe, Ibis rubbed raw door at the
bottom of our heart, becomes our religious
authority. It is not relativism -
because what happens in interfaith settings
is not relativism at all. It is
instead the nearly constant and flawed
move to win points for your side. To
show the virtue and benefit of transformation
over continuity. for example .
We fight for these things because we
believe in them. We fight intim1,1tely,
llol on a soapbox. The opening in our
heart, our cosmos, our worl~ view ~els
rubbed raw - and it also lets m the wmd.
It scabs over from ti.me to time only to
get rubbed raw again. As Wendel~ Ben:>'
s s about marriage itself, mamage is ~!w illingness to gel Jost i.n tJ_ief orest
!lnd the necess1 ·ry to go out into tbe
clearing again. Even after you have
become afraid of the light.
J. F rbes of The Riverside C. hurch
lDl o . . k bo t
. N y orlc City tells the JO e a u
lll cw . "Do you
. bis father ridin~ an . rurplan~ and hold
really believe this thing can y .
?" "I'll tell you !he truth, son, I
you up• • h d n on
never d1.d Pu t all my we. 1g. t owt h •
,.__ 1 e " When rehgiou s au on- t.J.Wl p an . . .
ties war intimately . we become b 1e ~sdl
and mercifully incapable of putUng C y .
all our weight down on our own ce.rb -
tude. .f
Downcast Mainers tell us that 1 you
want 10 sink fast you should hang on to
the anchor. And that is how I feel about
my Christ. I never thought Jesus would
want me to hang on too tight. That's
the gospel I hear from him, consistently.
We can have what we can let go of.
We can be rich if we can be poor. We
give to get. We lose our life to gain it.
We relinquish, not hold. Thus, my very
absolute faith in letting go and being
open, in not putting my weig ht down
too fully anywhere. The gospel. in my
little kernel of it, is the freedom to
float And float, I do.
In my experience, change is inevitable
but growth is optional. Like many other
modem people, I have noticed that what
used to be call the cert ainty of the components
of the atom are no longer so at
CONTINUESN EXTP AGE
MANNA
The authority to know God
From Previous Page
all. These things are, furthermore, not a
still or fixed point but rather a motion,
a bit like what I imagine the trinity. An
interrelationship of moving matter.
Why would I need the authority of a
fixed God? Would that not be blaspheming
the atom and the golden rule,
simultaneously? (Yes, I do accuse my
spouse and best friend often of blaspheming
the atom.)
The authority of my religious experience
is an experienced place. I call this
place the wowided door, or opening, or
crack where the air and light comes.
That wounded door is the religious
authority of me confronting the other
and myself, simultaneously. At that
ne,ms or node, I experience Jesus and
who and the way he was.
A simple experience may help. One
day I was on the podium of an extraordinarily
tedious, yet joyful church service
in which the local clergy had been
gathered by the local African-American
church to give God orders on the abolishment
of racism. We called these
orders "prayers." Another policeman
ha~ shot another black teenager "by
accident." We had to gather. We had to
pray. We couldn't help ourselves for
turning our prayer s into orders. We
didn't trust God so much as need God.
Our need snuck into our language.
One after another of us prayed. Then
we sang. Then we prayed some more. I
had _a feeling that most of the 500 people
1n the congregation were still with
us. All of a sudden I got this great
~ge to leave. Just leave. I had already
given God my orders, done my part,
lamented my lament. I was no longer
needed _except as another pair of ears.
My chair 011 the podium was in the back
row. I might not be noticed .
So I left. I walked out the side door
behind the organ and behind the altar. It
was dusk. What the poet John Keats
called the luxury of twilight enveloped
me: I was part of pu!llle air. Even better,
I was part of clear air as opposed to
the dank air of scared prayer.
I was wearing my black liturgical
robe which seemed appropriate to the
occasion. I w1buttoned the black robe
once I got outside. No one was there
but me. The parking lot was full, the
church was rocking to another hymn,
but I was free. I was alone. I was out.
I ran to my car with the robe, waving
beyond me and had the feeling that I
might have just escaped God. I might
be free of God. I might be free.
These are the only few minutes in my
life that I might have been free of God.
Otherwise God has been a constant companion,
nndge, heart beat, iil!!er voice,
best friend. The strangeness of my little
escape startled me.
In the startle and the twilight, I realized
how I feel about church as religions
authority. Church has not always contained
God for me. More often, God has
been in the streets, or the garden, or literature.
God has been in laughter and
liberations, like skipping the meeting
that was pompously discussing God.
But God has never been "not there."
That night in the parking lot I experienced
the God who was not there as freeing
- only to learn later that it was the
church that was driving me crazy. Like
the authority of the temple, the church's
authority had begun to shrink God. I had
no doubt that God had become free, had
squeezed out, but I had real doubts about
whel.berI could know God within religious
structure alone. That night, God
came in the luxury of the twilight. In
the racing robe. In the absence of God.
New revelations are needed. I have
In the startle and the twilight, I
realized how I feel about church as
religious authority. Church has not
always contained God for me. More
often, qod has been in the streets,
or the garden, or literature. God
has been in la ugh ter
and liberations ...
no problem looking for them in the
parking lot. Or in the eyes of my puzzled
Jewish husband. I have this urge to
look "elsewhere" for God rather than by
rounding up the usual suspects. That
urge is an urge for authority . It is
something that feels deeper (watch Warren's
faith enter) than even magnificent
African-American worship or great table
prayers , each of which are sites where I
can usually count on God. When I rush
to the openings, I am looking not just
for God but for more God, for deeper
God, for God eternal.
I know God because I an, an escape
artist. I work the raw openings. Most
people find this kind of flexibility infuriating.
For me, it gives pennission to
skip out of services. My faith is in the .
hallway as much as the sanctuary.
My fluidity is directly related to the
fundamentalism of my youth. It
grounded me enough to fly. Fundamentalism
gave·me religious ground, religious
equity. From there, I have religious
experience.
Religious authority comes from reason
and experience and tradition. Reasoning
through my experience as I stand
in left field and my best friend stands in
right has often brought me to God.
Surely religi ous institutions have also
brought me to God. I have asked God
more tl1an once how long I have to stay
in the institutional church which drives
me nuts. The answer has this odd ring.
"Seventy times seven." It is the same
answer Jesus gave when asked how
often we have to forgive our neighbor.
I am stuck, in the church, standing at its
door. I am stuck in in interfaith marriage,
waving at my partner from right
to left. There is no center field in this
game. God comes in experience at the
open door. God comes as we pass
through , waving.
The Rev. Donna E. Scltaper is Associate
Conference Minister wit11 the
Massachusetts Conference of tlze
United Church of Christ. Her new
book is "Tlte Sense In Sabbatl1:A
Way To Have Enough Time," In11isfree.
The Un Time-Management Book
Sabbath
Sense
This is your
invitation to pack
your spiritual baggage
and move to the
neighborhood called
ENOUGH - enough
time, enough rest,
enough play. The
reality of "sabbath" as
a day of rest and been
SpHm,al
\111,.1 • .,
lost amidst our to-do lists, day-organizers,
and endless errands, but the sense of sabbath,
as spiritual leisure, is very much needed in
our time-starved world .
• Turn not-enough time into ENOUGH time:
• Unify fragmented time through Rl1VALS:
•Weave a pattern of SACREDNESS into your life:
• DJ:"CLl/TfE"Rs, implify. and slow down.
A
Spiritual
Antidote
for the
Overworked
by Donna Schaper
$11.95 paperback
6X9
ll8 pages
ISBN 1-880913-lS-9
Available in
bookstores
or call
lnnisfree Press
1-800-367-58 71
to order.
l Press lnnisfree
-
SECOND STONE 9
Creechlo sesjo bi n
spiteo f acquittal
OMAHA, Neb. - The Methodist min ister
who performed a lesbian marriag e
and then survived accusation s he had
broken church rules must look for a new
job.
The Rev. Jimmy Cree ch was told
May 5 he would not be reappointed after
his stint a t Fir st Unit ed Methodi st
Church in Omaha ends in June.
Creech said Bishop Joel Martine z told
him he has been unable to lead his con gregatio
n, which has lost a "signi ficant
number" of parishioners who opposed
the union cerem ony he perfo rmed in
September.
"He felt that I am not going to be
able to bring about a reconcil iation,"
Creech said.
According to Chris Weedy. Creech • s
wife and co-work er, the bishop cited
several reason s for not reapp ointing
Creech : the con tinuing deterio ration at
First UMC, Creech's inabilit y to reconcile
difference s with the peopl e who
op~sc d lhe commitm ent ceremony, not
follo wing the bishop' s guidan ce (in
doing the covenant ceremony and in not
acce pting the conditi ons offered befo re
the trial) , and finally the "deteriora tion
in the Nebraska conference."
Mar tinez reportedly offered Creech
three alterna tives: that Creech ask for
another appointm ent in the NE confer ence,
that he find ano ther appointme nt
in another couf erencc, or that he take a
leave of absence.
Creech said he had not made plans
regarding his fu ture. Methodist clergy
are appointed for one year at a time.
(Liz Gauger, AP writ~r, and Mel White)
Hundredss ign newspapera d
in support of Creech
OMAHA, Neb. - More than 300 people
• inclu ding U.S. Sen . Bob Kerrey, DNcb.
- signed a newspaper advertiseme nt
lihowing support for Rev. Jimmy
C:reech's ministry at First United Meth-
1:>dsit Church .
Members of the church took out the
<Id in the April 11 editions of the Omaha
\Vorld-Herald. Those who signed the ad
illso included several ministers and rabbis.
The ad appeared two weeks after more
than 100 Omaha-ar ea churches con demned
same -sex unions in a WorldHerald
adveniscme nt .
"This was planned before we ever
heard about that," said church membcf
Deb Kenney, who organized the ad. "We
wanted to show we're not a one-i ssue
church, and to demonstrate that we have
lots of program s and activities." (AP)
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10 MAY•JUNE 1998
Lutheranc hurchwidoef fice
hasg ayd iversityw eek
CHICAGO - "Gay, Lesbian and Straight
People: Working Toget her" will be the
theme at the churchwide off ices of the
Evangelical Luth eran Church in Amer ica
during five days in June. The staff
will focu s on reflecting divers ity in an
inclusi ve workplace .
The effort is organized by the ELCA's
Inter -unit Staff Team on Div ersity .
Evelyn B. Soto, co-coo rdinator, said the
goals are to celebrate the gifts of gay
and lesbian people iu the church and to
edu cate the staff on the history of lesbian
and gay people.
Another goal. is "to demonstrate that
the churchwide office is a welcoming
and safe place in the spirit of the resolution
pa ssed at the 1995 Chur chwide
Asse mbly ." Th at action affirins "that
gay and lesbian pe opl e, as individu als
created by God, are welcome to partici -
, pa te fully in the life of the cong regations"
of the ELCA.
The week will includ e worship and
lunchtim e speakers, book discussions
and video presentations. Topic s will
include defining tem1s of gender identity,
minis try with gay and lesbian people,
bibl ica l and theolog ical impli calions,
issues for the fam ilies an d friends
of gay an d les bian people, and welcoming
gay and le sbian peo ple in cong regational
life, Soto said .
"We are part of a church that is working
on being welcomin g ," said the Rev.
Robert N. Bacher , exec utive for administration
. "Our chur ch is engaged in
conversation and dialogue. These activities
are a part of our commitm ent to
cont inuin g to discuss issues related to
human sexuali ty, inclu ding homo sexuality
," he said.
The Rev. H. Geo rge Anderson, presiding
bishop of the ELCA, told the March
6 meeting of tl1e Conference of Bishops,
"We are planning some time toge ther in
June under tl1e theme .Q f workin.o .to o.e.t her,
lookin g at our rel ations hips with gay
and lesbian co-workers."
Anderson said the plans reflect a Im
Churchwide Assembly action expressing
supp ort for the Emplo yme nt NonDiscrimination
Act and affinn iug the
churc h's advocacy "in support of Jaws
barring discrimina tion against indivi duals
on the basis of the ir sexual orientation."
(ELCA News Service)
New owners of controversial
landmark allow MCC service there
BY DIANA WALSH
AFfER YEARS OF controver sy. the
103-foot Mount David son cross was
ilhuni natcd on the evening of April 11
for the firs t time under its new owners .
More than 300 people tumed out for
Easter eve service s under the concret e
cross.
Church member s illu mina ted it in
rainbow colors at sunset, then switch ed
to the soft white lighting requested by a
group of Armenian Americans, the new
owners who bought the cross last year.
" fh ey said they wauted every one to
use this cross and they kep t their word,"
sai d the Rev. Jim Mitulski of the Metropoli
tan Community Church, who presided
over the hillt op services. 'Th.is is
our rainbow light over San Francisco."
Last year the U.S. Supreme Court
upheld a lower cour t rul ing tliat found
tliat ci ty ownership of the cross violated
the California Constitu tion, which prohibits
giving prcfcreuee to any religion.
The Council of Armenia n American
Organizations of Northern California
then bought the cross and a 011e-U1ird
acre patch of land that surrotl1lds it for
$26,000.
Under tem1s of the lcgal settlement
with the American Civil Liberties
Union and the American Jewish Congress,
tl1c cross, which stands atop San
Francisco 's hig hes t mount ain . can be
illumina ted on ly two night s a year.
After it was dedicated by Franklin
Roo sevelt in 1934. the cross had been
ill uminated ev ery night until 1974.
From 1974 tl1rough the late I 980s, it
was lit only Easter week. Faced with
growing legal problem s over tl1e cros s,
tl1e city recreation and park departm ent
eventually cut back to lighting the cross
j ust a few hours 011 Eas ter befo re pulling
tl1e plug alto ge ther in 1990.
TI1e muni cipal monwne ut had been
dark eve r y nig ht since - excep t one.
Shortl y after the Supreme Court ml ing
and the cros s' fa te seemed uncert ain.
Mitulski's Metropo lit an Community
Church defie d city policy by li ghting
the cross in rainbo w colors on Easter
eve last year .
Thi s year Mitulski seemed thrilled to
have the bless ing of the cross' new owners.
"Our concern was that this cross
wouldn't really be available to eYeryone,
includ ing gay peop le," be snid.
The landmark's legal problems, however,
arc not complete ly over. A group
of atheists who want the cross torn
down have fifed another suit agninsl The
City and the new owners. (San Frnncisoo
fa:aminer)
NATIONAL NEWS
Gay~ byterians reactt o affirmatioonf OOoiln g ayc lergy
NEW YORK - The nation's largest
Presbyterian denomination has rejected a
proposal to overturn a 10-month-old
church law that effectively bars ordination
of open gays and lesbians, The
New Y ode Times reported.
The controversial Amendment B,
adopted last June, states that any person
ordained as a minister, elder or deacon
must refrain from sexual activity outside
marriage.
In a series of votes since October, a
majority of the 2.6 million-member
Presbyterian Church (USA)'s regional
bodies turned down a broader statement
that would have asked ministers, elders
and deacons to "demonstrate fidelity and
integrity in marriage or singleness and
in all relationships of life," church officials
told the newspaper.
"W c are truly disappointed, but not
surpri sed that Amendment A has failed,"
said Scott Anderson, Presbyterian s for
Lesbian and Gay Concerns comoderator
. "Amendment A was a much
needed theological and polity correction
of the so-called "fidelity and chastity "
requirement for ordination and leadership
with the PCUSA. Our disappointment
arises out of a profound concern for our
denomination."
"We recognize that what is taking
place within our denomination is similar
to the takeover of the right wing
conservatives within the Southern Baptist
denominatiou," said Rev. Laurene
M. Lafontaine, PLGC co-moderator.
"The reality is that Amendment A
would not have changed the denominational
policy on gay and lesbian ordination,
yet opponents of Amendment A
made it out as a referendum for gay and
lesbian ordination which was simply _
not true, yet rallied the votes."
Gay cleric is nominated to replace
Newark Episcopal bishop
BY ROBERT D. McFADDEN
AN OPENLY GAY cleric bas been chosen
as one of five nominees to succeed
the Rt. Rev. John Spong as bishop of
the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, N.J.,
djocesan officials said.
If eventually elected, he would be the
first openly gay bjshop of the 2.5 millio
n-member Episcopal Church in
America.
The nominee , the Rev. Gen; Robinson,
50, has been a top official of the
Diocese of New Hampshire for more
than a decad e, is a founder of and coun selor
for AIDS organizations and sup port
groups for gay and lesbian youths.
and has led racism-educa tion projects and
raised funds for low-income housin g.
Robinson is Canon to the Ordi nary of
New Ham pshire and exe cutive secretary
of the Province of New England . He
was nominat ed by a commi ttee that considered
70 candidates to succeed Spong,
who is schedul ed to reti re in less than
two years.
Bishop Douglas Theuner of New
Hampshire said of his executive assistan
t: "He has worked for me for nearly
12 years. His colleagues in New
Hampshire have great confidence in
him . He is a very worthy candidate, and
I am delighted with his nomination.«
In a statement to the diocesan n01niruiting
committee, Robinson noted that
he was the divorced father of two daughters
aud lived in Wear e, N.H ., with a
partner , Mark Andrew . a program manager
for the New Hampshire Department
of Health and Human Services.
Asked what risks he had taken for his
fnith, Robinson wrote: ftl answered
God's call to acknowledge myself as a
gay man. My wife and I, in order to
keep our wedding vow to 'honor each
other in the name of God.' made the
decision to let each other go. Risking
the loss of my children and the exercise
of my ordained ministry in the church
was the biggest risk I've ever taken, but
it left me with two unshakable things :
my integrity and my God ."
Spong has led movements to bring
blacks, women, gays and lesbian s into
the full life of his church. and the choice
of successor is widely regarded as critical
to the future of the diocese and the
. church.
The process of selecting a succe ssor
to Spong is to be lengthy and complex..
In Jun e, a 600 -member convention of
clerics and lay lea ders will be held to
elect a successor, but lhe person selected
must be approv ed by majoriti es of the
standing committees and bishops of the
110 Episco pa l dioceses across the
nation.
The pe rson selected would be con secrated
bishop coadjutor next Nov. 21.
The title confers th e rank of top assistant
10 the bis hop with an automa tic
right of succession. Spong, long
regarded as a maverick in his church,
was elected coadjutor in 1976 and
became the diocesan bishop in I f/79. He
has said he will retire on Jan, 31. 2000.
Reports from throughout the denomination
indicated that the alternative proposal,
Amendment A, had failed by a 2-
to-l ratio in balloting by the denomination's
173 presbyteries .
The Rev. Jack Haberer, a Houston
minister who is moderator of the Presbyterian
Coalition, which supports
Amendment B, said the voting showed
the "center of the church" believed that
"sex . belongs inside a marriage, and we
want our leaders to model that."
Despite the current climate within the
PCUSA denomination, More Light
Churches Network and Presbyterians
for Lesbian and Gay Concerns are joining
their efforts. "At our re spective
board meetings in February both organizations
decided to merge and form a
stronger and more unified organization,"
said Rev. Dick Lundy , co-moderator of
MLCN. "By January 1999, we will
have hired a staff person to do organizing
and education within local Presbyteries
throughout the denomination. We
are very ex.cited about the possibilities."
PLGC and MLCN will continue to
work for the full inclusion of gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgendered persons
within the Presbyterian Church (USA).
"We recognize that this is a lifelong justice
movement to which we are committed,"
said Rev. Lafontaine. "This church
cannot truly be the church of Jesus
Christ until there is the full inclusion of
all God's children ."
Church court will rule on ordination
of gay Presbyterian deacon
FORT LAUDERDALE, Ha. - Second
Presbyterian Church of Fort Lauderdale
is dubbed "The Sanctuary" by its members.
These days it's a battleground in a
nation al fight between factions of the
Presbyterian Church U.S.A. splil O\'er
the ordination of homosexuals.
The Fort Lauderdale church. which
has a history of championing civil
rights and women's ordination, stepped
into the debate when it ordained Dr. Ray
Whetstone as an eld.er. Elders are elected
officers who govern the church.
Whetstone is a 39-year-old
optometrist and committed Christian
who sings in the choir, quotes Scripture,
visits the sick and organizes his
life around his church. He's also gay and
in love with the church worship director
.
That has pitted him again st fellow
Presbyt erian, retired Navy Lt. Cmdr .
Ron Wier, 64. who is so outrag ed that
Second Presbyterian ordai ned an openly
gay man that he's taking his congregation's.
leaders hip to church court .
"Our Genera l Assembl y has said
'Tho u shalt not ordain a homosexual'
and they did it anyway," said Wit:r, a
divorced former elder at Second Presbyterian.
"Bottom line: You follow the
rules or you're breaking them ."
To Whetstone, the matter isn't that
simple.
"For a long time I thought God
couldn't love me because I was gay,"
said Whetstone. "Eventually. I realized I
was putting up the barrier, not God. I
know Jesus loves me .... I'm not going
to back down now for anything. "
The legal case is set to go before the
supreme court of the Presbyterian
Church U.S.A. on August 7.
Whetstone lives with his longtim e
partner, Wesley Pennington, a classically
trained pianist. owner of an ad
agency, and worship director of Second
Presbyterian .
The two moved to Fort Lauderdale in
1990 and immersed themselves in
church choirs, committees and spaghetti
fund -raisers . Friends at church knew
they were a couple, but Whetstone and
Pennington kept their relationship lowkey.
Whet stone was ordained without controversy
as a deacon, a service job . But
when, in December 1995, he sought to
become an elder and help govern the
congregation , Wier balked.
He cast the lone dissenting vote when
elders voted on ordaining Whetstone.
A South Horida Presbyterian judicial
commi ssion, acting on Wier's appeal ,
ruled last year , in a 4-2 decision, that
Whet stone's ordination was '' irregular"
but that they lacked the auth ority to
overturn it.
Wier appeale d, and a regional ju dicial
commission for Presby terians in Aorida,
Georgia and Alabama reached the
same conclusion in November.
Wier's ap,pea l now goes to the
church's high est court.
''We shoul dn't be ordaining people
who live in what we call sin. and that
goes for bomoseimals, adulterers, robbers
and the whole bit," Wier said.
T~ Presbyterian Church U.S.A . is
headquartered in Looisville, Ky. (AP)
SE COND STONE 11
Welcome!
IF YOU FOUND this copy of Second
Stone at a gay pride event , a P-FLAG
meeting. or some other event or loca tion,
there 's a Second Stone Outreach
Partner in your area . The y arc a Chri stian
church or organi za tion with a spe cific
outreach to gays and lesbian s. \Ve
encourage you to visit them for their
next se.rvicc or meeting . In the mean time,
you may be asking some questions
like the ones that follow .
When I told my church
pastor I was gay, I was
referred to an ex-gay
program. What's that
all about?
An ex-gay program cannot change your
sexual orie ntation. Ex-gay pro grams
may be effective in redir ect ing a heterosexual
perso n who has expe rim ented
with homosex ual activi ty back to he terosexual
rela tions hip s. For n gny or les bian
perso n, howeve r, an ex-gay minis -
NATIONAL
We can make a world of
DIFFERENCE!
Society of the Fra ncisca n
Servants of the Poor
(Ecummical1l,1 c/1v1es)i
113 Pavoni a Ave. - 335
Jersey City NJ 07310
E-mail: sfsp@bellatlant ic.net
Near ly 35 million Americans live in
hungry or " food insecure" househo lds ...
There is sti ll no cure for AIDS ...
Homosexuality remains a "hot- bu tton"
issue in many churches ...
St. Fra ncis wro te in h is r11le of 1221
"Al l the brothers are to preach by their works"
Consider joining us as an Associate
or Vowed Member ... and help make
a difference!
WILLIAMSBURG , VIRGINIA
BEA VEN'S TABLELAND.
CHURCH
of WilliamsburgV, rrginia
P.O. Box 2674
WilliamsburgV, irginia2 3187
(757) 887-3719
rcvadcUcOaol.""'1
http://mcmbm.aol.com/RcvAdell•IHTC.blm
Services held: Sunday at 1:30 P .M
Williamsburg Regional Library
Please call for further information.
ALL ARE WELCOME AT TH.E
LORD'S TABLE.
12 MA Y • J UN E I 9 9 8
OUTREACH PARTNERS
try can only teach one how to "net as if'
hetero sexual, often with painful results.
Remember that most ex-gay church
counselors are heterosexual and cam1ot
speak from the experience of being gay.
Also , any psycho logi st or psyd1iatri st
who offers " trcauncnt" for homosexuality
is not following guidelines established
hy the Ameri can Psychologi cal
Associ ation or the American Medical
Associat ion.
After all the rejection
I got from my church,
why should I even
care about God?
Your church may have rejected you, but
God never has. God • s nature is lo draw
you closer to Him, not to rejec t you.
The church is admi nistered hy pastors,
bisho ps, lay peop le , co mmittee s; peop le
like you and me - someti mes com1ected
with God at work among us, and sometimes
not. Sometim es the people who
run the church, beca use of fear , selfi shness
or othe r reasons, are not able to
fo llow as God leads. In the pas t, the
church failed to speak out agai nst the
Holocaus t and slavery . At some poin t
in the futur e, the church' s prese nt failure
to affinn gay and lesbian people and its
failure to speak out against the homophobia
that leads lo disc rimina tion and
violence will be seen as a terri ble
wrong.
Does this mean I
shouldn't go to church?
Absolutely not! (It mean s the chur ch
needs you probably more than you need
the chur ch.) lltere is a place for you in a
church in your neighborhood . Th ere are
man y Christian church es and organizations
around the country that have a spe cific
ministry to gay and lesbian peopl e.
Even in the mainstream denomination s
gay and lesbian people have promin ent,
althou gh sometim es clo seted , place s in
the chur ch as pa stors. youth leaders .
choir mas ters, Jay leaders, and so on.
Many main stream churches across the
co untry have moved in to pos itions of
welcoming and affinniog gay and lesbian
peo ple .
How do I know that God
doesn't reject me?
Even if you've neve r set foo t in a
church or tho ught much about God, you
were created by a loving God who seeks
you out. If there's a barri er between
yourself and God , it is not God's
respons ibility . .Blackaby and King in
"Expe riencing God" say there are seven
realit ies of a rel ationship with God : I.
God is always at work around you. 2.
God pursues a continuing Jove relationship
with you that is real and personal.
3. God invites you to become involved
with Him in His work. 4. God speaks
Distribution of Second Stone in some
con1n1unitics is sponsored by our
Outreach Partners. We invite you to
visit the1n for worship.
DAYTON, OHIO
COMMUNTIY
GOSPELC HURCH
P.OO. OX16 34• D\YION0, 0 45401
DISCOVERY. OURD ESTINY!
AU ARE WELCOME
JlleelS: 546 Xenia.Ave.
Qlyton,alio
SurmylOam.
E-MAIi.; RevSamuell<@oolL'Om
Visit our Web Sill'.!
htq:x/,/w\\w~
937-252-8855
RI::V. SAMUEL KADER,
PASTOR
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
Come share your ministry with us
at._.
~
Abiding Peace Lutheran Cbur~h
5090 NE Chouteau Trafficway
Kansas City, MO 64119
(816) 452-1222
Caring for People and Creation
(Nc:r1ho f the Riffl')
Sunday Worship: 10:30 am
Sunday School: 9:00 am
http ://www.soundnet/---pickle
hy the Holy Spirit throu gh the Bible,
prayer , circmn stmtces, and the chur ch to
reveal Him self, Hi s purpo ses, and His
ways. S. God 's invitation for you to
work with Him alway s lea ds you to a
cri sis of beli ef that requir es faith and
ac tion . 6. You mu st make maj or adj ustments
in your life to j oin God in what
He is doing . 7. You com e to kn ow God
by expe.rience as you obe y Him and He
accompli she s His work t.hrough you.
But can I really be gay
and Christian?
Sexual orien ta tion - eith er gay or
stra ight - is a good, God-g iven part of
your being. A homosex ual orient a tion
is not a sinful state. ll1 e Bible does con demn
some sex ual activi ty; when
someone gets used or hurt ra ther than
IO\•ed , and when a covenan t with a loved
. one is broken ,thro ugh infidelit y. The
CONT INUES Next Page
MICHIGAN CITY. INDIANA
Pastor Randy Dwican
SIDlday Service: I I :30 am
... A caring church far a hurting world
,.,hen EVERYONE 1s we/came l
• Full Gospel
• Christ centered
• Bible based
P.O. Box9212
Midtig11nC ity, IN 46360-92t 2
(2 I 9) 778-2803 • (219) 778-9332
Email: innulife@netnitco.net
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA ~.,_.,._
~ \
l His • • ·es\ I 3960 Park D d, Suite E l
J San Diego,CA 92103 f
6t9-542-1ss1 I
Sunday Wonhip: 10:00am -
Thunday Study: 7:00pm
FROM Previou s Page
Dible support s commitment and fidelity
in loving relation ships .
Doesn't the Bible
say homosexual
activity is a sin?
The word "homosexual" did not even
appear in any translation of the Bible
prior to 1946. Daniel Helminiak in his
book What the Bible Really Says About
Homo sexuality says: The sin of Sodom
was [not homos exuality .] Jude condemn
s sex with angels, not sex between
men . Not a single Bible text clearly
refe rs to les bian sex ... Only five tests
surel y refer to mal e-male sex, Leviticu s
18:22 and 20 : 13, Roman s 1:27 an d I
Corinthi ans 6:9 and I Timothy l: 10.
All those texts are concerned with
so methi ng other tha n homosexuality
ac tivit y itse lf ... If people would still
seek to know outri ght if gay or lesbian
sex in itself is good or evi l... the y will
have to look elsew here for an answ er ...
The Bible ne ver addre sses that question.
More than tha t, the Bible seems deliberate
ly unconcerned about it.
I would Hke explore further
. What can I do now?
While the re are man y good book s and
videos available, there's somethin g
powe rful in bein g "where two or more
are gathered." You may wan t to check
out a mini stry in your area with a specific
outreach to gays and lesbians,
incl uding Second Stone's Outreach
Partne r. The worship style may not be
what you're used to, but the point is to
connect with gay and lesb ian Christians
with whom you can have discussions
about where you are. Or you may want
to try a variety of churches in your
neighborhood, even those of other
MEMPHIS , TENNESSEE
HOLY TRINITY
COMMU NITY
CHURCH
Sunday Christian Education- I 0:00 a.m.
Sunday Wonhlp & Holy Communlon-
11 :00 a.m.
Wednesday Proaram-7:00 p.m.
Come Join us at the lord's ublewen>
saving ii seilt for You!
1559 Madison Ave. tMemphls, TN 38 I 04
901/726 ·9443
e•mall: holyn1nlcycc@Juno.com
The Rev. Timothy Meadows, M. Div., Pastor
OUTREACH PARTNERS
denominations. ([here is no "one true
church.") There are gay and lesbian people
in almost every church and God,
who is alwa ys at work around you, will
connect you to the people you need to
know - if you take the first step.
Wouldn't it just be
.· easier to keep my
sexual life a secret?
Some gay and lesbian people who arc
Tobecome aSecondStone
Outreach Partner in your
comm unity, call (504)899-4014,
e-mail secstone@aol.com, or
wri te to P.O. Box 8340,
N ew Orleans LA 70182
SAN JOSE . CALI FORN IA
Come
Celebrate
With Us
The New
life In
Je,us!
(wu/S:11)
Non-Denominational • Bible Cent.red
Sunday Servlc.es- 10:30 am
at The BIiiy Defrank Center
175 Stockton Ave .• San Jose. CA
Pastor David Harvey • (408} 345-2319
http://www.lodesys .com/celebrate/
happy, whole and fully integrated may
have to be silent about their sexuality
because of their job or other circumstances.
(fu e day will come when that
is no longer the case .) But a gay or les bian
person who cannot integrate their
sexualit y with the rest of their being
faces a difficult struggle indeed . To
deny one's sexuality to oneself while in
church or at work or with straight
friends , and then to engag e in periodic
sexual activity is not a self-lo ving ,
esteem -building experien ce . An inabilit y
to weave your sexuality into the fabric
of your life in a way that make s you
feel good about yourself and allo ws you
to develop relationships with others is a
cause for concern and should be discussed
with someone skilled in gay and
lesbian issues.
NATIONAL LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA
So[ufarity Sunday
October 4, 1998
FIRST CONGREG:ATIONACLH URCHi~
LONG BEACH
UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST · ._ _,.l
An Open and Affirming Congregation
"Let us work together to end
verbal and physical gay bashing!"
Solidarity Sunday - P. 0 . Box 701592
San Antonio, TX 7827 0-1592
BruceSJ@AOL. COM
We wefcom~ you t? worship in a
nurtunn9 environment.
241 Cedar Ave • Long Beach CA 90802
562) 436-2256 • Fax (562) 436-301
http ://u sers. ao\.com( revmek/ind ex..html
May/June 1998
Outreach Partner Fund Report
Second Stone's Outreach Partner program helps local ministries make Christ
known in their communities . Participating ministries are assisted, when
needed, by the Outreach Partner fund. As of April 18, 1998, the Outreach
Partner fund:
1998 EXPENSES
Jan /Feb issue - 622.50
Mar/Apr issue - 768.50
May/June issue:
Abiding Peace Lutheran Church - I 15.00
Society of the Franciscan Servants of the Poor - 60.00
Heaven's Tableland Church - 60.00
His Life Ministries - 60.00
Commun ity Gospel Church - 60.00
Holy Trinity Community Church - C,0.00
New Life Community Church of Hope - 87.50
Celebration of Faith Praise and Worship Center - 115.00
First Congregational Church of Long Beach • ll5.00
Total 1998 Expenses - 2123.50
1998 CONTRIBlff IONS
Balance forward - 1133.99
Abiding Peace Lutheran Church - I 15.00
Anonymous subscriber contributions - 55.00
Patricia V. Long - 2S.00
Society of the Franciscan Servants of the Poor - 60.00
Abiding Peace Lutheran Church - 115.00
Holy Trinity Community Church - 60.00
His Life Ministries - 30.00
Celebration of Faith Praise and Worship Center . 235.00
Community Gospel Church • 30.00
New Life Community Church of Hope - 60.00
Total 1998 Contributions 1918.99
RJND BALANCE (204.51)
SECO ND ST O NE 13
-.
NATIONAL NEWS
Utahs ociawl Olkerdsi scourag'ere μirat:ivteh' erapy
SALT LAKE CITY - Some therapists
contend "unhappy" gays and lesbians
can abandon their "lifestyle" through socalled
reparative or conversion treatment,
but a Utah social-work group
says they shouldn't try.
In a unanimous affirmation of a 2-
year-old stance by its parent group, the
Utah chapter of the National Association
of Social Workers has adopted a
policy discouraging reparative therapy.
The group's state·-board found there is
insufficient scientific data supporting
the treatment.
"Social stigmatization of lesbian, gay
and bisexual people is widespread and is
a primary motivating factor in leading
some people to seek sexual orientation
changes," the policy states. "Discomfort
about working with this population
may lead to inappropriate, ineffective
and even damaging interventions by
social workers."
Board president Joanne Yaffe said the
action came after it received an anonymous
complaint, redirected from the
national committee.
"They told us they knew of Utah
social workers who were practicing
reparative therapy and asked us what we
were goingt o do abouti t," she said.
The state chapter's action was criticized
by such groups as Evergreen International
and LDS Social Services. ··
"The church's licensed professional
counselors take the position that there is
substantial evidence that individuais can
diminish their unwanted homosexual
attraction and make changes in their
Jives," said Mormon church spokesman
Don Lefevre. "The church and these
professionals are supportive of a person's
right to seek assistance in doing
so."
The American Psychological Association
in August also passed a resolution
opposing reparative therapy.
Reparative or conversion therapy
attempts to change homosexuals to heterosexuals,
and has existed for more
than a century. F.arly practices incorporated
electric shocks, castration, lobotomies
and aversion therapy. Today, therapists
instead use psychoanalytic, cognitive
or behavioral therapy techniques to
attempt to diminish same-sex attraction.
Critics contend the therapies have a
60-70 percent failure rate, but suppcrters
insist there is ample proof that homosexuals
can change, or at least curb their
behavior.
NASW board member Shirley Coit, a
Brigham Young University social-work
professor and Evergreen International
board member, said there is a distinction
Celebrate Solidarity Sunday, October 4, 1998.
Wear the ribbon. Take the pledge.
lavite your &ieads and loved ones to join with us.
Th e Solidarity Pledge
I will work for civil and human rights for all people, including gays, lesbians,
bisexuals and transgenders. Civil rights are not special rights.
I will seek to stop jokes and unkind language about anyone, including gays, lesbians,
bisexuals and tran sgenders when spoken in my presence. Words that hurt and bigotry
are not Fwmy. ·
I will speak out against any slander, debasement, lies or dehumanization of anyone,
including gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenden1, including when spoken by political
or religious leaders. Violent speech leads to physical viole nce.
I will work to stop physical violence against anyone, including violence against gays,
lesbians, bisexuals or transgenden1. Violenc e against aaypenon is violen ce against
all peo ple .
Let us work together to end verbal and physical gay bashing!
For Infonnation on how to participate:
Solidarity Simda.y -A pro j ect of Di gni ty /1.JSA
P 0. Box 701592, Sao Antonio, Te1u 78270-1592
Brucr6.Jlil·•aol. com, MTDudd\-r.i•aol,com. Fas - {210) 545-6906
Notional Coordinators- Marianne Dudd.y ond Bruce S. Jsrstfcr, MD
Ofgnly/USA
1500M assachulltAtl ve. NW. Suite1 1, WaahingtonO, C 20005
....... .d l!Jlil)u<a.11r1f e-mailD: ltnll)--'""'°l.cn111
Tt!Ophooe· (202) 881--0017o(r8 00) 877-8797
14 MAY • JUN E 199 8
to be made between reparative therapy
and what she calls "lifestyle-change"
therapy.
"Reparative therapy assumes people
are broken and in need of repair. I don't
believe that," she said. "But I will help
people who want to live as heterosexuals.
They have a right to choose."
Evergreen E,~ecutive Director David
Pruden said NASW made itself
"vulnerable when, as an organization,
they become the arbiters of lifestyle
decisions . What happens if something
goes wrong because they have affirmed a
certain lifestyle?"
Pruden said about 40 percent of the
people served by his organization report
they abandon homosexuality activity
entirely and about 30 percent report they
diminish their sexual behavior. (AP)
Toriy Campolo: Gays and
lesbiansm ust choosec elibacy
BY DA v1o ·w. VIRTUE
TONY CAMPOLO, sociology professor,
international evangelist and author,
urged gays and lesbians to choose celibacy
at a gathering of United Methodists
in West Chester, Penn., recently.
The 62-year old evangelical social
activist and pastor to President Bill
Clinton, told an audience at West
Chester United Methodist Church that
he would never forget Roger, his gay
West Philadelphia High School class~
mate who was tawited so ruthlessly by
hisp eersth at he finallyh anged himself.
"If 1 was a Christian, I would have
stood with Roger , I wou.ld have
befriended Roger. In the end that's why
they hung Jesus on the cross, you
know, because he loved the wrong
people."
But Campolo's story doesn't mean he
condones gay se~. In fact, he believes
it's a sin, and quotes Scripture to back
that up. He urges his gay and lesbian
friends to choose celibacy.
"We do not choose our orientation,
but we do choose our behavior," he said,
adding: "Being a Christian is not always
easy."
Campolo's wife, Peggy, disagrees
with him strongly. She interprets Scripture
differently, and believes the key to
attracting gays to the church is to accept
them as they are. "People Jive in closets
because they're afraid to admit who they
are," she said shortly after Campolo
gave his speech.
The Campolo's came to West Chester
not so much to debate gay acceptance
as to show a potent issue and still stay
happily married. Like the Campo~os.
the Eastern Pennsylvania Mctbodi! 15
hope to stay united while openly discussing
how to minister to gays and lesbians
in their midst.
"I don't know of a denomination that
isn't being tom apart on this issue."
Campolo says. "This upsets . me,
because I believe people can have differing
opinions without divorce . And we
haven't gotten a divorce - yet," he added,
to laughs.
Campolo suggested that Christian
gays sb.ould approach homose,mality
much as Alcoholics Anonymous members
have approached alcoholism: not as
a shameful label but as an inclination
that must be struggled with one day at a
time.
Cathedral of Hope MCC target
of internet bomb threat
DALLAS - The Cathedral of Hope
Metropolitan Community Church. the
world's largest predominantly gay and
lesbian congregation, was the target of a
bomb threat posted on the hltemet.
The threat, received shortl y before
Holy Week by The Dallas Morning
News, is being investigated by the FBI.
The Rev. Mike Piazza, senior pastor
of the congregation , said the church
. would continue to operate oonnally.
"Our stance is that we need to release
this infonnation so our members know
(and) cau make their choice. We're going
to have services, but people have a right
to know what they arc coming to," he
said.
Piazza also noted th.at last year's
bombing of an Atlanta gay bar and more
recent bomb attacks on abortion clinics
have forced the church to view all
threats witl1 concern.
The threats have affected attendance,
but all services are being held as scheduled.
SEE BOMB THREAT, Page 17
NATIONAL NEWS
Formerp residenot f statec onventionle avesB aptisct hurch
COLUMBIA. S.C. - Flynn Harrell says
turning his back on the South Carolina
Baptist Convention which he headed a
decade ago was not really a case of him
leaving the denomination. Rather, he
says, the Bapti sts left him .
Harrell, the convention's pre sident in
1987, said his move to the Presbyterian
faith CaJDC after more than a year's strug gle
and almost 20 years of observing the
Baptists ' political shift .
That shift toward more conservative
views created what Harrell call s an
atmo sphere of "extremist secnlar politicization"
that he no longer could over look.
"In good con science I can no longer
remain a Southern Bapti st," Harrell said.
"My denomination has left me in doctrine
, in wor ship , in exclu sion of other
Chri stians , in deni al of the gifts of
women in mini stry ."
At le ast one national Bapti st leader
said Harrell's decision is part of a trend.
"I have said from time to time that I
think the most overlooked dimension of
the takeov er of the Southern Baptist
Convention has been the hemorrhaging
of Baptists out of the denomination, "
said Stan Hastey, executive director of
the Alliance of Bapti sts.
The Alliance , based in Washing ton,
D.C., is one of several moderate groups .
fonned since the conservativ e takeover
of the Southern Bapti st Convention in
the early 1980s.
" It signal s an enormous loss for the
Bapti st movement in general when people
like Flynn and (bis wife) Anne make
decision s such as the one they've made
recently," Hasley said.
Harrell , who served for 21 years as the
st ate Baptist s' first finance offi cer ,
announc ed his deci sion in late January .
He no long er was working for the stale
convention when he made his deci sion,
Baptists urged to preach abstinence,
against homosexuality
' BY BRIAN HICKS
CHARLESTON, S.C. - It was a seminar
basically abou l the joy of 0 0 1 having
sex.
The Southern Bapt ist Convention's
EUucs and Religious Liberty Commission
met here during the first week of
March, asking its members to go into
their communities and preach the values
of abstinence and the sins of homosexu ality
.
"We live in a wicked, wicked society,"
Michael Johnston, who mi1ustcrs
to people "struggling wilh homosexual ity,"
told the group. His proof: He is a
"fonuer homosexual," and has HIV.
Perhaps as draniatic as the message is
tl1e widerlying struggle of a fiercely conservative
religious group trying lo get
out its anti-gay message while fighting
an image of intolerance and extremism.
"We want to be compassionate
people," said Dwayne Hastings, communications
director for the commission.
"While the Bible speaks very
strongly against homosexuality , we're
not saying we don't like people. It's a
hate the sin, love the sinner sort of
thing. We don't want it to come out in a
hc.m10phobic way."
But walk into this seminar at tbe
wrong second and its purpose could be,
well, misconstmed . For instance, lhere
Wa8:
A- "formet" homosexual" talking
ab o ut atte ndi ng services a t n ch u rch
where the pas tor was a "well -known
homophobic bigot."
A magazi ne distrib uted by the commission
featured a back page advertisement
with two Mickey Mouses holding
hands and hawking a video on the evils
of Disney and its "homosexnal agenda ."
A slide show about sexually transmitted
diseases that includ ed graphic
photographs of geni talia.
While the seminar addressed pomogrnphy,
premari tal sex and sexually transmitted
diseases , the main topic was
homosexuality. Johnston, who now is
host and producer of a radio show that
monitors homosexual activity, said that
instead of coode1111ungth e practitioners,
introduce them to Jesus.
It is a recurring theme for tllis semi nar.
co11ve11th e sinners.
Johnston s,ud that to treat people any
otl1er way than as lost souls is hypocritical.
"Dear Christian ladies, you can't look
a homosexual in U1e eye aud tell them
they are in sin when you are sitting
home watclling your soap operas that
glorify fonucation and adultery," Johnston
told about 150 people. "Dear
Christian men, you can't look a homosexual
in the eye and tell them lhcy arc
in sin when you have your dirty littfo
magazines and videos hidden away in the
closet, or your secret lilllc Intcmct site."
(Cluirlcstou Post and Courier)
and had not worked there for several
years.
He also has been a president of lhe
Southern Bapti st Histori.cal Society and
chairman of the Southern Baptist Business
Officers' Conference . His wife is
the only woman elected as presid ent of
the state Baptist Historical Society.
Harrell said he is convinced his decision
to leave was the right one for his
spiritual life . He said he and his wife
have been warmly accepted into her
former denomination and membership al
Shandon Presbyt erian Church (U.S.A.)
in Columbia .
"Everything that I have received has
been supportive, " said Harrell, who now
works as a con sultant on separation of
church and sta te issues. "F or the most
part, other Baptists ... they understand ."
Carli sle Drigger s: executive director
and treasurer of the stale Bapti st Convention
, said he met with Harrell before
his public announcemen t.
"We prayed together," Drigg ers said.
"I wished him well , of course , but he
has to make his own decision as everybody
does about where to go to church ."
"I have many ~ond erful memories of
Baptist people and churches ," Harrell
said . "Until the day I die , I will have a
sadness for what happened to the Baptist
denomination ." (AP)
SoutherBn aptisttsa keo n
Monnons'c laimt o ·Christianity
BY KRISTEN MOULTON
SALT LAKE CITY - The decades-o ld
debate 'o ver Mormonism 's claim to
Christianity is gai ning decibels as the
Southern Baptist Convention prepa res
to brin g 20,000 members inl o lhe Mor mon
heartland.
The Baptis ts say they hope for polite
discuss ion when they gather here for
their annual meeting in Jwie. But they
have launched a campaign beforehand to
educa te their members about the doctrinal
underpinnings of The Church of
Jesus Ouist of Latter-day Saints.
Mormons, the Baptists claim, share
family and ethical values with mainstream
Christianity, but their fundamental
doctrines are beyond the Christian
pale. And the Baptists have produced a
videotape and companion workbook to
butl!Cesst he argument. .
For their part, Monnon church leaders
arc taking unusual pains to stress the
faith's Christian bonafides as they steel
their own flock for the invasion.
They decline to comment on the video
or be interviewed about the tl1eological
jousting. But twice in February Mormon
apostles delivered what were billed
as "major addresses" defending the
church as explicitly Christian.
The speeches by Elders Boyd K.
Packer and M. Russell Ballard to Mormon
college students were unusually
pointed, though consistent with the
modem church's apparent push for au
acknowledged place in mainstream
Christianity.
Those who would make films about
Mormon beliefs, Packer said, are
"uninformed and unfair" if they portray
Latter-day Saint s as outside the Chris tian
fol d. He did not refer to the Southern
Baptist video - "The Monnon Puzzle"
- by name.
Ballard, speaking at Utah State Univer-
sity . off e red a po in l-by -poiot rcbullal
10 !hose "w ho claim we are n o r Chri stian
s beca use of our belief in these
revealed truths."
At issue are Mormonism's fowidation
beliefs: That church founder Joseph
Smith was visited in the 1820s by God
and Jesus Christ, who told him that all
existing churches were apostate; that
Christ restored bis true gospel through
Smith, together with propheti c and
priesthood authority to perform ordinances
necessary lo full salvation.
Smith's fourteen successors in the
Mormon presidency down to current
President Gordon B. Hinckley have continued
to claim they hold the earthly
keys to that authority .
Bible-based Christian groups also
contend Mormons are not Christian
because they rely on works of scripture
besides the Bible . Chief io the Monnon
scriptural canon is lhc Book of Mormon,
which Smith said he translated by
divine inspiration from ancient gold
plates given him by an angel.
"Either Joseph Smitl1 was the Lord's
instrument by which the restoration of
the gospel of Jesus Chris! in its fullness
was accomplished. or he is 001." Ballard
said. "There is no possible compromise
of this doctrine ."
Other points of differenc e concern
Monuon beliefs that God and Jesus are
r,
SEE MORMONS, Page 17
SECOND STONE 15
..,.
Priest fears breakup
of Anglican Church
BY BOB HARVEY
A NEW BRUNSWICK priest has
launched a national grassroots campaign
to save the Anglican Church of Canada
from what he fears will be a breakup
over the ordination of gays and lesbians.
Rev. George Eves, one of the organizers
of the church's growing and conservative
Essentials movement, says "all
hell will break loose" if liberal bishops
such as Bishop Michael Ingham of Vancouver
follow through on hints that
they will ordain practicing gays and lesbians.
In "Two Religions, One Church," a
new book published with the help of his
congregation in Saint John, Eves says
the real problem is not homosexuality
but the growingg ulf betweenc onservatives
who believe in what they see as
the Bible's prohibition on homosexuality
and liberals such as Bishop Ingham
who place more emphasis on reason and
experience, seeing ordination of gays as
a matter of justice. The issue could split
the church, he said.
"People like Michae l Ingham call
people like me a bigot, and people like
me are calling him a heretic," Eves said.
"We have two competing religions.
That's what's controversial. It's not a
very nice thing to say, but we can't just
sleepwalk into the next millennium."
Eves blames the church's growing liberalism
and what he sees as its disregard
of the Bible for many symptoms of
crises in his denomination: falling attendance.
aging congregations, the
"feminization" of the church and resulting
lack of young male Anglicans and
the growing gap between a socialist-
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leaning hierarchy and a conservative laity.
He published the book himself with
the aid of $12,000 in loans from members
of his congregation and has sent
copies to Anglican bishops, theological
students and all 300 delega tes to the
denomination's coming national synod
meetings in Montreal.
. 1994 Essentials meeting, which drew
700 evangelical, charismatic and other
conservative Anglicans to Montreal to
restate their adherence to traditional
beliefs. ·
The book is also being dis tributed
through Anglican bookstores.
Inclu ded with the book is a tear-out
letter to be mailed to synod. delegates ,
urging them to_ take three steps: Support
bishops in their current ban on homosexual
ordinatio n and the blessing of
same sex unions; call an inquiry into
the crisis in ~e church and find ways to
resolve it; and restate the church's
adherence to the traditional Christian
beliefs set out in the Bible.
Eves hopes delegates will receive hundreds,
if not thousands, of letters before
the meetings. The book has only been
out since mid-March, but he says he has
already been charged with trying to
hijack the agenda of what looked like a
dull meeting. But he says his hope is
only that Anglicans will "start being
honest with each other, and admit we
have a problem.
"This is a defining moment in our
history. Either we deal with the crisis or
we will just fade away."
Eves was the founding chairman of
Barnabas Ministries. a national outreach
to evangelical Anglican priests across
the country. J:Ie also helped organize the
Eves said that conference was aimed at
the church 's elite. He says his book is
aimed at the rank and file, who have
been intimidated from participating in
what, until now, has been primarily an
academic theological debate.
So far, the reaction to Eves' book has
been cautious.
. It includes liUlited e1idorsemeuts by
his current bishop, George Lemmon,
and Archbishop Harold Nutter of Fredericton.
Both stop short of endorsing all
Eves' views, but commend him for challenging
the church .
Rev. Tom Robinson, the current
chairman of Barnabas Ministries. says
he was surprised by the book's humor,
but agrees with Eves' analysis of the crisis.
"A lot of people will choke on it,
but others will say 'thank goodness
somebody has written this thing."'
The Very Rev. Peter Coffin, dean of
Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa, is a
delegate to the general synod, and said
he received the book but has not read it.
But he said it is "ludicrous " to say there
are two different religions within the
denomination .
"We're not going to split over homosexuality
. It's not going to be like the
United Church. We're going to be really
guarded in our conversations," Dean
Coffin said. (1be Ottawa Citizen)
Scotland: Primus says agree
to disagree on gays
THOSE WHO DISAGREE with ordaining
gays and lesbians shouid not oppose
those who do agree with it, the Bishop
of Edinburgh, the Most Rev. Richard
Holloway, has said.
In an interview published in the Lesbian
and Gay Christian Movement's
spring newsletter the bishop said, "I
would not force people to accept my
attitude, for instance, to the possibility
of ordaining gay people in stable sexual
relationships. If they say, 'I just can't
get my head, and my heart, and my
mind round it,•, then I say. Peace.
"But please do not oppose those of us
who can get our heads, and our beans,
and our minds round it. Let's try and
live in some kind of balance here.
"And I think one of the ways social
evolution happens is by precisely reaching
that kind of tolerance ."
The bi shop , who is Primus of the
Scottish Episcopal Church. predicts that
the Lambeth Conference this swnmer
will achieve a "holding operation , in
which we will appoint some kind of
long-tenn study group to look at the
issue, which tuight be the very best
thing."
He would welcome as a result the setting
up of a "genuine ly representative
commission that included gay people,
gay tbeologians, some of the more fluent
and open-minded conservative theologians."
be said. Dut it would have to
exclude "the absolute intransigents,
because they by definition don't think
there's anything even to negotiate."
There was "nothing really in scripture
ahout the gay issue," the bishop said ,
"but it is a big issue for people who
have almost nbsoluti i.cd scripture ."
(Anglican Communion News Scr\'icc )
Mormon faith yet an9ther 'puzzle' for Southern Baptists
FromPagelS
separate within a godhead that includes
the Holy Ghost , that both have bodies
and that grace and good works are necessary
for salv a tion. Mormons also
believe that men and women eventually
can become "gods and goddes ses."
Traditional Christianity believes in
the Trinity - that God, Jesus and the
Holy Spirit arc one god; tliat God is
spirit; that grace alone leads to salvation
and that men cannot become gods. Most
believe the route to heaven is through
Jesus, not thro9gh a single church.
Monnon church spokesman Arnold
R. Augustin said Ballard and Packer
chose their own topics, and wanted to
equip members with ways of responding
to those who deny Mormons' claim to
Christianity.
The church has no plans to focus
resources on the Southern Baptists'
scheduled convention, Augustin said.
But the fact that top Mormon leaders
would publicly discuss the argument
both swprised and delighted Baptists and
others who want the doctrinal differences
laid bare.
"I've not seen this level of response
before," said John Constance, an evangelical
Chri stian and owner of Intermountain
Book in Salt Lake City.
Demandfo r "The Mormon Puzzle"i s
on lbe rise - Constance just ordered 50
more copies - and he sees the summer
convention as an opener for a debate
many main stre am Chri stian s in Utah
have longed for.
"It ought to create some intere sting
di scussions ," Constan ce said . "The
vide o has spar ked something that is
going to be useful in the dialogue ."
Other denomination s, too , ha ve chal leng
ed Morm ons' claim to Chri stianity .
In 1995 , the Pre sbyt erian Chur ch in
Ameri ca issued guid eline s saying Mormons
are outside the "hi storic apostolic
tradition of the Christian Church ."
About 45,000 c.opies of "The Mormon
Puzzle" video have been sold since
July, nearly 38,000 of them for distribution
to Southern Baptist churches, said
Philip Roberts, director of tJ1e lnterfaith
Witness Team for the convention's
North American Mission Board, which
hacked ll1e video production.
Roberts said Southern Baptists wanted
an objective look at the differences between
Monnonism and Bible-based
Christianity . That's why they used religion
experts from Mormon-owned
Brigham Young University and faithful
Monnon families to explain U!e faith's
tenets.
"We're not antagonistic toward Mormon
people, but they have more than
50,000 Mormon missionaries, many
targeting Baptist people every week of
the year in all parts of the world,"
Roberts said. '
Sandra Tanner, an ex-Monnon who
appears on the video, said she bas sold
hundreds of copies of the video through
her Utah Lighthouse Ministry in Salt
Lake, which also sends out newsletters
critical of Utah's predominant faith.
For years , many Christian denominations
have had a "li ve and let live" atti tude
toward Mormonism, she said, but
the video "has refocused attention that
yes, that are some differences. It's helping
both sides think through how to
articulate their beliefs better."
Tanner said public discussion is necessary
because in the past 20 years, the
Mormon church has increasingly moved
toward mainstre am Chri stianity while
minimizing it_s unique difference s.
She points to the 1978 revelation lift ing
a controver sial ban that had pre vented
black men from holding the Mormon
priesthood and changes in 1990 ridding
the Mormon temple ceremony of
BOMB THREAT,
From Page14
The Interne t threat contained condemnat
io ns of lesb ians and ga ys and
claimed, "You think Oklahoma City
was bad, wait until you see this."
The Rev. Troy D. Perry, Mod.erato r of
the Universal Fellowship of Metropoli tan
Community Churches, to which
Cathedra l of Hope MCC belongs, said
"We strongly condemn these threats to
our consti tutional rights to worship and
free assembly. Over the past 30 years ,
more than 20 Metropolitan Community
Church congregations have been target s
of the hate crimes of arson or firebomb ing,
and many more have faced threats
to both worshipers and property.
"I cal l upon all peopl e of goodwill lo
uphol d the Rev . Mike Piazza and the
congreg ation of Cathedral of Hope Metropo
litan Community Church with their
love and prayers during this time," Perry.
added . "I salute the church for keeping
its doors open to gay, lesbian , bisexual
and transgendered persons. The Scrip tures
declare that 'perfect love casts out
fear .' Through their boldness and love,
our members and friends in Dallas are
communicating the message that we
don't have to be afraid anymore."
reference s to other religions being led by
Satan .
Tanner sees the current debate this
way: "The. church is not being honest to
the world about its real theology ... and
the Southern Baptists are calling them
on it."
Mike Gray, pastor of Southeast Baptist
church in Salt Lake City. said it is
necessary for Southern Baptists to confront
the issue because Mormons
believe they have a lock on religious
truth.
"If we give them the title Christian,
MARCH
From Pagel
al, and Transgender Organization. "I am
hearing from Native Americans, Asians,
African Americans, Latinos and Pacific
Islanders who arc ecstatic about participating."
Organizers also expressed their support
for the "F,quality Begins at Home" .
actions on all 50 state capitals set for
1999.
'The F,quality Begins at Home actions
enjoy the full and enthusiastic support
of the organi zers of the Mill ennium
March," said Elizabeth Birch, executive
director of the Human Rights Cam paigu
. "It's imperative that we focus our
energies as a movement at both the state
and federal level. These two events will
complement each other as together we
build the momentwn to achieve equality
in the next century ."
"I am glad to see both of these events
moving towards a more collaborativ e
proce ss," said Jubi Headley, executi ve
director of the National Black Lesbian
and Gay Leader ship Fomm . 'Thi s is a
positive sign of progress ."
"Our greatest hope as a movement
lies in our commitment to work
togethe r for social chang e. Our passion
for ju stice and our pledge to lift up
ever y voice has th.e potential to transform
town hall s, state houses, and our
nation's capit ol," said Kerry Lobe l,
exec utiv e direc tor of the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force.
"I remain hopeful that the Equality
Begins at Home actions and the Mi11enuium
March will help build our grassroots
movement at the state, local and
national level," said Dianne Hard-Garcia,
executive direc tor of the Lesbian Gay
Rights Lobby of Texas and co-chair of
the Federation of Statewide Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transgendcred Organizations.
"I believe that working
together these actions can strengthen the
slate and federal organizations that fight
daily to end discrimination ."
-then they take it and it's theirs. Where
does it put the rest of us?"
He said Monnons can't have it both
ways - to claim, as Joseph Smith did,
that other religions arc abominations,
and yet now claim to be part of that
Christian community.
"It's sort of a woe-is-me attitude,"
Gray said. "It's almost like , 'Ignore our
history and ignore our teachings, wrap
your arms around us.•
"The lines are very, very clear and
they drew them." (AP)
"Now that there is a growing consensus
to gather in Washington, DC, in
April, 2000, let's decide how that time
can be used, not just to inspire each otl1-
er, but to change the 1ninds and hearts of
friends and foes alike," said Dr. Mel
White, noted author and UFMCC's
Minister of Justice. "Let's use the 'soul
force' teachings of Gandhi and King to
guide us. Their co1amiunent to the principles
of militant nonviolent resistance
lo injustice gave moral authority to the
civil rights movements that they led .
What a wonderful opportunity we have
to rediscover !hose principles as we prepare
for this new miJJennillln ."
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SEC'OND STONE 17
AIDS activist's
life was a lesson
BY DA VE CUMMINGS
PLYMOlITH, N.H. - Among the hundreds
of greeting cards on Louise Traunstein's
dining room table in Plymouth
recently was a manila envelope. Inside
the manila envelope was a stack of
papers. On the first of those papers was
a short note from one of the thousands
of people whose life Steve Traunstein
touched before. April 24, when Louise's
son died of AIDS 10 years after discovering
he had the HN virus.
"To tell the truth, I'm glad I got to
meet you," wrote the high school student.
"You ... look normal, not weird."
The first reaction upon reading, perhaps,
is a chuckle, or maybe a scowl in
response to words that might seem trite,
meaninglessu,n enlighteneodr just plain
juvenile.
Bnt in the world of Traun stein, who
lived his final years in Gilford, words
like these were his triumph.
"Rea ding this probably made him
realize be was accomplishing his goals,"
said Leslie Traunstein, her brother's
elder by a year . "Teachers can stand in
front of a classroom and lecture forever,
but there's no way we can get the message
across like that. Here was Steve ,
who seemed to be healthy with everything
going for him, and in reality he
was about to die.
"Kids think that nothing can hann
them, that they don't have to be careful
with drugs and sex, but he was able to
get across the message that tl1ey really
do."
Traunstein lived a part of his 47-year
life as a heroin addict and one who practiced
unprot ec ted sex, habits that
ultimately served as his death sente,. ~
But he also served as a messenger - of
hope, of strength, of faith, of spirituali ty,
of life - and that will surely serve as
his legacy.
"He always had time to spend speak ing
with me about my situation, even
when he was at odds with his own mortality,
" said Jo Donna Sherman, a 37-
year-old North Carolina disc jockey who
met Traunstcin 24 years ago , when he
wa:J o counselor at a drug rehab in Con-
18 MA Y •JUNE I 9 9 8
necticut.
"He went through hell, but he was
always able to find heaven for someone
else."
Traunstein' s battle began in his teenage
years, and by the age of 17 al Boston
English High School, he was
addicted to heroin. At the age of 21, he
approached his parents and told them
they needed to be made aware of what
was happening in the world around
them.
"He told us about a storefront in
Brighton (Mas s.) where people were
meeting to give lectures on drug education,"
Louise Traunstein said. "He told
us we needed to go out and learn ."
'.fhose storefront educators would soon
turn into the counselors at Project Turnabout,
a residential drug rehabilitation
center in Hingham. Not long after his
conversation witl1 mom and dad, Traw1-
steiu chec ked himself in, tltus beginning
a pattern of helpin g and being helped
that would last for the rest of his life .
While at Turnabout, he became a
cowiselor . A year later, he checked himself
into another trea tment center,
Vitam, in Norwalk, Conn., and he was
again a cmmselor by the time he left.
"Each time he went into a rehab situation,
he would eventually talce on the
role of therapis t," Louis e Traunstein
said.
Traunstein seemed to have reached a
spiritual plateau by the time he reached
Plymouth State College in March of
1973. While there, he opened I!. home
for transcende ntal meditation before
gradua ting summa cum laude with a
psychology major and minors in philosophy
and political science.
"He was absolutely at peace," said his
mother .
But it wouldn't last long. Traunstein
slipped back into recreational drug use
that would eventually lead to his rock
bottom. Despite the slippery slope of
destruction he was on, he continued his
work at Vitam and led as constructive a
life as possible.
· But by the spring of '86, he was Iiv•
ng in a dumpster in Boston.
He made television that winter .
"We got a call from a friend who said
they'd seen Steven on tl1e news," Louise
Traunstein said. "His quote was, 'It's
hell ·to be homele ss at Christm as.' Our
friend just said, 'Steven' s safe."'
The family was as supportive as possible,
and eventually , Traunstein came
around . He checked himself back into
Turnabout in 1988, graduating in March
of 1990 after successfully completing
the 18-month program.
That was th.e good news . The bad was
that he'd tested positive for HIV.
But Traunstein refused to let the virus
win. After one more slip into substance
abuse in early 1991. he fotu1d the clean
and sober life for good in March of that
same year . That' s when the mission ·
really began in earnest.
• Traunstein, who had since moved to
the Lake s Region, teamed up with
another HN -infected man, Blake Morris
of Brndford, Vt., and together they
founded LIFESPAN - Living lnfonned
Frees Everyone Support Positive Action
Now - and began to spread tlteir message
to anyone who would listen .
''The . message was that AIDS is a dis~
ease of tu1derlying causes," said friend
Dick Utell, a co-developer of the Challenge
Course, an early intervention substauce
abuse program . "It's a disease
founded on our own behaviors and tlte
choice s we nialce. If we know that,
there's certainly the possibility for us to
prevent being exposed to tl1e vims."
"The pr ogram was about getting students
to love and cherish themselves so
they wouldn't put themselves at risk
with the virus," said Sue Walsh, assistant
director of Plymouth State's Office
of Counse ling aud Hwnan Relation s.
"They really loved his prese ntation s.
They could really relate to him."
By the end of 1992, LIFESPAN had
completed 87 programs at nine colleges
and 16 school districts . But there was
other work to be done . Traun stein
worked close ly with Utell on the Chai-
AGE,
FromPage2
Lyon said the people at Pleasant Valley
United Methodist had been told that
the larger Shepherd church was breaking
away, and the future of the smaller
chapel was injeopardy.
"I'm sure (Pleasant Valley members)
kuew it was a case of 'Ei ther you take
this gal or you lock the door.' What I
realized when I came here is the door
doesn't need to he locked - the area needs
to be worked," Lyon said.
She believes the potential exists to
build an active, if small. congregation
whose viability won't be questioned in
the future . That's her goal .
Not a lot of new ministers arc women
in their 60s, and Lyon said it has posed
some challenges. One engaged couple
wanted to be married at Pleasm1t Volley ,
. but didn't want a woman to pcrfonn the
lengc Course, eventually incorporating
an clement dealing specifically with
HIV and AIDS . He worked as a student
assistance counselor at Inter-Lake s High
School, earning himself an entire: page
in tlte I 997 yearboo k for his guidance
after the di seas e forced him to retire in
the spring of I 996.
Wrote one former Inter-Lak es student,
"AIDS took Steve's health . His body
doesn't fit our image of him, but as you
all know, nothing can kill Steve Traunstein's
spirit. His spirit is in all of us, it
is in me, I CAN FEEL IT!"
And even while a pa tient at Lakes
Region General Hospital, where he
spent much of his final 14 months,
Traun stein served as a counselor for
those with substance abuse problems.
By all accounts , be was an inspiration.
"He made the choice to live with
AIDS, as opposed to just dying with
it," said Utell.
Next to the pile of cards on that same
Plymonth tabletop was a
recently-publi shed book of poetry called
" Harvest of Seasons " by Russ Traunstein,
Steve's father. Inside that book,
on page 7 1, is a poem entitled,
"Lament ," which Russ wrote in 1996,
anticip-atin g that he would outlive his
son.
The final stanza reads :
Wind clatters though stalk and brittle
limb.
Like us, it sobs: We are stripped and
num b,
and wonder whetlter spring will eve r
come. .
Russ died last August following
unexpect ed comp licatio ns during heart
surge ry. His son saw him once during
his hospital stay in Hanov er - the day
before Russ died.
The father died three month s sober in
Alcoho lics Anonymous. (Concord
Monitor)
·ceremony. They asked if a male 1ninister
could be broug ht into the church for
their wedding . Lyon refused.
'1 have been assigned tlte church with
all the authority that comes witlt that,"
Lyon said.
Fellow pastors stood behind Lyon.
The couple went to another church to
say their vows.
But Lyon said others who may have
been leery about tlteir church being led
by a woman have softened. "One man
took me aside one day ... and whispered
in my ear, 'You're a keeper,"' she said .
Before becoming pastor, Lyon was
told Pleasant Valley had an average
attendance of 10 at Sunday worship
services. That average has increased to
17 since Lyon was a'lsigncd pastor .
(Midland Daily News)
Gay Methodists send message to bishops
From Page1
2000 .
In light of the bishop s ' statement,
Nebra ska Bishop Joel Martin ez said he
would act against any minister who per fonued
a same-sex cer emony, just as he
did in tl1e Creech case.
Contact ed by telephone , Creech said
he was plea sed the bishop s did not bow .
to pre ssure to call a special Gen eral
Conf erence, but instead chose to wait
until the Judici al Council had mled on
legal issues raised at his trial.
Creech , who contend s that t11e prohi bition
against same-se x union s is not
binding on Methodi st pastor s, also said
the bishops showed "lack of leadership"
by not speaking out again st "the persecution
of gay s, lesbians and bisexuals."
The Rev. Doug William son, a
ALABAMA,
From Page l
more than a decade . "As far as I'm con cerned
it's business as usual. We' ve got
three this month ."
Th e legislation does not contain any
criminal pen altie s for clergy or jud ges
who solemni ze gay relationships. But a
leader of lhe Gay and Lesbian Allian ce
of Alabama said be was saddened hy the
Senate's 30-0 vote for final approval.
"It's not going to change a thing. It's
just going to make gay and le sbian people
fee l like they're second-glass ci t.izcns,"
said David White, Birminghamarea
coordi nator for the organ.iz.ation.
The sponsor of the bill agreed the
Legis lature cannot stop a gay relati onship.
"Dul we can keep it from becom ing
the moral , right way ," said Rep .
Phil Crigl er, R-Irvington .
Sen. Bill Armist ead, R-Columb iana,
has been trying to pass ilic legislation
for three years. He credited its passage to
court decisions in oilier states iliat may
clear the way for legali zation of samesex
marriages and to a huge lobby ing
effort by church grou ps, particularly the
Mormons, to stop such vows from having
legal standing in Alabama. The
church groups ran ads in Sunday newspapers
and spent tl1e wee kend before the
vote calling legislato rs before they met
for the final day of ti1e lcgislati ve session.
So far. no state has legalized same-sex
marriages , and lesbians and gays in Ala bama
have not been pushing for official
recog nition of such relat ionships . But
Repu blican legis lators and religious
groups have been conccmed because the
U.S. Constitution says marriage s per fonned
in oue state must be recognized
in all.
1n 1997 . Con_gre:rn passed - and ilie
Nebra ska Wesleyan Univer sity religion
p.-ufes sor who repre sented Creech at tl1c
trial, prai sed the bi shops for their
restraint. "They're trying to steer (the
church) away from what I call a panic
mode," he said.
The bishops said that, in anticipation
of a rulin g by the denom ination's
supreme court, tl1ey deemed it w1wise to
call a speci al se ssion at this point.
Moreover, they said, "as we respond to
the crisis in tl1e world , especially among
children and tl1e impov erished ... a special
sess ion might further distrac t us
from our central mission .
the church "to remain focu sed on the
mission of God and our unity in Christ
and to set prioriti es accordingly." The
bi shops affirmed that the church' s
aut11ority and unity arc "inextricably
bound to our sharing of Christ's ministry
and prcseuce among those whom
Jesus called 'the least of these." '
The pain United Methodi sts are feeling
because of ilie homos exuality and
same -sex issue is a "call " for renewed
commitment to doctrinal foundations ,
ilic bishops said. "We solicit your prayers
and support as toget11cr we seek to
anchor the church more finnly in our
biblical and theological fouudations."
Backlash over same-sex union
The bishops said tl1ey will confront
matters of tension with pati ence and
hope. They likewi se called on the entire
United Metlioclist Church to deal with
matters concerning homo sexuality and
same-sex union "with faithfuln ess
rooted in tlie love of Christ, as revealed
in Holy Scripture ·."
Becaus e of the divisivene ss of the
homosexualit y issue, the bishops intend
to develop a teaching resource tlrnt will
identify "critical doctrinal and ecclesial
foundations for addressin g current and
oilier issues ." (UMNS and Lincoln Star
Journal)
In the lett er, the bishop s acknowledged
the impor tance of the issues surrounding
homosexuality and the
church's ability to maintain discipline,
order and unity. They al so challenged Methodist high court
calls special session
president signed - the Defen se of Marriage
Act to deny federal recognition of
same-sex marri ages and allowing states
no t to recognize same-sex union s
licensed in oilier states.
Alabama is the 30th state to ban
same-sex unions, Armistead said. The
legislat ion would replace au execulive
order that the govern or signed two years
ago to deny rec ognition to same -sex
union s. (AP)
SEATTLE - The United Metliodist
Church's highest judicial body has called
a special session for Aug. 7 and 8 in
Dallas to consider ilie meaning of language
related to ilie denomination' s prohibition
of same-sex unions.
A ques tion about the languag e was
submitted April 8 to the United Methodist
Judi cial Counci l by the College of
Bishop s or the South Central Juri sdiction,
one of five such geographic areas
in tJ1e United States.
"We may well hear other petitions
concerning the same subject and related
ones from other parties ," the council
said in an April 22 statement.
South Cen tral bishops have asked for
a declarat ory decision from the council.
Th ey want to know whether it is a
chargeable offense if a mini ster violates
tl1e denomination 's prohibitions against
performing "ceremonies rhar cclcbr a rc
homos e xual unions" and conductin g
· such ceremoni es in United Meiliodi st
churches. ·
"Great Is God's ·Faithfulness"
Evangelicals ConcernedW esternR egionC onference
July 2-5 - Chapman University - Orange, CA
Christionr econciliationf or the Goy, Lesbian, Bi-Sexula, Tronsgender
communitiesa, nd for our supportivef riends.
Ke~ote Speakers
cha r ie Shedd
Proud father of two gay sons.
Author of "Lette rs to Phillip",
•Letters to Ka ren" , and
"I'm Od d, Thank You God"
Ma ry Borhek
Founder , San ctuary - a safe plac e
for 9oy ond lesbia n Christian s.
Author of *Comini O ut To Parents•
and "My Son Eric '
Dr. Rolph Blair
Founder , Evangelicals Concerned .
Author, psychotherapist and co nsulta nt to
C
0
n
n
co n n EC ti o n
t
• I
Registration
Co nnECtion '98 - July 2-5
$275 (includes room, board ,
workshops , and fireworks!)
Women's Retreat - July 1-2
$30 (with ConnECt ion '98)
$50 (Women's Retreat only)
Scholarships ava ilable .
Call ECWR for more informa tion .
Pa~ent Methods
ch~ payabl e to ECWR
Visa or Mas terCard
(include number a nd exp. date)
Go y, Lesbian , AIDS, and Christian organ izatio ns.
Women~ Retreat: July 1 ·2
0
n
'98
Send Fee, Name, Address , Phone to:
Letha Daws on Scanzo ni
S~ ker and au thor of "All We 're Mea nt To Be"
a nd "Is The Homosexu al My Neig hbor?"
We&site: www. ecw r.org
ECWR Con nECtion '98
PO Box 66906
Phoenix, AZ 85082-66906
For more information ca ll: (602)893-6952
SFCOl'1D ST O N E 19
--.
.....
-- ..... - .. ---- ....... _____ ···-
Church&Or anizationNews
MCC in the Valley
celebrates 25 years
NORTH HOLLYWOOD - The San Fernando
Valley's only congregation in the
Universal Fellow ship Metropolitan
Community Churches has celebrated its
25th anniversary, after surviving threats
that had a former pastor wearing a bulletproof
vest and the deaths of 80 members
from the AIDS epidemic .
The 115-member North Hollywood
church was congratulated by the San
Fernando Valley Interfaith Council and
the denomination' s founder , the Rev.
Troy Perry.
The Metropolitan Commun ity
Church in the Valley pride s itself on
having pushed U1e once male-dominated
denomination into more concern with
women's issues.
'T his was o ne of the fir s t congr eg a tions
in the UFMCC to strongly
advocate an equal role for women in
churc h life... as well as place ju st as
much emphasis on women's hea lth
issues as we do on AIDS/HIV," said the
Rev. Jeffrey Pulli ng, pastor.
Pulling, 48, is one of many UFMCC
. .
Ecumenical & Inclusive
We are a Christ ian community of men
and women from various Catholic and
Protestant traditions involved in minslries
of love, compassion and reconcili ation
. We live and work in the world,
supporting ourselves and our ministri es
and are inspired by the spirit of St.
Franc is and St. Clare. We are not
canc,nicall y affiliated with any denomination.
For more infonna tion or a copy of our
news letter, Footsteps, please write us:
Voca tion Dir6Ctor
PO Boit 8340
New Orleans, Li\ 70182
Mercy of God Community
20 MAY•JlJNE1998
minister s who were educa ted at a mainstream
Christian seminary but eventuall
y joined the clergy ranks of the
UFMC C.
"I was the first openly gay seminarian
at Andover Newton Theo logical School
near Boston in the early 1970s," Pulling
said . When it came to the requirement
that he serve a part-lime internship at a
local church , he said, "they didn't quite
know what to do with me ... I found an
MCC co ng regation by that point and
was able to do mr field education there."
The North Hollywood church has
long been active in the San Fernando
Valley Interfaith Council , participat ing
in the council 's annual winterti me
homele ss project, cler gy council and
Martin Luther King birthda y observ ances
as well as tl1e North Hollywood
Food Pantry .
Des pit e th e hard-won ac ce ptance in
tl1e religious commu nity, tl1e congreg ation
has had to contend with outside
dangers.
The Rev. Sherre Boothman, who pastored
the church from 1989 to 199- 3,
"used to wear a bulletproof vest because
her life was threatened seve ral time s,"
Pulling saidl.
The congregation, which had 300
members at its height in the early
1980s, later saw its male ranks deci mated
by the 'AIDS virus . "Fun erals
were being held here every week during
the height of the AIDS cri sis ," Pulling
said.
"We're still dealing with accumul ated
grief." (John Dart. Los Angeles Times)
• lesbian and gay
New&s Enetrtainmnte
for New Orleans since 1977
Travel MovieP olice
Theatre Gay History
WickeSd tage Directory
LesbiaVn oices Politcis
QuarteSrc enes Books
& more
g;iym·tllfimpocuicws.com
www.impectncws.com
Events .
Announcements in this sectio11 are provided
fr ee of charge as a service to
Christia11 orga11izatio11s. To have an
event listed, send information to Second
Stone, P.O. Box 8340. New Orlea11s,
LA 70182, FAX to (504)899-4014, email
secstone@aol.com.
More Light C.hurches
Conference
MAY 22-24, "197 8-1998 : Honor the Past!
Transform the Futu re!" is the theme for the
1998 More Light Chu rches Co nferen ce, to
be ho sted by McKinl ey Memori al Ch urch
in Champ aign , Illinois. Keyno te speaker
will be Rev. Dr. Beverly Harrison, on the
faculty of Union Seminar y (New York
City), who was a witnes s at the 1978 Gene
ral Assemb ly. Durin g lhe confere nce,
McKinley Mem orial Church will be dedi
·cating a new sta ined glass window with
the theme of inclu sivity, co mplete with
pink triangl es and oth er sy mb~l s. '.or
information , or to request a reg istration
form, co ntact Richard Spro tt, 5 10-2 68 -
860 3 , ra s pr o tt @i x .n e tc om.co m o r
ric hard_ spro11@pcusa.o rg (MLCN Steering
Committ ee) or Tim Shea, 217 -~5 5-
34 13, tms2@juno.c om (Local Comm11_1e c
Chair). Or che ck th e MLCN web sit e:
htt p://www.mlcn.o rg
Gay, Lesbian and
Christian: Many Rooms
JUNE 11- 14. Jo hn McNei l!. Vir gi nia
Ra,ncY Mollenk oll, Chris tine Smith and
Melv in Deal at Kirkridge Retreat and Study
Center, 2495 Fox Gap Rd., Bango r, PA
180 13 -9359, 6 10-588 -17 93. T hi s even t
will provide the gay, les bian, bisex ual
co mmunit y an o pp o rtu n ity lo sh are
express ions of our uniqu e ei1periences of
God's g race and love. Led by John
McNeil!, Catholic priest , psychot her apist,
co-founder or Dign ity and -•~n • ~f
gay ev ent s at Kirkridge be ginning •~
1977; Virgini a Ramey Moll enkoll , femini
st theo lo gian and author of 10 books;
Chr isti ne Smith , Pro fesso r of Preac hing
and Worship at Unit ed Theo log ical Seminary
in Minne sota; and Melvin Deal, lay
leader in the Unit y Fellows hip , Washington,
DC and founder of The African Heritage
Dance Center. Fee is $300.
GLAD Alliance Gathering
JULY 16- 19, the Gay , Lesbi an and Affirming
Disciples Alli ance (GLAD Alli_a~ce)
will galher for retreat, respite , and v1S1oning
al their annual GLAD Event. The setting
will be the Benedict Inn, a retrca~ center
in Beech Grove , Indiana , ju st outside of
Ind ianapol is. Th e eve nt is open to ~II
inte rested per sons, espec ially to folks m
the Chri st ian Chur ch (Di scip les of
Chri st). T he facili tator will be the Rev.
Melanie Morrison. co•director of Leave n.
a no n-p rofi t o rgani zation that provides
edu catio n and resources in lhe areas of
sp iritua l deve lopment. feminism. antiracism.
and sexual j us lice. She is also
author of 1he book "The Ur.ice or C'oming
Home: Spiritualily , Sexua lily, and 1h~
. Strugp.le for Justice• published in ! 99S by
The Pilgrim Press. Morrison i5 ,111
o rdained mini ster of th e Unilcd Churc h of
C hrist and lea ds retrea ts for wo me n and
me n acros s lhc chu rc h. For addi tiona l
inf o rmat ion . co ntac t GLA D Allia nce at
P.O. Box 19 223 , Ind ianapo lis, JN 462 19-
0223.
Brethren / Mennonite
gathering:
Dancing In The South wind
JULY 24-2 6, Th e Sup po rtiv e Co ngrega tio
ns Networ k announ ces Da nc ing In T he
Southwind : Weav ing An Incl usive Spir it,
an int ernational gathe ring of Me nn o nite
and Church of the Brethren congregat ions
and indivi dual s who se ek to welcome gay.
le sbian and bi sex u a l mem bers . T he
gath ering will occ ur in Wichita , Kan sas.
T he conf eren ce will build on the last SCN
inlcrnali o nal galhcrin g, which became a
home of lhc S pirit fo r two da ys -- an
ex perien ce which e nab led many of tho se
who gath ered there lo live on in coura ge
and in faith . Thi s gatheri ng will be a lime
10 foc us on worshi p of the Spirit o f incl usio
n held in Brethr en/Mennoni te faitli traditions
. Joinin g th e cele bral ive worsh ip,
will be time lo d iscuss curren t pol itica l
rea llie s of co ngregatio ns and indi vidu als
who have been cen sured or disc iplined due
lo their stance of welcome for lesbian , gay
and bisex ual perso ns in the ch urch. For
more info rmation abou t Danc ing In ~he
Soulhwind or SCN , co ntac t the Sup portive
Co ngreg ati o ns Netwo rk, P.O. Box 6300.
Minn eap o lis. MN 55-J06. Pho ne (61 _2~
722 - 690 6. . Or by e-m a i l.
SCNe two rk@aol.com .
Simply Divine: Rites of
the Gay Male Spirit
AUGUS T 2 1-23. Ken Wh ile a nd Jo hn
Linsch eid al Kirkridg e Ret reat and Sludy
Cen ter, 2495 Fox Gap Rd ., Ban ~~r, PA
1801 3 -935 9. 6 10-588 - 1793 . Fec 1htat~rs
sa y: •we will gather aga in fo~ lhe third
year to seek the divine in th_e midst of o~r
mo un taint op gay co mmunit y. We will
share our sto ries of ga yness , of love and
illne ss, of dream s and aspir ation s. and of
perso nal or spiritu al break throughs and
acco mpli shmen ts. Crea tive pro test , drag,
double entendre, camp - all testify lo a rich
.gay traditi on of respondi ng playf ully to
bo th o ppo rtun ity and o ppres s ion.• Led
by Ken White, Di rec tor of Conti nui ng
Social Work E.ducalion at Temp le University
and Jo hn Linscheid, a con tributi ng editor
10 The Other Side maga zine . Both
have been helping gay friends create rituals
to mark signifi cant passages in their
lives for the last ten yea rs. Fee, $ 230.
Marsha Stevens
concert dates
MAY 23 & _24, Christ United Evangelical
Church, Co lumbus, Ohio
MAY 30 & 31. MCC of lhe Hudson Valley.
Albany, New York
JUNE 6 & 7, Open Arms MC(' ,
Rochester , New York
JUNE 13 &14 , New Creations MCC ,
Columbus, OhllJ
JUNE 20 & 21. J\pp ,1h1d11un MCC,
< 'harlcslun. West \' i1gin111
CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY. NEWS
Prominent authors featured
Evangelicals Concerned to hold annual gathering
ORANGE, Cal. - Nationally renowned
authors in the Christian community
will address attendees at the annual
Evangelicals Concerned Western Region
"ConnECtion" Conference to be held
July 2-5, and the Women's ConnECtion
Retreat July 1-2 al Chapman University
in Orange, Calif. Authors Mary Borhek,
Charlie Shedd, and EC founder Dr.
Ralph Blair will be keynote speakers.
Letha Dawson Scanzoni will address the
ammal Won1en' s Retreat which precedes
the main conference.
The conference will focus on providing
support and guidance for gay and
lesbian Christians, their friend s and
families. In addition to the promised
speakers, ConnECtion '98 will feature a
variety of educational workshops.
inspirational music, and Fourth of July
entertainment. Attendee s will have an
opportunity to meet hundreds of gay and
lesbian Christians from around the
country.
Keynoter Mary Borhek, author of
"Coming Out To Parents" and "My Son
Eric" has been an activist for acceptance
of gays and lesbians in the Christian
community. She is the founder of
"Sanc tua ry," a gay and lesbian group
within the Moraviru.1 church.
Charlie Shedd , a long time Presbyterian
minister, is a senior spokesperson
in the Christian community in support
of openness and inelusivity. The father
Church&Or anizationNews
Gay and lesbian
Mormons to m,eet
in Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. - Affirmation: Gay
and Lesbian Monnons will meet for its
20th annuaJ conference in Portland, Oregon
Sept. 4 - 6 at the Lloyd Center
Doubietrec Hotel.
A Wide variety of speake rs will lead
fun and informative workshops, including
events focused on gay youth , seniors,
trans gender . and parents of gays
and lesbi ans. Also participating will be
rep resentatives from Family Fe llowship,
an organization of Monnon par ents
of gays and lesbians, as well as
Gamofit es, a suppo rt group for gay
Mormon fathers.
Specific workshops planned for the
conference includ e: A Psychiatrist's
Response to Reparative Therapy. Marriage
and Homophobia, Women's
Issues, Alternative Paths to Spirituality,
Getting Beyond Internalized Homophobia,
Countering the Religious Right.
and a panel discussion on Making Relationships
Work.
There will also be an opportunity to
attend an AIDS memorial service, where
the Affirmation AIDS Quilt will be displayed,
and a spiritual devotional at a
nearby church.
Any Monn.on event would be incomplete
without festivities, organizers say,
so conference attendees will be treale~ to
"lots of outrageous entertainment, song.
and games. nll , of course, with its own
special brand of gay Mormon humor."
For additional infom1atiun on this
event, contucl Affirmation. (.503)288-
2037, rllun@northwest.com, www.affirmation.
org, P.O. Box 80654, Portland
OR 97280-1654.
UFMCC pastor to
be recognized by
Queen Elizabeth II
THE REV. NEIL THOMAS, pastor of
MCC Bournemouth (Bournemouth,
England), has been invited to a Royal
Garden Party at Buckingham Palace on
July 14. Thomas will be recognized by
Queen Elizabeth II for bis mini stry to
the homeles s, the abused. and the marginalized.
He has been invited to attend
as an openly gay UFMCC minister ,
along with his partner, Miles Bingham .
Thomas , who will celebrate 10 years
as Pastor of MCC Bournemouth in
February 1999, has also been honored
by the local town of Bournemoutl1.
Members of bis church nomin ated
him as Volun teer of the Year for his
contributions to community. Thomas,
the first fully co mpen sated UFMCC
pastor in the European District, gives a
titl1e of his time to the local community,
serving on local boards and charities
including the Rape. Abuse and Incest
Line and other local projects that serve
both the lesbian. gay, bisexual and
transgendered commwlities and heterosexual
community.
Pastor Thomas said, ''These honors
are received not for myself but for every
person who has touched my life and
made it what it is today. I receive these
honors in recognition of God's influence
and the wonderful ministry that each nnd
every one has contributed to life aud
work of Metropolitan Community
Church of Boumemouth. "
of two gay sons, he has pushed beyond
the boundaries of traditional interpretations
held within the church without
compromising his evangelica l stance .
He is the author of "Letters to Philip"
and "Letters to Karen ," and a new book,
"I'm Odd, Thank You God."
Le tha Dawson Scanzoni is the coauthor
of "Is the Homosexual My
Neighbo r?" and "All We're Meant To
Be," a book about biblical feminism .
She is also the editor of the
" Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's
Caucus Update," and is an adjunct
faculty member at Old Dominion University.
Dr. Ralph Blair , founder of Evangelicals
Concerned, Inc., has supported the
integration of evangelical Christian faith
and homosexuality since the mid-
1960' s. A psychotherapist in New
York, Blair edits two national ly distributed
publications, the " Record" and
"Review." He currently serves as a consultant
to leaders of national gay, lesbian,
and HIV /AIDS organizations .
Evange li cals Concerned is a nonprofit
Christian organization positively
uniting the gay, lesbian , bisexual, and
transgender communities . It's missiou
is to provide a safe place to deal with
issues of reconcil!ation, integration , and
· maturation of spirituality and sexuality.
EC has member groups in citie-s including
Seattle, Portland, San Francisco,
Los Angeles, San Diego, New York.
Philadelphia, and other smaller communities
around the country . EC groups
hold weekly Bible studies and socials,
and annually host regional retreats as
well as the annual ConnECtion conference.
The fee for those who preregister for
this conference is $255 which includes
room, board, all workshops and keynotes,
and a fireworks extravaganza .
Registration at the door is $275, with
confirmation required prior to the event.
The registration fee for the Women's
Retreat is an additional $30 when attending
the maiu conference, $50 as a single
event. Scholarships are available for
those in need.
For additional information , contact
ECWR ConnECtion, P.O . Box 66906.
Phoenix AZ 85082-6906, (602)893-
6952, www.ECWR.org .
Retreat center for gays opens
A 22-ACRE RANCH transformed into
an ecumenical spirilllal retreat for gays
and lesbians - thought to be the only
one in the country - opened in Leona
Valley. Calif., by ho sting the first
known national multidenominational
conference of Christian ministries to the
lesbian and gay populace.
The retreat center - developed by
Catholic laymen James L. Colburn and
Kevin S. Reese, partly as a tribute to
their previous partners lost to AIDS -
has been received benignly by this small
ran.ch and farming community northeast
of Santa Clarita, they said . Aud they
surmise that the more culturally conservative
Antelope Valley to the east may
be unaware of their center's existence.
The message of tl1e Rancho AmMccer
Retreat Center and its inausural conference
is aimed at countering what is
experienced as an antagonistic climate in
the gay community, where "we have felt
constrained to apo logize for being
Christian," said Colburn, the retreat's
principal founder and a fom1er set decorator
for television.
In a keynote talk. Episcopal priest
Malcolm Boyd spoke out for the first
time against "a minority of antireligious
zealots in the gay movement"
who have created a distorted publi c
image in most media "of gays as nonspiritual,
anti-religionist hedonist s."
Gays who are moral churchgoer s are
being maligned, Boyd said during his
remarks. "Our profession of faith within
the gay movement has too often led to
our being treated as second-class citizens
and falsely stereotyped as hypocrites and
accomplice s in social oppression." said
Boyd, author of 25 books and poet in
residence at Los Angeles' Episcopal
headquartel'S.
Colburn and Reese said that Rancho
Amanecer (amanecer means "dawn" in
Spanish) will provide a comfonable setting
for gays and lesbians. "They can be
themselves," Reese said. "Their se~ual
orientation is a nonissuc."
Recalling his arrival in Leona Valley.
Colburn said he tried to be as inconspicuous
as possible. "I thought I covered
my tracks pretty well for the fust
year and a half," be said. But he later
learned that a number of townspeople
knew be was gay even before he completed
purchase of the property .
"One time the postmistress. an older
lady, took my hand and said, 'It's so
nice to have you boys in the Valley. "'
he said. (John Dart. Los Angeles Times)
SE :"'OND <:TO NE 21
Rev. Jimmy Creech
interview on video
.
Videos
FOR THOSE who would like, to know
more personally the straight Methodist
pastor who dared perform a same-sex
commitment ceremon y in spite of a
warning not to from his bishop , Rev,
Mel White has produced a video about
Omaha's First United Methodist Church
pastor Jimmy Creech .
On March 11, Creech was placed on
trial to determine if he had violated the
integrity of the church for blessing with
God's grace the relationship of two
women in his congregation who had
shared their vows of love and fidelity
with one another.
"I have to tell you," Rev. Creech
explained, "that the integrity of the
church was violated when the church
decided to prohibit the celebration of the
love and fidelity of two people regardless
of their gender , regardle ss of their
sex."
Just weeks before the trial, on February
12, lesbian and gay Americans celebrated
Freedom To Marry Day, to help
rai se public awareness of the 1,047
rights and protection s withheld from
same-sex couples who are denied the
rights of marriage by their nation and
the rites of marriage by their church .
At a national press conference in Los
Angeles on that day, Jimmy Creech
shared the deeply personal story behind
his evolutionary journey from neutrality
to full support and total acceptance of
God's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenderedchildren.
The costly convictions of Jimmy
Creech expressed in this deeply moving
pretrial interview with White will help
change minds and hearts in the current
I
/ The Erotic Contemplative
Reflections on the Spiritual Journey of the Gay/Lesbian Christian
By Michael B. Kelly
A SDC VOLUME STIMULUS FoR
LIVING, LOVING AND PR.AYE R:
1) Our Experi ence (75 min)
2) Revisioning Sexuality (80 min)
3) Exodus and Awakening (75 min)
4) The Desert and the Dark (88 min)
5) Liberation (84 min)
6) The Road from Emmaus (63 min)
Six volume video set $199
Audio cassette tape set $99
Order through:
EROSpirit Research Institute
P.O. Box ~40
New Orleans LA 70182
"The Erotic Contemplativ e is the
mos t powerful and insightful study of
gay spirituality that I know of. I have
watch ed "The Road From Emm aus"
(tape 6) thr ee tim es and still find new
riches." -- Jm1N J. M o'IEIL, PH.D. ,
author of The Church and the
Homosexual.
"In my theology classes, both gay and
straight seminarians benefit from
Kelly's integ~ation of sexuality with
Christian mysticism." •· ROBERT Goss,
PH.D., author of Jesus Acted-Up.
"An excellent resource ... a worthwhile
investment." •· B oN DJNGS, a publication
of New Ways Ministry.
"The Erotic Colltemplative video course
has helped gay men and lesbians who
grew up as Christians move toward
healing the wounds of the past." ••
JOSEPH KRAMER, M.D1v., EROSpirit
Research Institute.
"This work should be considered
essential to anyone serious about their
sexuality/spirituality and mandatory for
anyone who in any way acts as a
spiritual director for gay and lesbian
people." - More Light Update.
l ~ore 1lc1uilcd" '. fo;ma1mn ubout c:ich vid.:o i~ availab.lc upon requc>t Aho avai_loblicn Pal - _the
f.uropcan/Au_ , tralhm for=i Co.hfomm reside nts add 8.25% sales tax U.S. ~luppmg charge ~5.()0.
lntcrnwional ~hipping ch:trgc-~ 35.00. ~ 1~7. ER~~ I Kc~:_0rch ln1111utc. _ _
22 MAY•JUNF.1998
/
controversy over same-sex marriage that
is dividing churches, homes, and
f arnilies across tl1e nation.
"The Trials of Jimmy Creech," a 28-
mi oute video int erview with this
remarkable man is available from Soulforce
Videos. ($10, P.O. Box 4467 ,
Laguna Beach, CA 92652,
RevMel@aol.com, www.rnelwh.ite.org,
www.soulforce.org)
Mel White and his life-partner, Gary
Nixon, work together in an interfaith
justic e ministry based on the prin ciples
of militant nonviolent re sistance to
injustice taught by Gandhi and King. In
1997, White re ceived the ACLU's
National Civil Libertie s Award for his
efforts to apply these "soul force " principles
to the struggle for ju stice for sexual
minorities .
The production and low cost distribution
of videos like "The Trials of
Jimmy Creech" 'is an educational outreach
of White and Nixon's interfaith
justice ministry. The donation requested
for their not -for -profit videos barely
cover the costs of duplicating, packaging,
and mailing.
Other Soulforce videos include:
"The Rhetoric of Intolerance," a prizewinning
28-minutc open letter video to
Pat Robertson in which White reviews
and responds to almost 40 of Robertson's
most misleading statements, not
just about lesbians and gays, but about
the Constitution, the Bill of Right s,
separation of church and state , Muslim
and other minority Americans. It is a
frightenin g look, with a calm, thoughtful
response , to the false and inflamma tory
rhetoric of America's leading fundamentalist
Chri stian .
"How Can I Be Sure That God Loves
Mc, Too?, " a 24-minute video taped live
before an amazing congregation in
Spring Lake , Michigan. Thi s is White' s
response to those who would misuse the
Biblical record to condemn lesbian, gay,
bisexual , and transgender ed people.
Patrick Bristow, who played Peter on
ABC's Ellen, said of this video: "This
simple, brilliant, theologically grounded
sennon may do more for gay rights than
many political actions have done. I
mshed to show it to my mother."
Gay chorus reconfs Kawarsky's
'Prayerfso rB obby'
Music
BY KEN KEUFFEL, JR.
IN 1982, A 19-year-old gay man from
suburban San Francisco leaped from a
freeway overpass into the patll of an 18-
wheel truck.
For four year s, Bobby Griffith had
struggled to reconcile his homoseiLuality
with his fami ly's conservative religious
beliefs.
It was not to be. To the bitter end,
Griffi th's moth er, Mary, prayed to God
to "cure" her son of his "i llness."
All Bobby ever wanted was accept ance
. Instead, he developed feelings of
self-loathi ng over not fitting in. Those
feelings inevita bly drove him to suicide.
In time, Bobby's story - and his
mother's attem pt to come to terms with
it - attracted the attention of Leroy Aarons,
a former reporter and editor who
founded the National Lesbian and Gay
Journalists Associatio n.
Bobby had kept voluminous joumals,
and Aarons twned them and interviews
with Mary into a 1995 book titled
"Prayers for Bobby."
This book. now in paperback.
received favorable reviews in such publi
cations as The New York Tim es, the
Washington Post and the San Francisco
Chronicle .
As so often happens , one work
inspires another in a different medium .
J.A. Kawarsk y, a gay Pennsylvani abased
composer, was looking arotmd for
material on which to base a future vocal
work . In "Pray ers for Bobb y ," he and
librettist Kendel J. Killpack found it.
"Praye.rs for Bobby : For Love and for
Life" is making its way throu gh the
large and growing network of this country's
gay and lesbian choruses.
It's been performed in such ci ties as
Tampa, Fla., Columbu s, Ohio, and San
Jose, Ca lif. It's been recorded by the
New Jersey Gay Men's Chorus and the
Cha mber Choir of the Gay Men's
C'borus in Washington, D.C.
The music reflects 1970s pop styles
tllat Bobby would have heard as a child.
Narrations are accompanied by faint
sounds of hymn hmcs Mary Griffith
might have sung.
"In the last 15 years, we (gays) have
been worrying about AIDS," said
Kawarsky . "Our art's reflected that. But
we've ignored a significant part of the
population: teenagers coming out."
(f hc Arizona l)aily Stur)
Imagining what Huck would say
Ecclesiastical
homophobia
BYL EONS ATTERFIELD
RIGHT BEFORE HUCK Finn decid es
he'll go to hell rath er than tum Jim in
as a nmaway slave, he says something
deliciously ironic:
"Well, I tried the best I could to kinder_
soften it up somehow for myself by
saying I was bmng up wicked, and so I
waru't so much to bl a me· but somethm
· g ·1 us·1 de of me kept say' ing, 'There
was the Sunday-school, you could 'a'
gone to it; and if you'd 'a' done it tl1ey'd
'a' le amt you there tliat people iliat acts
as I'd be . · en acuno about [Jim] goes to
everlasting fire."' 0
theR eaEd ing th. e passage 134 years after
belie lllancipafion, hardly anyone
his ~es that Huck is frying in hell for
re usal to betray Jim. It's Twain's
·w_a~o f reminding us that in t11e preCIVIi
War South, slavery was ju stified.
from chw:ch pulpit s as being divinely
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P!JBL!SI lbRJEDITOR .hm Bailey
'
sanctioned by Biblical autl1ority.
The Bible teaches us lots of Good
Things, many of them disregarded by its
most enthusiastic believers . What
comes immediately to mind is tl1e Sermon
on the Mount in which Je sus
wams against judging others and against
praying 'in public so everyone can
admire our piety .
But tl1e Bible has been used to promote
SOllle Bad Thing s - like slavery, like
keeping women subservient to men,
like running electricity through hlllllan
bodies t1ntil tlic heart stops beating and
tl1e skill starts smoking.
And, of course , it's been used to ju stify
our collective homophobia.
A selective reading of the Bible can
rcinforee almost any hangup we have.
W c all pick and choose those parts that
support What we're already convinced of.
A recent letter to tlte editor points out
verses in chapters 18 and 20 of Lcvitic~
s condemning males who lie down
with other males.
My own favorite Leviticus injunction
comes in chap ter 19 where we're told -with
equal finnness, "Thou shalt not let
thy cattle gender witli a diverse kind;
thou shalt not sow thy field with min- .
gled seed; neitlicr shall a garment mingled
of linen and woolen come upon
thee."
But how long's it been since you've
seen pickets outside a church accusing
tlie minister of being soft on crossbred
cattle, hybrid seed corn or garments
c.~ Pontius' Puddle
mingled of linen and woolen?
Now, though, there's hope that Sweet
Reason cmshcd to earth may rise again
in Nebraska. Not that we're going to
persecute tl1osc who violate chapter 19
of Leviticus, but that we may be letting
up on those who violate chapters 18 and
20.
The United Methodist Church refused
earlier this year to find tlie Rev. Jimmy
Creech guilty for performing ·a union
ceremony between two lesbian members
of his congregation in Omalia.
Oh sure, you're saying . They're
Metl1odists and Metl1odists are so full of
affable good will that they're theologically
suspect . They've got so many
social concerns you can't always tell
tliem apart from those dirty rotten secular
hum~sts who hang out at tlie Unitarian
Church.
So Methodists aren't your really hardline
Christians. Not like we used to be
in the Baptist church of which I'm an
alwn.
But listen to this: Even Baptists are
turning to toleranc e. And they're Baptists
in Texas! Yes!
Not all of them, of course, but some.
The University Baplisl Church in
Austin got kicked oul of the Baptist
General Convention of Texas for heing
too friendly to gays and lesbians . The
. congregation had even ordained a gay
deacon - and the estimate is tbat 10 percent
of the church's 200 active members
are out of tlie closet.
The church's pastor says "We embrace
homosexual persons as persons beloved
of God."
Imagine a God like that.
And it's not just the work of young
bomb-throwing anarchists in the church.
A 76-year-old longtime member, Vera
Lee, was quoted by the Associated Press
as saying "tlie people involved are some
of tlic nicest young men and women
you'd want to know."
She went oq: "This is a situation
we're all going to have to face - not
only University Bapti st, but all denominations
in all churche s - becau se it's a .
reality . Someone always has to be
first. II •
It's probably loo much to expec t that
the humane good sense of Nebraska
Methodists and Austin Baptists will
soon be imitated by hard-line
homophobes . Still, it's a hopeful sign.
And maybe sometime in tlie sweet by
and by - well into the Millennium, I
imagine - it'll be possible for a later day
Huck Finn to point out tl1at "There was
the Sunday-school, you could 'a' gone to
it:; and if you'd 'a' done it tl1ey'd 'a' leamt
you tli.cre that gays and le sbians ain't no
more likely to go to everlasting fire
ilian tliem rascals that cro ssbreed cattle,
grow hybrid com and wear linen nnd
wool."
At which time, I invite all of you -
religious folks and dirty rotten secular
humanists alike - to join me in a rousing
rendition of t1ie Hallelujah Chorus.
This commelllary originally appeared
i11t he Linco/11( Neb.) Journal Star. English
professor Leon Satlerjield writes "to
salvage clarity from his co11Jusio1"1 .
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CALIFORNIAD,O WNEY
THEODORCER ANFORD, SGM, 67, UFMCC,
RETIRED, POB OX 1307, 902400-307, 5629-28-
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ROBERT MORGAN, SGM, 36, PENTECOSTAU
APOSTOLICF, LGI HTA TTENDANT/MINIST,E R
2023C ATTLEMNA DR,. 335118. 13-651-1505.
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ELWYNT AYLORS, GM,6 3, BAPTIS,T
CHURCHO RGANIST, 151 PONDS T.0 2879-
4033.4 017· 83-5072.
TEXASS, ANA NTONIO
Al EISCHS, GM,5 3, CATHOLIC.S OCIAL
SERVICESP,O B OX1 27547 8212,
MOCHICA@FLASH.NET
VIRGINIA, RICHMOND
EDH ARRISS, GM6, 3, CHRISTIANR,E TIRE,D
~AK FORN ON-PROFI3T1. 5S TRAW'BERRY
ST. 23220-341. 8204-354·880.4
edbharrisj@juno.com.
MICHAEKL EITHH ALLS, GM3, 9, BAPTIST,
PROGRASMU PPORT/SCREENWRI2T2E0R1,
FOURTHA VE.. 23222.
WASHINGTOSNP, OKANE
DIANES, F,4 2, PROTESATN T.C LERICAL,
cabin@lor.com.
WISCONSINM.E NASHA
RICHARDR OLLERS, GM6, 2,C ATHOLIC,
RELIGIOUBSR OTHER5,2 2S ECONDS T,
54952b. dlkroller@aol.co.m