The nomination of cardiologist Dr. James Holsinger has brought strong criticism from numerous circles inside and outside the gay and lesbian community (for example, see the statement by SoulForce). The reason for this criticism is not his medical credentials per se, but rather how his medical attitudes and practices relate to his religious views about homosexuality. In his role as president of the Methodist Judicial Council, Dr. Holsinger has taken numerous positions that continue to communicate the message that gay and lesbians are “less than” their non-gay brothers and sisters. Even worse, his church in Lexington, KY supposedly operates an “ex-gay” ministry (though a search of the church’s Web site yielded no results; though so too did searches on the words “pastor” and “Jesus”).

The statement by SoulForce executive director Jeff Lutes says it all: “If Holsinger bars gays and lesbians from his own church, how will he treat them as the nation’s chief physician?”

The other day I watched a horror movie. It wasn’t a nail-biting Hitchcock film or a blood-and-guts thriller, but Jesus Camp is without a doubt the scariest movie I’ve seen in a long time.

This documentary “follows a group of young children to Pastor Becky Fisher’s ‘Kids on Fire Summer Camp.'” There, instead of spending their time learning how to swim, how to use a bow and arrow, or engaging in other typical summer-camp activities, these children are instructed in the fundamentals of evangelical “christianity” and are taught how to be good foot soldiers in the army of American evangelicalism, purportedly for the purpose of ‘reclaiming America for Christ.’ In addition to their camp experience, the film provides an insight into the highly controlled and even somewhat isolated family life these fundamentalists maintain.

The Hitlerian style of indoctrination, with its cult-like methodologies and group-think tactics, verges on child abuse.

Throughout the movie, Pastor Becky, her fellow zealots and their pre-pubescent adherents repeatedly mouth what they claim are “Christian” values, teachings, or perspectives (including unhesitating praise for George W. Bush and his various wars). Despite their claims to follow biblical teachings, we hear very little about true Christianity. There’s nary a mention of Jesus himself, the scriptures of the New Testament, or such Gospel values as justice, concern for the poor and the outcast, forgiveness, and the ultimate commandment to love — including love of one’s enemy.

Pastor Becky and her fellow nazis make repeated claims about the evils of this world and what’s wrong with America. To support the claim that evil is alive and well, dare I suggest that the views she and others like her espouse are exhibit number one.

Gen. Peter Pace, current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is in the headlines today, having stated his belief that, “homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral.”

How odd that a man who has played such a significant role in one of the most immoral actions in recent American history — the launching of a pre-emptive war that has cost the lives of thousands of Americans and countless thousands of Iraqis, and that fails to meet every measure of a “just war” — would call upon “morality” to condemn the physical expressions of love between individuals whom God created as gay.

The general, it would seem, has a very odd sense of morality.

No doubt it might be claimed that such a view of gay and lesbian people might be expected from someone who was raised Catholic and who has received Catholic recognition as someone actively living his faith. What else would you expect? If that’s the case, however, then why would the good general — being so concerned with morality, with living his faith and doing what is right — fail to follow the teaching of the US Bishops who are on record questioning “the moral legitimacy of any preemptive, unilateral use of military force”?

One might surmise that the general believes the Church is right on the gay thing, but wrong on the war thing. Sounds to me like the cafeteria-style approach to “morality” so abhorrent to conservatives and others who have all the answers!

Naively, I used to think that the experience itself of being part of an oppressed group would be enough to transform one’s ability to see the injustice experienced by others who are oppressed, outcast, or unaccepted in society.

How wrong I was!

Recently, two friends and I were enjoying dinner upstairs at a gay restaurant in DC’s Dupont Circle area. It was a cold night and the streets and sidewalks were still slick and slippery with the ice from snow earlier in the day. As we sat near our window, I looked out and saw that an eldely woman had slipped and fallen. An older man was kneeling down beside her as she lay on her back, dabbing at what appeared to be a bloody cut on her forehead. Fortunately, a passing police cruiser stopped and provided the needed assistance. As this scene unfolded, two patrons from the bar next to the dining room came closer to the window for a better view. As one turned around to head back to his martini, he said loudly for everyone to hear, “Oh, it’s just some bum!” My dinner companions and I stared at each other incredulously, not believing what we had just heard. Collectively, we were embarrased that “one of us,” another gay man, could so easily dismiss another human being.

It seems, however, that the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church is also quite able (and willing!) to forget the oppressions of the past. Katharine Jefferts Shori was elected last year to lead the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion. At a recent meeting of the primates, or heads of all Anglican Communion Churches meeting in Tanzania, she agreed to call upon the Episcopal Church not to consecrate any more gay bishops and to cease the blessing of same-sex unions. Does Jefferts Shori fail to remember that it was the courage and boldness of the Episcopal Church to allow the priestly ordination and episcopal consecration of women that brought her to where she is today? Does she not realize that she could never have reached her position of pastoral leadership in most of the other Anglican Communion churches which still do not allow women to wear the collar, let alone the miter!?!

Jefferts Shori claims that she still supports the “full inclusion” of gay men and women in the life of the Church. How then, can she reconcile this position with her signature on the Tanzania document? Perhaps she has been in the promised land of episcopal leadership too long and forgotten what life in Egypt was like!

In these days when there is so much vilification of the notion and supporters of “same-sex marriage,” it has become standard fare for those who oppose efforts at legalizang same-sex unions to speak of heterosexual marriage in nothing short of glowing terms. “Marriage,” “traditional marriage” and the “institution of marriage” are spoken of as if these could save any society from whatever cultural ills might ail it.

Thus, it was a refreshing dose of reality to read the remarks of Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the United Nations, atthe 51st session of the Commission on the Status of Women. In decrying many of the ways in which some nations, cultures and societies around the world fail to respect the human dignity of women and girls, Migliore stated that, “Even the institution of marriage is sometimes misused to give a safe facade to sexual exploitation and slave labor by means of what are known as ‘mail order brides’ and ‘temporary brides’.”

The following letter appears in the February 2, 2007 edition of the National Catholic Reporter:

Gay parents

I am a 13-year-old Catholic girl who was adopted by two gay women at the age of 7. They have raised me as a Catholic, taking me to church, getting me baptized, receiving my first Communion and confirmation. Before I met them, I was not Catholic; now I am a well-formed Catholic. It has recently been brought to my attention that some of our bishops believe that gay people should be allowed to “participate” in Mass as long as they don’t “reveal” themselves to other church members. I was also informed that if you are gay it is sinful to take Communion. I don’t see any of this in the Bible or in the teaching of Jesus. Do you?

If we are all equal in the eyes of God, then we should all be able to go to Mass and be treated equally. People are people. We are the same: black or white, gay or straight. God created every one of us and we are who we are. Like the song says, “We are one in the spirit; we are one in the Lord.” If we are one in the Lord, it should not matter if you are gay. If it were not for my moms, I would probably still be in foster care or, even worse, in a group home. Before they came into my life I had been in seven different foster homes. I think women like my moms should be able to receive Communion like any other moms.

MORIAH FORD-GOWAN
Chico, Calif.

That’s the question that Mary Ann Cantwell asked an Indiana Senate committee holding hearings on the proposed state constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. The mother of seven children, including two former elected state officials, told committee members that, “God made Mike and he made him a homosexual” and that none of her other seven children would in any way be harmed if their gay brother were given the same right they have.

Sounds to me like a woman who knows the true meaning of “family values”!

Last Sunday I had the privilege of hearing a sermon by retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong. Speaking at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Bishop Spong preached a very simple yet profound message that any religious person, regardless of the faith tradition from which you come, needs to hear. The message is simply this: God is bigger than we are!

Using the story of the reluctant prophet Jonah as a springboard, Bishop Spong shared examples of his own life and the life of the Christian church that sadly repeated Jonah’s error. Jonah, thinking that God surely must be mistaken in telling him to preach to the Ninehvites, did all that he could to avoid God’s command. But God would not be deterred. Eventually Jonah came to understand not only were the Ninehvites the intended audience of God’s message of repentance, but that Jonah, too, needed to hear the message that God is God of all people–including (and perhaps especially) those whom we consider “other,” “outcast,” “unclean,” “despised,” or whatever other term we use to look down our noses at individuals or groups who, no less than we, reflect the image and likeness of God.

With so many qualifiers available to place before “Christian,” one wonders if Jesus’ prayer that “they all may be one” (Jn. 17) will ever be realized, this side of the parousia. Though these days may get little attention in the wider world, it’s good that many Churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, continue to observe this special octave of prayer. (Catholic Resources for 2007)

A new link to a grassroots Catholic organization: Fortunate Families: Catholic Families with Lesbian Daughters and Gay Sons.