Homosexuality and Christian Faith: Questions of Conscience for Churches edited by Walter Wink. Library section 7 E: The Church in the World, Hot Button Issues. Wink has edited this unique set of writings by Christian theologians from Catholic priests to American Baptists concerning the need for reconciliation with, and welcome toward, GLBT people. Since this book was written, the ELCA has accepted GLBT ministers in monogamous relationships to serve as pastors, removing the dreaded and exclusionary “rejection” list.
If you wish to know the reasons for homosexuality this is not the book you want. Try the Q and A format book in section 8 I of our library, Is It a Choice? by Eric Marcus. Sexual orientation has both hormonal and genetic components. It is a fallacy that gayness is the result of mistakes in upbringing. Whether gay or straight, sexual orientation is an irreversible, unchanging birth gift. About 10% of all people worldwide and throughout history are born gay, lesbian or bisexual. It has nothing to do with pedophilia, in fact, 98 % of pedophiles are straight men! (Observe your child’s athletic coaches carefully.)
In this book, a Lutheran bishop, father of a gay son, tells about the process that occurs when a child “comes out” to parents. It sounds much like Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s step process by which we accept impending death. In this case, he says first parents deny it, then try to explain its appearance, then try to fix it, mourn the dreams they relinquish for their GLBT children, accept it, and finally, celebrate it. I can tell you from experience that most parents recognize these familiar stages.
A Quaker writer says that because Quakerism has always stressed gender equality, extending equality to GLBT people is a natural extension of these rights. Gay people enrich our understanding of the ways we group ourselves and add greater potentialities for ‘community.’ Gays have made huge contributions to our society in the arts and humanities, and this echoes the Quaker tradition of simplicity in which plain becomes beautiful. Gays add joyfulness and celebration to our society – a needed counterweight to the more traditional Quaker ‘gloom.’ Finally, gays add discipline to life in terms of intentionality, choosing and discerning all one’s actions.
Unfortunately, many gays find themselves shut out of family gatherings due to the mistaken assumptions and myths family members have about what gayness is, how it is acquired, and how much fortitude and courage it takes each day to live as one was created. It is urgent for our society to learn new ways of approaching gender identity and new ways for men and women to work together to create a more peaceable kingdom. Gays can help us with this. It is time to free them from the stereotype of embattled victims, and instead, accept their help in reweaving and restructuring our broken social web. Society needs all the help it can get and gays are a most precious, committed, and energetic resource! ( )