A NEW VISION

Rev Gillian Cooke MA BD

If we are true to the tradition of the Church, we will recognise that throughout its history Christians have found new insights leading to changes in what were seen as 'truth'. The admission of the Gentiles was one such event and Galileo's discoveries another. Vociferous opposition took place against these new insights since many sincerely believed them to be against the Scriptural teaching. More recently, as the Archbishop of Cape Town commented as the archbishops gathered for their historical meeting to discuss the crisis faced by the Anglican Communion over sexuality, the Scriptures were used to justify slavery and apartheid and to support the subordination of women. We now recognise that these 'changes' were in fact not contradicting Christian truth but were new insights. (The process was also true during the pre Christian history of Israel.) 'Truths' had been taken as self evident because previously there had been no reason to question them, but new evidence demanded that they were reexamined in the light of that new knowledge. We have new knowledge today with regard to sexuality which demands our reexamining of traditional beliefs.

Elizabeth Stuart points to the growing recognition in many areas of study that 'there is no such thing as neutral, objective interpretation and that we bring to our hermeneutical endeavours value-laden subjective assumptions. This has led to a growing recognition in theology of the way in which the white, male, 'first world' perspective has been privileged.(Stuart p.73) As a corrective, liberation theology, feminist theology and black theology have developed. These do not seek to replace traditional theology, but to correct its bias. 'At the moment we are experiencing a kind of Pentecost in Christian theology as various groups find their theological voices and reflect upon their faith from the perspective of their experience. Among these are lesbian and gay Christians, of course'.(Stuart, p.73) Stuart considers that although gay and lesbian Christians do not claim infallibility they deserve to be heard in the debate because 'all of us who feel able to proclaim ourselves joyfully lesbian and gay and Christian do so because we have been through intensive theological reflection.' (pp. 74-5)

Much of the difficulty we face in the present discussions on homosexuality is that heterosexual people find it hard to recognise that there is a different reality to their own.

The insights of science and medicine demand that we recognise that both heterosexuality and homosexuality are both natural. And if natural, then we need to recognise that the humanity God created was not just male and female, black and white, but also heterosexual and gay and lesbian too. Any theological and ethical debate must begin by acknowledging this and cease calling what God has created inferior, a handicap or, even worse, perverted. Gay and lesbian people have been telling us this, but we also have the evidence of science now to back their personal experience.

If we are to have an informed debate in the Church, certain things are essential. Firstly, we need to ensure that the accepted present scientific and medical view is recognised for what it is. The willingness of conservatives to find support for their views by using discredited scientific evidence or by quoting those who distort genuine research findings is all too common in some published literature. We need to ensure that mainstream scientific views are given proper recognition as such, and if it is felt necessary to quote this other material it is made clear that it is does not accord with the main body of scientific opinion.

Secondly, it needs to be recognised that a fundamentalist approach to scripture is not acceptable in deciding other issues in the Church and should not be the case when discussing homosexuality. If we discard fundamentalist views, the evidence against homosexuality is even less supportive of a conservative position than it is on other issues, eg remarriage after divorce, ordination of women, etc.

Thirdly, the debate can only take place when gay and lesbian people are full participants in the debate. We must, as a matter of urgency look at ways in which they are enabled without fear to do this. The appointment of Gene Robinson and Jeffrey John as bishops is often described as 'jumping the gun' but if we look at the debate described in Acts 15, the main evidence produced was the result of the mission to the Gentiles. Paul and Peter did not wait until the Church had discussed and agreed the matter before proceeding. Indeed obedience to the Spirit demanded they went ahead and their obedience to the Spirit was the basis of the evidence they produced at the Jerusalem Synod. If we follow this pattern we will not fear 'jumping the gun' - we have biblical precedence. If the recent primates' meeting had really wished to take the biblical evidence seriously, they would have been far more reticent to 'regret' the forthcoming consecration of Gene Robinson in ECUSA and the blessing of same sex partnerships in the Canadian Church, and see them as an opportunity to assess what seems good to the Spirit and the Church. Furthermore we need Jeffrey John and Gene Robinson in the House of Bishops in order to fully include the experience of gay and lesbian voices in the debate.

Acts 15 also faces the Church with other challenges. The Jerusalem Synod concluded that it would not place a greater burden on Gentile converts than certain essentials. This might also be interpreted in the present context as not placing a greater burden on gay and lesbian men and women than is placed on heterosexuals in sexual relationships, ie faithfulness and mutual care. Christ upbraided the Pharisees and Scribes for placing a too heavy burden on their fellow men and women and did nothing to help them. To force all gay people to be celibate is not a burden placed on all heterosexuals - it is either chosen or, for some, reluctantly forced on them. One gay man, who had lived such a celibate life in accord with Catholic teaching, struggled with this. He asked in a letter to the press why God would create homosexuals like himself with a strong life-long homosexual desire and at the same time forbid them to express it on pain of eternal damnation. He concludes that his nature is God given and that God is not a torturer. Sadly today, as in biblical times, human beings demand sacrifices of others they would not themselves be prepared to bear.

The Christian teaching also demands that we bear one another's burdens. All too often this is absent in the case of gay and lesbian people. How often do we hear of the Church's concern that gay men in particular may be targeted as victims of assault? Too often homophobic rhetoric in the Church gives solace to those who harm them. A recent book review in a parish magazine lists 'child abuse, torture, murder, lesbianism, drugs, Satanism, occult' as 'horrors' from which a young girl needed rescuing by God.

As was mentioned in an earlier section, the gay community has shown exemplary self-giving in the care of others affected by HIV/AIDS. Concern by Christians has been less forthcoming, eg a service in a University chaplaincy for all those affected by AIDS/HIV was welcomed by the gay community and well supported by a wide variety of people both inside and outside the University, but less well supported by Christians. 'It's nothing to do with us' remarked one student and a former member of staff objected vociferously every time AIDS was even mentioned in prayers. In 1999 the Church Times rightly reported the bombings by a mentally ill man in Brixton and Brick Lane on its front page but, despite the fact that his bombing of the gay pub in Soho had caused even more deaths and injury, this was ignored. Instead, the Church Times reported that conservative Anglican Primates wanted to continue to discriminate against gay people and also women. This lends support to those who find it acceptable to attack gay people and women.

In a more positive light was the statement of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales 1979 Social Welfare Commission document 'The church has a serious responsibility to work for the elimination of any injustices perpetrated on homosexuals by society. As a group that has suffered more than its share of oppression and contempt, the homosexual community has particular claim upon the concern of the church.' (quoted in an article by Martin Pendergast in Autumn 2003 Bulletin of the Centre for the Study of Christianity and Sexuality) The Church of England Report on the changing patterns of families in contemporary society (Something to Celebrate) urged the churches to be less quick to turn discussion about families on to marriage and the ordering of sexuality and the concentration of the legal status of relationship and think more about 'the qualities of that relationship or the flourishing of the people within it'.(p.208) The report wished to reaffirm the biblical emphasis on relationships with God and each other: 'Relationships are good in so far as they express qualities of love, faithfulness, commitment and mutual responsibility. Equally, relationships which are casual, promiscuous, adulterous or exploitative have no place in promoting human well-being and cannot therefore be acceptable in whatever kind of family structure they are expressed or experienced.' (p.206) Christians are therefore called to encourage and support such relationships and Churches are to welcome them. The relationships referred to includes gay and lesbian couples.

The question for the Anglican Communion and the Church of England in particular is whether the cost of unity is to be borne by the gay and lesbian community. If this is the case, maybe the time has come for those who want an inclusive church to explore how this can become reality. A conservative homophobic agenda prevents both the ministry to gay and lesbian people and denies the opportunity for such people to minister fully within God's Church. Above all let us recognise that it is God's Church which welcomes all the people he created, gay and straight. It is the ministry of Christ who welcomed all, especially those whom the religious treated as outsiders and included them among the twelve apostles.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Dancing in the Spirit by Elizabeth Stuart in The Way Forward ed. by Timothy Bradshaw (SCM Press, 2003 edition)
• Something to Celebrate - Valuing Families in Church and Society. Report of a working party of the Board for Social Responsibility (Church House Publishing, 1995)
• Centre for the Study of Sexuality and Christianity Autumn newsletter 2003, no. 21