Online discussion at washingtonpost.com re: gay issues & 3 denominations

[dewdrop_world]

Worth a quick read. The questions are (mostly) well thought out.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/11/15/DI2006111501241.html

James

[Daniel]

Interesting article James. Thank you.

Being a musician, this comment stood out.

Arlington, Va.: On the gays in church leadership positions, I am reminded of Eugene Robinson's comment of a few weeks ago, "Ministers, look toward your choir masters."

Alan Cooperman: Yes, my friend and fellow reporter here, Daryl Fears, who covers race for the Post, wrote a marvelous story in 2004 about gays in black churches, making much the same point about the frequent disconnect between pulpits and choirs, and how uncomfortable the secrecy is for many churchgoers and leaders.

And as someone who practices (Buddhist) meditation:

Washington, D.C.: As a Presbyterian, I, of course, am following this story. I did read that the charges against the minister were dropped and the stated reason was that the statute of limitations had expired. I strongly suspect that the presbytery wanted to avoid ruling on the matter. I think it is only a matter of time before the official Presbyterian policy will be to allow each congregation to decide whether to ordain homosexuals and whether to allow them to marry in the church. I am personally okay with a solution like this and truthfully find it more questionable under church law that the minister married a Presbyterian to a practicing Buddhist.

Whom, I wonder, does 'Washington D.C.' think he is kidding? He really thinks that being of a different faith is a far more serious matter than gay marriage? It really must be a club that is hard to get into!

But I like where the author ended up.

Arlington, Va.: Do these Christian denominations risk marginalizing themselves in the future, when homosexuality is almost certain to become much more acceptable to the straight world than it is today (look at attitudes of the younger generation from survey data)?


Alan Cooperman: If current trends in public acceptance of homosexuality continue with no change or plateau, you will be right. But, social history has seldom followed a straight line. Moreover, two of the people that I quoted in the article said, in essence, that the church is proclaiming "the truth." Perhaps that should be spelled with a capital T. If you are certain you are proclaiming the Truth, then the popularity of your message is a very secondary matter.

The politics of separation and exclusion no longer work. Give me a T with no caps!