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Claims Fundamentalist Attacks Give a Wrong Impression Mainstream Faiths Now Rocked by Struggles of Conscience |
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Compiled By GayToday
Washington, D.C--Gay and lesbian Americans are in a tug of war with the nation's largest mainstream religions, with some of the largest denominations railing against them as sinners who need to change while others are striving to love and accept their gay congregants, according to a report released Wednesday by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
Mixed Blessings: Mainstream Religion and Gay and Lesbian Americans analyzes the major developments of 1998 with the 10 largest religions in this country with regard to gays and lesbians. Among its findings:
"In addition, many lesbians and gays deeply wish to live open and honest lives within traditional communities of faith. In some religions, this sparks heated conflicts. In others, leaders have re-examined long-held views." Mixed Blessings notes that it only appears as if there is one religious view -- a negative one -- about gay and lesbian people because conservative political and religious organizations, such as the Christian Coalition, the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family, have in recent years dominated the public discourse on this issue. "They have done so through a combination of factors, including: a significant commitment of resources; statements that, whether accurate or not, are designed to attract media attention; and a willingness to be perceived as blatantly prejudiced when it comes to lesbian and gay people," the report states. The Human Rights Campaign released the report Wednesday at a religion roundtable that brought together leaders of some of the largest mainstream religions to talk about developments with regard to gays and lesbians.
Among the participants was the Rev. Jimmy Creech, a United Methodist minister who was fired as pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Omaha last year for blessing the holy union of two women.
The church recently opened another case against Creech for blessing the union of two men in North Carolina, where he now lives. Creech wrote the Foreword to "Mixed Blessings." "Opportunity for change best occurs in times of instability and when the public discussion is pervasive and hot," Creech wrote."Of course, there will be resistance and much rhetorical violence, as well as physical violence. Those invested in the status quo do not surrender quietly or gently. But the current rise in the attack against the gay community by the religious right is only a sign that progress is being made, that positive change is taking place." Mixed Blessings looks at developments in the nine largest Christian denominations in America and the four major movements within Judaism. These include: The Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Three largely African-American denominations -- the National Baptist Convention USA Inc., the Church of God in Christ and the African Methodist Episcopal Church are also included, but, unfortunately, there is little information available because they have tended to take relatively quiet or no public positions on the subject. Among the major developments chronicled in Mixed Blessings: The Roman Catholic church became actively involved in the crusade against same-sex marriage; the National Conference of Catholic Bishops backpedaled on a statement of love and acceptance toward gay people; and the Rev. James Callan, a popular priest in Rochester, N.Y, was dismissed for blessing gay and lesbian unions. The Southern Baptist Convention amended its creed to exclude gay and lesbian couples from the definition of family and condemned President Clinton for prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation among federal workers. The United Methodist Church put the Creech on trial for blessing a same-sex union and stripped him of his Omaha congregation. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America defrocked several gay and lesbian ministers for having committed relationships. But at the same time, the church issued a report on how congregations can better minister to gays and lesbians and sponsored a gay and lesbian awareness week at church headquarters. The report was written by Lisa Bennett, a former fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and writer who specializes in civil rights issues. Bennett, who lives in New York, has written for The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Harper's and numerous other publications. DOWNLOAD A PDF VERSION OF MIXED BLESSINGS The report has been broken into three sections for ease in downloading (Each part is appoximately 700k.) Download PDF Viewer Part One Part Two Part Three |
