Homosexuality and the church

Since Building a Bridge , a book on ministering to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics, was published, I have been asked—at Catholic parishes, retreat centers, colleges and universities and conferences—a few questions that recur over and over. Building a Bridge intentionally steered clear of issues of sexual morality, since I hoped to foster dialogue by focusing on areas of possible commonality; and the church hierarchy and the majority of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics remain far apart on these issues. It also makes little sense to begin a conversation with topics on which the two sides are the farthest apart. Overall, the book was about dialogue and prayer, rather than moral theology. As a Catholic priest, I have also never challenged those teachings, nor will I. As I mentioned in the book, good bridges take people in both directions.

Sexuality, always a troubling issue in Religion, has become the centre of controversy in American religious bodies in recent decades. None has more threatened the peace of churches or occupied more of the attention of their seminaries, task forces, and denominational assemblies, however, than has homosexuality. Churches and synagogues have wrestled with the ordination of announced gays and lesbians to the ministry, religious understanding of homosexual rights, blessing of "gay marriage," and legitimation or condemnation of lifestyles associated with homosexuality. The intensified controversy resulted from numerous factors. First, acknowledgement of homosexuality was part of the general sexual revolution, about which religious organizations could not be silent. Too, the issue came up in the lives of the members of church congregations and thus had to be addressed.

The following affirmations summarise the position of the Evangelical Alliance in its Report Biblical and pastoral responses to homosexuality. We are conscious that different evangelicals might apply certain of these points in different ways, but we believe that, taken together, they reflect an authentic, mainstream evangelical response to homosexuality in general and sexually active same-sex partnerships in particular:. We recognise that all of us are sinners, and that the only true hope for sinful people — whatever our sexuality — is in Jesus Christ. Our earnest prayer is that his love, truth and grace would characterise evangelical responses to debates on homosexuality, both now and in future. We are encouraged many Christians now recognise and deeply regret the hurt caused by past and present failures in their responses to those who experience same-sex attraction.

Unite for Equality. Like never before. At the heart of the claim that the Bible is clear "that homosexuality is forbidden by God" is poor biblical scholarship and a cultural bias read into the Bible.