Wrestling With the Issues
If you have been reading my blogs for a while, you know that my favorite editorial writer is Leonard Pitts. His Miami Herald columns are syndicated across the country, and he appears in the Kansas City Star each and every Tuesday. If you don't usually read my blog, then you just learned something that you will be reminded of on a regular basis.
About every six to eight weeks, Mr. Pitts writes something that I find to be absolutely wonderful. Welcome to my Bi-Monthly Leonard Pitts Fan Club meeting.
For the last few years I have been really wrestling with how the church should respond to the issue of homosexuality. I've prayed about it, I've read books about it, I've written papers about it. And yet, I'm not to a place of complete certainty. If you continue to read this entry, please know that I'm not just pulling this stuff out of my butt. Much effort has gone into my discernment process. The process isn't over. For the sake of time I'm going to drop some sexual, racial and theological bombs and then walk away. Just know that I'm always game for respectful, adult conversation on the issue. Drop an email or give me a call.
Bomb #1: I don't think that God created us with the intention that we would engage in homosexual sexual relationships.
Bomb #2: I think that churches who agree with me on Bomb #1 have been obscene in the ways in which they have treated the homosexual community. Bomb #1 does not entitle us to strip a group of their dignity and treat them like second-class citizens. Churches have been venomous, hateful and spiteful. This includes churches that have jumped on the constitutional amendment bandwagon and attacked the homosexual community in both explicit and . Jesus was a master at being gracious to people who were social outsiders, and restoring their social and public dignity.
Bomb #3: I have a hard time dealing with people who agree with me on Bomb #2, but then use the Black Civil Rights movement as the basis of their argument. Part of the problem is that a lot of the people who do it are White. I don't think that if you are a part of the group that did the oppressing that you can rip a symbol from another group and then apply it to whatever cause you are trying to promote. Is that a racist statement? I hope not. Since I'm mixed, I'd like to think that I could make that statement and have it be an ethical rational statement that doesn't make people think I am picking on them. Does it create a double standard in that I can deal with the rationale better if a Black person makes the argument? Probably so. Is that appropriate? Not sure about that one.
Ok. That's enough bombs for now. Back to Mr. Pitts.
He addressed the issue of Homosexual rights in his column this week. As a black man, he talked about the connection between his race, his meta-ethic and his feelings on this issue. It was one of the first pieces I've read in a while that I found to be really helpful. It's well nuanced, it's funny, but it's also honest and transparent. It didn't bring me to a point where I have everything figured out, but it certainly enlightened my worldview and brought some interesting points to an ongoing conversation.
Fair Dinkum
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/leonard_pitts/16243773.htm
About every six to eight weeks, Mr. Pitts writes something that I find to be absolutely wonderful. Welcome to my Bi-Monthly Leonard Pitts Fan Club meeting.
For the last few years I have been really wrestling with how the church should respond to the issue of homosexuality. I've prayed about it, I've read books about it, I've written papers about it. And yet, I'm not to a place of complete certainty. If you continue to read this entry, please know that I'm not just pulling this stuff out of my butt. Much effort has gone into my discernment process. The process isn't over. For the sake of time I'm going to drop some sexual, racial and theological bombs and then walk away. Just know that I'm always game for respectful, adult conversation on the issue. Drop an email or give me a call.
Bomb #1: I don't think that God created us with the intention that we would engage in homosexual sexual relationships.
Bomb #2: I think that churches who agree with me on Bomb #1 have been obscene in the ways in which they have treated the homosexual community. Bomb #1 does not entitle us to strip a group of their dignity and treat them like second-class citizens. Churches have been venomous, hateful and spiteful. This includes churches that have jumped on the constitutional amendment bandwagon and attacked the homosexual community in both explicit and . Jesus was a master at being gracious to people who were social outsiders, and restoring their social and public dignity.
Bomb #3: I have a hard time dealing with people who agree with me on Bomb #2, but then use the Black Civil Rights movement as the basis of their argument. Part of the problem is that a lot of the people who do it are White. I don't think that if you are a part of the group that did the oppressing that you can rip a symbol from another group and then apply it to whatever cause you are trying to promote. Is that a racist statement? I hope not. Since I'm mixed, I'd like to think that I could make that statement and have it be an ethical rational statement that doesn't make people think I am picking on them. Does it create a double standard in that I can deal with the rationale better if a Black person makes the argument? Probably so. Is that appropriate? Not sure about that one.
Ok. That's enough bombs for now. Back to Mr. Pitts.
He addressed the issue of Homosexual rights in his column this week. As a black man, he talked about the connection between his race, his meta-ethic and his feelings on this issue. It was one of the first pieces I've read in a while that I found to be really helpful. It's well nuanced, it's funny, but it's also honest and transparent. It didn't bring me to a point where I have everything figured out, but it certainly enlightened my worldview and brought some interesting points to an ongoing conversation.
Fair Dinkum
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/leonard_pitts/16243773.htm