Friday, August 16, 2013
The Quiet Gay-Rights Revolution in American Churches
Molly Ball, who covers national politics for The Atlantic, points out that “for most gay Americans in the 20th century, the church was a place of pain. . . .When it came to gay rights, religion was the enemy.”
But attitudes have been changing with amazing speed, not only in society (including legal recognition of same-sex marriage) but in churches as well. As more and more religious people have come to know LGBT people in their friendship circles, places of worship, workplaces, and often in their families, they are changing their minds and rejecting the messages of condemnation that they were taught by anti-gay religious leaders. Progressive religious leaders and groups, both gay and straight, have been able to show how the principles of neighbor love, compassion, the Golden Rule, and concern for social justice are religious values and that supporting LGBT rights, including marriage equality, is not incompatible with our faith but is rather an important part of our faith. We in EEWC-CFT have long emphasized this—and at great cost during an earlier time— so we especially rejoice to see the changing attitudes that have been gaining increasing momentum that Molly Ball points out in this article.
