Do god hate gays
Pope Francis was recently asked about his views on homosexuality. He reportedly replied:
This (laws around the world criminalising LGBTI people) is not right. Persons with lesbian tendencies are children of God. God loves them. God accompanies them … condemning a person like this is a sin. Criminalising people with homosexual tendencies is an injustice.
This isn’t the first time Pope Francis has shown himself to be a progressive leader when it comes to, among other things, same-sex attracted Catholics.
It’s a stance that has drawn the ire of some high-ranking bishops and plain Catholics, both on the African continent and elsewhere in the world.
Read more: Pope Francis' visit to Africa comes at a defining moment for the Catholic church
Some of these Catholics may argue that Pope Francis’s approach to LGBTI matters is a misinterpretation of Scripture (or the Bible). But is it?
Scripture is particularly important for Christians. When church leaders point to to “the Bible” or “the Scriptures”, they usually mean “the Bible as we understand it through our theological doctrines”. Th
What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality?
What Does The Bible Express About Homosexuality?
Introduction
For the last two decades, Pew Investigate Center has reported that one of the most enduring ethical issues across Christian traditions is sexual diversity. For many Christians, one of the most frequently first-asked questions on this topic is, “What does the Bible declare about attraction to someone of the same sex?”
Although its unlikely that the biblical authors had any notion of sexual orientation (for example, the designation homosexual wasn't even coined until the late 19th century) for many people of faith, the Bible is looked to for timeless guidance on what it means to honor God with our lives; and this most certainly includes our sexuality.
Before we can jump into how it is that Christians can maintain the authority of the Bible and also affirm sexual diversity, it might be helpful if we started with a brief but clear overview of some of the assumptions informing many Christian approaches to understanding the Bible.
What is the Bible?
For Christians to whom the Bible
This article is part of the Tough Passages series.
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24Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged spontaneous relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.29They were filled with all behavior of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are occupied of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, dis
About the Author: Rich Barlow
Pamela Lightsey, here teaching Gay Theology, is Methodism’s only openly lesbian, African American minister. Photo by Cydney Scott
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Class by class, lecture by lecture, question asked by question answered, an awareness is built. This is one of a series of articles about visits to one class, on one day, in find of those building blocks at BU.
Are stereotypes about gays—for example, that homosexual men talk, dress, or gesture differently than unbent guys—bigoted blather? Or is there such a thing as reliable gaydar that helps people, including gays, to perceive others’ sexual orientation?
You might not hope for openmindedness about stereotyping to come up in a seminar called Queer Theology, which studies questions about God and religion posed by gay, transgender, attracted to both genders, and gender-questioning people, many of whom, according to teacher Pamela Lightsey, seek “does God hate me?” because of widespread prejudice.
Lightsey herself is, she says, the only openly woman loving woman, African American cleric in the United Methodis