A response to Pastor Sean Harris

When I first listened to the remarks from Pastor Sean Harris of Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville, NC, I was appalled. I have had the blessing of walking alongside several pastors over the last few years who have helped me forget that bigotry and hatred does often still flow from Baptist pulpits around the country. I listened to him recommend to fathers that “the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist you go over and you crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch.” This quote (which exists only in the audio version of the sermon and not the transcript) along with the rest of his sermon (a 17-page transcript) left me furious.

My first response to this man was that I wanted to find him and hit him. I wanted to show him exactly how well punching someone gets rid of their bad habits, like preaching violence and oppression. I wanted to hit him with a rage that had built up inside me from all the messages of hate I have been hearing surrounding the debate around Amendment 1 in North Carolina. I wanted to make him hurt.

And then I realized what the true issue is here. It is not his hatred (read: ignorance) in response to homosexuality. It isn’t even the fact that he is using his Baptist pulpit to influence people into believe something that simply isn’t true (using the Bible to back up his point no less).

It is that his response to a child who demonstrates gay tendencies should have the gay beat out of him or her. In all three synoptic gospels, Jesus is recorded saying something to the effect of “Whoever welcomes one of these children in my name welcomes me.” What bothers me most about Harris’s remarks is that his response to a child who is showing signs of possible homosexual leanings is physical violence. The suggestion of physical violence toward a child from a pulpit is abhorrent.

However, my response was equally repulsive. My immediate desire was to bring this ignorant man physical harm. What does that say about me? If I am going to believe in a Jesus who liberates the oppressed and seeks peace, then how can my response to violence also be violence? After all, the Bible does tell us, “Blessed are the makers and maintainers of peace, for they will be called the children of God.”

This man who has the audacity to call himself a pastor is the misguided product of systemic theological brainwashing. He is what I might have been had I not had the opportunities I’ve had and the mentors by whom I’ve been blessed. He is standing upon theology that ignores not only the human component of the Christ, but also the humanity of the Church. Abuse of any kind is dehumanizing. It becomes especially so when used to suppress the individuality of a person. And while I don’t normally compare the actions of any person or people-group to situations described during the crucifixion story, I cannot help but be reminded that Jesus was beaten and killed because people didn’t like the way he acted, the things he said, and the people he spent time with.

I hope that those of use who believe in a Jesus who promotes peace will check ourselves in our responses not only to Sean Harris, but also to all who spread messages of hate. And I hope that as we respond to the miasma of hate-speech surrounding the debate over Amendment 1 here in North Carolina, and to equality around the world, that we may extend a hand of affirmation and solidarity to the greater LGBT community. As Robert Goss reminds us in Jesus Acted Up: A Gay and Lesbian Manifesto:

“Christianity itself is not the enemy. Rather, institutional forms of Christianity continue to oppress gay and lesbian people. Institutional Christianity remains conceptually impoverished in its theological discourse about gay men and lesbians…Institutional Christianity has failed to listen to the truth of gay and lesbian lives, the truth of their sexuality, and the truth of their Christian witness.”

Those of us who still avail ourselves of a brand of Christianity that includes a church and congregation, but also happens to be Welcoming and Affirming, must live this. We must show that Christianity is not the enemy, and more importantly the figure of Christ is not either. The first step is to look at Sean Harris through a lens of pity and not anger. We must extend a hand of grace to him as well. I am reminded of a congregational response from my church in Nashville that I still carry with me three years later. I believe it is a good place to begin in response to all of these debates, arguments, and discussions:

As we continue our worship in the daily patterns of life, may we immerse ourselves in the mystery of the Holy, and may we always seek to dwell where Love is the language most spoken and Peace is the path most taken.