Because silence is not an option

I debated for the last two hours whether or not to write a response to the tragedy that happened in North Carolina tonight. In fact, it took me more than twenty minutes to even write that first sentence. How do you express outrage and sadness while trying to maintain civility toward an opposing opinion? Something I learned while studying Christian Ethics in college was the idea of generosity. It is important in civil discourse to extend a hand of grace to someone who believes something completely in the face of your own convictions. It is difficult, yes, but utterly necessary in order to foster genuine dialog.

But tonight I am having difficulty extending that hand. So, if you will allow me this evening to speak from my own social location without fully considering or giving voice to other opinions, I would appreciate it. In essence, I am asking you to extend a hand of grace and understanding in my direction.

Today, ignorance and blind devotion to misguided ideals won a staggering victory. Citizens of North Carolina voted to amend the state’s constitution in a way that institutionalizes discrimination. This has happened before. I remember studying the Civil Rights Movement throughout my years growing up in Alabama, reading about Jim Crow laws and discriminatory acts that banned interracial marriage. Some will tell you that gay rights are not civil rights. Not only is this untrue, but it is shameful.

Over the last days and weeks, we have heard from many who claim to be faith leaders encouraging their congregations to discriminate. They have backed up these claims with scripture. They have openly called on their churches to close their hearts and minds. They have done exactly what scripture teaches us not to do.

Here we have seen in action what Christian ethicist Miguel A. De La Torre describes in detail in his book Doing Christian Ethics from the Margins. He writes:

“The most unjust acts are portrayed as just by those with the power and privilege to impose their worldview on the rest of society. This is what sociologist Emile Durkheim meant when he insisted that the beliefs and sentiments held in common by the inhabitants of the dominant culture become the moral norms codified in laws, customs, and traditions.”

In North Carolina today, injustice became codified.

I have written before of the faith communities in my life and about their openness and acceptance of the LGBT community. In these houses of worship I have communed with people who hold political beliefs ranging from the far right to the far left. Some congregations were decidedly more “liberal” in their interpretations of scripture. Others found themselves in a more moderate place. All of them, however, believed something that one of my University Ministers once said to me: “Hospitality trumps theology every time.”

This is why I think Yaweh is saddened this evening. Not because people voted against gay marriage. I think God is saddened because we have forgotten the main message that is woven throughout scripture. Love others. Unconditionally. I will not be found guilty of framing homosexuality as a sin because I deeply believe it to be an intrinsic part of how some people are created and born to be. However, I will say for those who do see it as a sin, shame on you if you buy into a message of hate toward the LGBT community. Even if you see homosexuality as a sin, who are you to point out the speck in the eye of someone else. How dare you refuse to be seated at the table with whores and tax collectors. The pews of the Pharisees have become too comfortable.

We are called to community, not divisiveness.

And so tonight I will cry a little. I will rage for a while. And then I will go to sleep. Tomorrow I will wake up to a new day in a state that is a little less welcoming to people it doesn’t understand. I will go to work, and I will do my job. But I will also be aware that the community of Jesus Christ has been needlessly weakened. If the Kingdom of God is indeed at hand, then we have been poor stewards.

To my sisters and brothers who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other expressions of sexuality that are met with discrimination, I promise you that the words you hear from leaders of a “Christian faith” do not speak for my Christ. The Jesus I know is a liberator who came to show what it means to break out of the bonds of “religion” into relationship.

The prayer of John J. McNeil stands out tonight to me more than ever:

Almighty God, help us, your lesbian daughters and gay sons, to grow and mature in our faith. Free us from the spirit of fear and cowardice. Grant that all the suffering and pain experienced in the past by those who were persecuted because there were gay or lesbian will not have been in vain, but will help win for us and for all people in the future the grace of true liberation. Fill our hearts with a deep awareness of your love for us so that we may be free to love one another in a spirit of gratitude. Amen.