Mainline Protestants must speak up for gays

[kweerwolf]

(Some progressive thinking from our neighbors to the North at The Toronto Star)

Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary has thrown down the gauntlet and dared the federal government to limit his church's tax-free status as he fiercely attacks same-sex marriage.

He is not alone. All across this country Christian clergy and lay leaders are organizing, speaking out and running candidates to make same-sex marriage an election issue.

That was to be expected. My question is, where are the Christian voices who support this justice issue? It bothers me that our media report on the same-sex issue as if Christians are opposed and secular folks are for. A great many Christians support same-sex marriage.

<snip>

But it is not just the media's problem. They report what they hear and see. If mainline Protestant churches are not speaking out in their pulpits, in columns, on radio call-in shows, at rallies, why wouldn't the secular world assume that the term Christian Right is redundant.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1133995814926&call_pageid=970599119419

[CrazyOrangeCat]

1. I go to an inner-city Presbyterian church sometimes . . .

. . . and we are very supportive of gay and lesbian rights. Three gays attend, that I'm aware of, and they are treated with great respect. We aren't going to cave into popular currents of gay-bashing and alienation. They are our friends.

[freestyle]

2. The ACC, at least the Diocese of New Westminster, has spoken out.

The Episcopal Church in the U.S. has also spoken out. Both are catching hell from other parts of the Anglican Communion as a result. I don't know enough about Canada to comment beyond the Anglican Church of Canada. I do know that Canada will be subject to much outside interference from the U.S. religious right. Follow the money and it will probably lead to the U.S., and probably to the same foundations that are the funders of hatred here.

In Maryland, there is an amicus brief to the marriage equality lawsuit that was joined by many clergy and religious organizations. The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland has taken strong stands in favor of equality. I have heard equality, including GLBT equality preached from the pulpit. A large part of it is the media's problem. Mainline Protestant clergy and lay people speak out quite regularly, but get minimal coverage. I will agree that the religious left is not as strident. That is because we are busy walking the talk, not just talking it. However, asking us to spend more time speaking out, or speaking a little louder always helps. It certainly helped here, and the diversity of religious thought is very clear.

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. The problem is....

It is not the progressives who run the religious broadcast networks or the large circulation religious magazines. It is not the progressives who hold 10,000 seat statium revivals or have their adherents funnel vast sums of money to political causes. And, honestly, the conservative denominations such as the Southern Baptist Convention, Assemblies of God and non-affiliated fundamentalists far out-number the more accepting churches.