Mopping Up.

My previous post (The Elephant in the Sanctuary) has played out.
The United Methodist Church, in General Conference, voted last weekend to continue with the policy of not allowing gays in the ministry and not allowing same-sex marriages in the church.

I am stunned.  I won't go into the gory details except to say that I feel that my church denomination has betrayed me.  I thought we were above the fray.  I was wrong, and I'm hurt about it.  It's bad enough that I am now having to rethink whether or not I want to continue to support the denomination that has always been a part of my life.  It's an existential crisis for me.

If I were honest--and I always try to be--the decision of the church's governing body really doesn't have much impact on the daily functioning of local churches.  My pastor sent an email to his/my congregation in an effort to offer an olive branch to those who might be "butt-hurt" by the decision.  He said it would not change anything, including staffing, in our local church (implied, because we do have one or more openly-gay staff members).  The pastor offered words of healing, hoping that "we" can still love each other while agreeing to disagree.  I'm still thinking about that.   

You see, I'm not gay.  The Conference's decision doesn't really have any impact on my acceptance into the "fold".  Even if I were gay, I never had any designs to be an ordained minister, nor do I have any desire to marry anyone, regardless of gender.  (At least that's where I am now.)  So no problem, right?  I've got mine.  Good luck getting yours!  Is that where we are in Christianity?  Or America?

But what about those Christians who have been faithful Methodists all their lives, long before they knew or understood that they were gay?  How are they feeling now, knowing that their church has declared that they aren't worthy to minister in the clergy, or marry a same-sex partner in their home church because of an Old Testament admonition, even though MANY Old Testament admonitions are no longer followed and no one's griping about those?  They feel disenfranchised by the very establishment that is supposed to love them.  That affects me because it displays the hypocrisy of so many present-day Christians, and I think the Lord Jesus himself would hide his face from what we have become.

I have many, many Facebook friends, real friends, former students, and relatives who identify as LGBTQ+.  Just yesterday, I put some puzzle pieces together from FB posts of one of my female former students and realized that she was suffering because of her betrayal by her church--my church.  She had virtually lived and breathed Methodism in her local church since birth.  She discovered that she is bisexual.  And now this.  She feels betrayed, and I don't know how to console her.  That's just one person.  There are so many others, many of whom have given up the notion of following religions that treat them as if they were anathema.  I'm pretty sick of mopping up after Christianity.  Particularly American Christianity, which pretends to have some special avenue to the Almighty, all the while denying their fellow citizens in the "home of the free".  Free?  You gotta 'splain that one to me...

You know, no one wants their children to be gay, and I don't know of a single LGBT person who one day just decided, "I think I'll choose a lifestyle that will make me hated by the general public, left out of church functions, subject to physical attacks and murder, and kicked out of my own family."  Yeah.  Makes no sense.  The dividing issue is whether or not homosexuality is a chosen lifestyle or a genetic predisposition.  Scientific research is only just now beginning to crack the genetic code.  (I looked it up.  Studies have been able to find genes in men that can predict homosexuality because men have one X and one Y chromosome.  Since women have two XX's, the verdict is still out, but I believe with all my heart that homosexuals are born, not made.  And if I have to spend the rest of my life throwing myself between my gay friends and the hurts of the world, I will do it.  Maybe not in the name of any religions, but just because it's right.

In 100 years, if the human race still exists on the Earth planet, I believe research will prove that I am right.  Why do I care about this?

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—

     Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

                                   ~~Martin Niemoller