Jesus Said Nothing About Homosexuality

by Michael Jones · 2010-01-14 08:31:00 UTC
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ReligionGay Christians aren't willing to sit at the back of the bus any longer (or, well, make that the tail end of the pews). Case in point, a conference in Nashville last week that drew hundreds willing to put their sexual orientation where their religion is.

We hear a lot about ex-gay ministries. We see religious groups like the National Organization for Marriage or the institutional Catholic Church extolling the virtues homophobia.

But it's equally important to remember that there's a huge population of folks who practice a theology that says it's not only OK to be LGBT, it's something religion should embrace. That was the meme put forward by the Gay Christian Network during their gathering last week. One mega evangelical star, Tony Campolo, spoke at the event, and he asked the crowd to remember what Jesus said about homosexuality.

Nothing.

Sure, Jesus talks a lot about economics. There's some good stuff about criminal justice. There's even a whole bunch of commentary on war and peace. But guess what? Jesus said nothing about homosexuality. Now run and tell that to Pat Robertson.

Also speaking at the Gay Christian Network's conference was Mary Lou Wallner. Wallner is one of the people featured in the documentary For the Bible Tells Me So. Years ago, when her daughter came out, Wallner reacted with a fire and brimstone approach, taking a common religious stance that homosexuality was an abomination.

But after her daughter's suicide, Wallner became convinced that treating LGBT folks like they're an abomination isn't compatible with religion. Instead it leads to violence, hatred, fear, and the toxic mix of all three that move tens of thousands of LGBT people to believe they're living a life of sin. She's now become a spokesperson for bridging the gap between religion and the LGBT population, if not in memory of her daughter, than to prevent future suicides that occur when families or religious communities fail to embrace their LGBT sons and daughters.

The point of all of this isn't to evangelize. It's simply to say what more and more people are starting to realize, whether it comes to the issue of marriage equality or the issue of accepting LGBT youth -- religion doesn't have to be the enemy of gay rights. A lot of folks work to make it so. But don't think for a minute they have the biblical history to back up their homophobia.

Photo credit: prakhar

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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