Holy War
By Keith Boykin, in spirituality
Wednesday, August 6 2003, 9:17AM
While the Catholic Church moves backward on sexuality issues, the Episcopalians moved dramatically forward yesterday. With two divergent views of religion, it's no wonder the Episcopalians left the Catholic Church. But should the rest of us take sides in this holy war?
In one week's time, we've seen two of the largest churches in the world stake out contradictory viewpoints about the most divisive social issue of our time -- the issue of homosexuality. Last week the Catholics launched a full-court press to stop the recognition of same-sex marriage, while yesterday the Episcopalians finally, but somewhat reluctantly, appointed their first gay bishop.
The Vatican said it was taking its move to protect children, but the Catholic Church no longer has any credibility to talk about protecting children. After it covered up the molestation of children by its priests for decades, the sudden concern about the well-being of children seems disingenuous at best.
The battle is not over with the Episcopalians either. Progressives won a bitter battle over the appointment of Rev. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire, but opponents vow to appeal the decision with the Archbishop of Canterbury. They warn that Robinson's selection could divide the 2.3-million members of the American church and create a wedge with the 73 million members of the Worldwide Anglican Church.
Here we go again. The gay issue just won't go away this summer. Everywhere you turn, there's gay news. What started with the Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas has evolved into a fascination with gay marriage, gays in the military, a gay murderer at New York City Hall, a gay high school, a gay TV makeover show, a gay TV dating show, and now a gay bishop.
With gay marriage at the forefront of the religious divide, it's ironic that Catholics and Anglicans split over the issue of marriage some 500 years ago. That's when England's King Henry VIII left Catholicism after the bishop of Rome refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. In 1534, the king issued the Act of Supremacy, which declared the English monarch to be the head of the Church of England. Now the church includes the Episcopalians as well.
I'm not a big fan of organized religion. It seems much of religion is about control instead of liberation. I don't believe we should give any extra weight to religions that have "stood the test of time," and I certainly don't subscribe to the idea of the infallibility of any religious leader or faith. The same people who thought the earth was flat and at the center of the universe 600 years ago can hardly be trusted to know the absolute truths about the world today.
When 62 people out of 107 decide to allow a gay bishop, why is a majority vote any more divinely inspired than a public opinion poll? And when one guy in a robe in Rome can change his mind and change the course of life for a billion people, should I be convinced to follow him?
Yes, I'm glad the Episcopalians appointed a gay bishop, and I'm disappointed the Catholics have begun a fight against gay rights. But I'm not going to let any religion -- good or bad -- tell me if I have a right to equality. God gave me that right, and only God can take it away.
Comments conceal
alicia banks
August 6 2003, 10:09AM
Ditto!!!
"Dear Jesus: Please deliver me from the 'Christians'..."
God creates homosexuals in every living species.
No "holy" gaybasher and no religion will ever rob me of my divinity or my lesbian love. Never!!!
We are who we are born to be. Our love and our souls are equally divine...
See more on the gravely immoral Catholic gaybashing at my site...
"REFLECTIONS ON A POPE & A DOPE: ON GAY MARRIAGES"
Peace,
AB
Redeemed
August 6 2003, 1:28PM
The Catholic Church should be shut down in America for racketeering, extortion, conspiracy, child endangerment, child molestation, indecent acts against children and, hypocrisy.
Their crimes are organized and premeditated. They shut the mob down for much less egregious acts.
The Pope is the anti-christ. It's teachings are so un-scriptual.
Kola Boof
August 6 2003, 3:12PM
Keith,
That's wonderful about the Episcopalians. Now if we could only get the book industry, film industry and music industry...to stop...accusing "some straight artists" of
PROMOTING HOMOSEXUALITY..
This is an issue that has never been addressed...the underground "peer pressure" that is now being levied against anyone straight who openly supports gay issues.
.
Anthony
August 6 2003, 4:06PM
It often appears on both sides of an aisle, two sides will inevitably emerge on any issue of controversy. Though I find myself clearly on the side of rights of equality for all people, I also understand that either side will make an attempt to vilify the other to enhance their own position. Vilifying an entire institution or persons within that institution in such a generalized manner, in my estimation is as harmful to the discussion as what we fight against from our homophobic detractors.
Yesterday was indeed an historic moment in the life of the Episcopal Church, one that many Catholics including myself would hope that the Roman Catholic Church would embrace, however change never comes easy nor does ever come without pain and tension.
Painfully the Roman Catholic Church is a slow institution, nothing it has ever done has been done with great speed. This is a concern to us in these modern times, which are accustomed to instant access to information, fast food and light speed.
More than an argument can be made to speak of the ills organized religion has promulgated throughout history in the name of God, most recently the scandal that has rock the Catholic Church in the past year. And to its credit the Catholic Church has done much good in the world, but like any human institution, it had participated in its share evils. The same is true of the Episcopalian Church, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, so on and so on.
It is my hope and my pray that despite any differences we may have with any institution, public or private, religious or non-religious, that with a discerning eye, we are able to see its faults and frailties, as well as its accomplishments. That we can distinguish between what is good and what is bad, right and wrong.
For as long as we work for justice, let not forget peace. For as long as we work for equality, let us not neglect reconciliation. Let us not enter into the discussion compromising our own integrity.
Love is the fountain from which both peace and justice should flow.
Bradley Osborn
August 6 2003, 4:48PM
Amen, Keith!
Here's my view:
ON MARRIAGE EQUITY: an open letter to the pope
Dear John Paul,
Have you read the amber and sepia document we call the Constitution of the United States? Please check out Amendment XIV; it ensures equal protection under the law. Oh, and also give Article IV a good read; it guarantees “full faith and credit” among the states.
When you've finished the above homework assignment, I would like you to get a lexicon, and thumb to the ‘T’ section. Look for ‘teleological reasoning.’ This is the philosophical principle under which you operate. One might paraphrase it as “the end justifies the means.” All those church-sponsored tortures, murders, and enslavements were all good stuff because they brought more power to the Holy See. Don't even get me started on the Borgias.
But, if this is your chosen paradigm, then while opposing same gender marriage you must simultaneously disallow the legal union of older couples and infertile partners. If the purpose of marriage is to produce more humans, then these two options should also be prohibited.
You see, marriage is not based on the sex act. It is based upon a shared life, values, and ideals. It is the right of every American to engage in such a union, regardless of gender. Personally, I find it abhorrent that many reduce such an institution to the legal sanction of sexual congress.
We humans are more alike than we are different. God made us quite similar on the inside. Some folks get hung up on external aesthetics. And just as Dan Quayle and Fred Phelps didn't choose to be heterosexual, no gay man or woman has ever chosen to be a same-gender loving person. God made us this way.
We ask neither the endorsement nor the aegis of the Roman Catholic Church; this organization lost all credibility with respect to moral guidance long ago (see above). The throne of the Vatican has set back science a thousand years, harbored institutionalized child abuse and pedophiles, and was the architect of some of the most horrific atrocities perpetrated upon mankind.
The United States is not a theocracy, despite the efforts of Pat Robertson and his fellow doomsayers. This country was founded as a response to the economic tyranny of Britain and its manic king. True, some folks did cross the Atlantic to escape religious oppression, but these were the intolerant, witch-burning misogynists who were kicked out of Europe. Many more people arrived in shackles as human property to aid the Southern economy, so volition is not a proper motive to bolster that argument.
Unlike most Catholics, I have actually read the Bible. (No offense intended to my devout host-eating comrades.) I don't require a vicar to communicate with God. He's always here whenever I need to chat. I am pleased my Anglican brethren have risen above their roots as a religious entity, founded solely for the purpose of granting Henry VIII a divorce, and confirmed Reverend Gene Robinson as bishop.
By the way, I fail to see how same-gender marriage could do more harm to an institution that currently has a divorce rate upwards of 50 percent. I will pray for you, JP, you not-so-infallible demagogue in a cassock. If my prayers go unheeded I suppose I could get used to hockey and a giant maple leaf. Brrr, I'll need more socks.
Wow, I almost felt like a full citizen for a moment.
Bradley Osborn
cmoney
August 7 2003, 3:14PM
Well, well, well. I might just go back to the church in which I was raised. Now all the Episcopalians need is some soul stirring music. Things have come a long way since the early 80's when I walked into a gay bar in D.C. and spotted the minister of my church at the bar drinking a beer. I ran out the door shocked and horrified before he saw me. How could my priest be gay? Of course, I was only 19 and wasn't so sure of myself. Being gay was a sin, or so I thought. Although this minister was definitely not a bible thumping bigot, he certainly had a wife and two kids who were my classmates. Something had to be wrong. Now, I know better. With the elevation of a gay man to the position of Bishop, perhaps fewer people will feel ashamed, will feel unwelcome at church and will not feel compelled to lead a double life. Incidentally, that priest eventually divorced his wife (or she left him). No one in church seemed to know why and were so shocked and saddened. I knew why. I was not shocked, but I was saddened.
Yes, maybe I will go back to a church I have not attended since the 80's. Maybe.
P.S. As for the Pope, what the hell does he know about marriage? Why take advice from someone who, by definition, has no first hand knowledge of what he speaks? Why should anyone take relationship advice from a loner, a person who has never had a loving relationship, much less, sex, with an unrelated human being? Believing in God does not mean one has to be a fool.
Anthony Bruce
August 9 2003, 7:25PM
As a proud and practicing Catholic I understand the often difficult position the Church finds itself with American non-Catholics when dealing with position contrary to the "American" way of thinking. Americans think that they are morally superior and culturally evolved when compared to the rest of the world. When we look at the topic of marriage, why is it that Americans experience a 50% failure rate? If marriage is such a protected American institution why are nearly 70% of all Black children born outside of married relationships? As a counselor I see both the beauty of what a marriage can represent and the tragedy of failing to understand what marriage should mean (look at Kobe Bryant). It is easy to bash the Vatican when it comes to marriage. Christianity is not a religion to uphold the political and cultural beliefs of any one county or group of people. Rather Christianity is to help shape the beliefs and cultures of the world. I can understand the Vatican's position. The dialogue to bring a greater understanding to the Christian view on homosexuality will evolve not by threats but by theological dialogue.
cmoney
August 11 2003, 3:28PM
When the Pope stops trying to run the lives of non-Catholics such as myself, I will refrain from commenting on his ridiculous and
bigoted "opinions". I am not Catholic and, therefore, have not consented to his authority. As such, the Pope and others who agree with him should stop trying
to make the rest of us feel immoral. The Pope has encouraged American politicians who are Catholic to fight the right of gays to get married.
We have a Constitution here that specifically rejects the monarchies of Europe. That includes the Vatican.
I have a right as an American to oppose his attempt to unduly and improperly impinge upon my rights.
kirk
August 13 2003, 2:27AM
Marriage is an inherently flawed institution. The Pope fears the political threat that modern homosexuality imposes. While intercourse between persons of the same gender has occurred for centuries, the concept of unresponsiveness to one gender is completely new; that is, sexuality should be fluid, but contemporary thought rejects that attitude.
Just as the New Negro movement was borne out of returning soldiers' defense of Chicago neighborhoods from raiding pogroms, so too is contemporary homosexuality a political refrain. From Socrates to the modernist authors (Gide, Wilde, Mann) societies have attacked homosexual intercourse. However, the accomplishments of those who suffer serve as a rejoinder against oppression.
Do not confuse marriage with the promised land in a country that legislates behavior. It is the political fascination of the moment. In our Confucian units, we remember marriage as necessarily sado-masochistic relationship, but it's benefits (division of labor, combined spending power) are too attractive to overlook. How can we forget the pathetic human fear of a lonely death.
COnsider domestic violence, divorce, rape and even the motif of the trophy wife. Marriage is a perpetual power struggle. Under the US' dogmatic market ethic, the human element is frequently lost. We censor television and fine big tobacco for children: we then abuse or neglected.
THere are no conclusions (too lazy), but plenty of simple musings: Henry VIII was hardly a christ-like figure. Many of the attitudes that I have read remind strongly of Irish Catholic beatings. Christian hierarchy--as ironic as the parables were-- necessitates conservatism. Never looked to faith based religions for openmindedness--forgiveness, maybe. And the cycle of hatred begins within: don't allow it to extend towards catholics. FInally, I'm shocked at the moral charge of blacks as bastards: it's such a silly attitude to wave the finger at people who choose to sit in the back of the bus (ie not getting married. People have always had sex, always had children. In no sense is the United States a moral stronghold that demands decorum and fidelity: the nation-state sexualizes oppressed peoples as a mode of colonialism. Kobe Bryant is a wonderfully talented professional basketball player: nothing else is known. JUdge not, lest ye be judged. Innocent until proven guilty. Do not join the lynch mob.
Frank Eggers
August 30 2003, 5:55AM
If you read historic Roman Church documents, you will see that when married persons have sex, they are adminished not to have too much pleasure while doing it. Sex for the purpose of creating children is entirely OK, but if it is for pleasure, it is a venial sin, which can be forgiven, as long as they do nothing to prevent the possibility of creating children.
As you can see, the Church of Rome has historically had a very negative attitude towards sex.
Probably you can find the writings of St. Jerome on some website. He considerably influenced the thinking of the Roman Church regarding sex.
Travis
August 20 2004, 9:58PM
I beleive the catholic church is a dark stain upon our modern society. I think it is easier for them to disdain and spread hate against homosexuals than deal with their own internal issues. Pointing the finger at other issues that are not internal to their church may distract their followers from the fact the catholic church has let pedophilia run wild for generations. And besides, is homosexuality more a sin then birth control, lust, abuse? greed? these sins seem to run out of control but it's easier to point a finger at homosexuality. Should we also point fingers at minorites for issues such as poverty or crime? No! that is no longer socially exceptable, but homosexuals seem to be the victom's of a double standard in our society.
Travis, 18, BC Canada