According to a panel recently hosted by the predominantly homosexual Metropolitan Community Church of Washington D.C., God approves of the use of sex toys, the Bible can be a “problematic document,” and societal pressures would cause Jesus to hold prejudices if he lived on earth today.
Would Jesus discriminate? This was the question posed at the moderated town hall forum “about LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered] people, the ministry of Jesus, the church in the 21st Century and the intersections of oppression,” held on June 11. The evening was co-hosted with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest gay advocacy group.
Panelist Susan Newman, pondering the question, answered: “If Jesus was here today, very much man, very much God . . . I would have to answer the question, probably, there may be some times, yes that Jesus may discriminate.” Newman, an adjunct minister for People’s Congressional United Church of Christ in Washington, reinforced that there is no one without prejudices, who does not discriminate, and that Jesus on earth would be no different. Newman asserted, however, that it would not be “a motive or intention of hatred, but it would be a result of Jesus’ position as a Jewish man.”
In support of this argument, and her claim that Jesus would never discriminate “twice on the same issue,” Newman referenced Mark, chapter 7, where a Greek woman (who was more importantly a non-Jewish woman) pleaded with Jesus to heal her child. Jesus initially ignored the presence of this woman before acknowledging that she had “great faith,” and performed the miracle.
Newman talked about a panel discussion at which she spoke several years ago entitled, “Can you love God and Sex Too?” where she was asked, “Is it alright in the sight of God to use a vibrator?” She indicated that this is evidence of the tentative mindset that Christians have about sex. To this question she replied, “If you can’t see, God doesn’t mind if you get some eye glasses. If you can’t hear, God doesn’t mind if you get a hearing aide. If you need assistance in the area of your stimulation for your personal sexual satisfaction, God would say, ‘Just get a vibrator, some c-cell batteries and praise the Lord.’”
At the same event the question arose about God’s views on homosexuality. She responded, “Some things I don’t know right now, but I’d rather air on the side of loving people, being inclusive and accepting of people.” She went on to explain that Jesus never specifically spoke on homosexuality. As a result, “God is giving us a chance to exercise the radical and inclusive love of Jesus Christ.”
Seminary professor Randall Bailey focused most of his discussion on purportedly flawed interpretations of the Bible, and the resulting prejudice. Baliey, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Hebrew Bible at Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, believes that the Bible is a “problematic document” in some ways. As an example, he asserted that some people “want to use the authority of the Bible,” to discriminate against black people.
Like Newman, Bailey referenced Mark, chapter 7, and claimed that Jesus “has a problem with gender issues.” He continued, “My point is . . . the way in which we have constructed Jesus, goes against the text.” Bailey went on to explain that the parables in the Bible that mention slaves portray the slave master as God. “We need to struggle with some of these issues, so that we don’t find ourselves internalizing the oppression,” Bailey argued. “I’m not saying to throw away the Bible. I’m saying engage it. If we forget the bible is words of people that wrote about what they thought about God, then we can engage that better than if we start thinking that God gave us these words.”
Transitioning to a discussion on homosexuality, Bailey referenced the depiction of a white Jesus on billboards for the “Would Jesus Discriminate” campaign. He explained that by continuing to personify Jesus as white “reinscribes white supremacy. . . reinscribes patriarchy.” He asked, “What would happen with that campaign if we both reconstructed white supremacy and heterosexuals in that way?” Bailey concluded that in order to become more comfortable talking about, and questioning these important issues, “We have to stop talking about who people aren’t” and discuss who they are.
Cindi Love authored the book, Would Jesus Discriminate? The 21st Century Question, for which this event was named. Love, the Executive Director of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) and a Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Religion Council member, told the story of growing up in Abilene, Texas in the Church of Christ. Love graduated from the conservative Abilene Christian College, one of three Christian colleges in Abilene, all of which “have standard policies regarding students who identify any way other that heterosexual.” Love said that she grew up believing that “you can’t be a Christian and be gay.” Despite being a liberal, lesbian clergywoman, Love said, “All the preachers I knew were white men who were fundamentalist evangelicals.”
When she was inspired to start what would become her Would Jesus Discriminate? campaign, Love said she wanted to “come up with a way to talk to people about, what did Jesus actually think about what I grew up believing?” She continued, “I started this because I actually believe that people believe in Christ, whether they are…the kind that I was growing up…who don’t know anybody that’s not like them, because their mothers and daddys don’t let them know anybody but people like them, because that would be the devil . . . or a progressive Christian.”
Love has been with her same sex partner for 28 years, and they have raised two children who are both gay.
The Metropolitan Community Church of Washington D.C., which hosted this event, describes itself as “a Christian church with a special ministry to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Community.” They are a member congregation of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a denomination that caters to the homosexual population.
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