Clarifying Where I Stand

Some of the regular readers of this blog have probably followed the discussion between myself, a man who posts as “Stuffed Animal,” and Jerry Maneker. Both of them, particularly Stuffed Animal, have taken me to task for being willing to engage in dialogue with those who feel that homosexuality is a sin. I have found Stuffed Animal’s comments to be driven by a deep, perhaps even visceral, anger at injustices done to him and other GLBT people. He has taken offense to my toleration of anti-homosexual comments on this blog, a view which Jerry appears to share.

I have written that I disagree with an approach that, in my opinion, too closely resembles that of the bigots that cause such pain and draw GLBT people into self-loathing and other negative views of life. The anger that comes across in Stuffed Animal’s comments troubles me and I have commented to him that I don’t feel he’s channeling it in a positive, constructive manner. The response from Stuffed Animal has been that by tolerating views that do not directly and strongly support the place of GLBT people in the Kingdom of God, I am doing a disservice to the community and compromising the effectiveness of my advocacy.

Fair enough. Everyone is entitled to their opinion of how to most effectively advocate equality for GLBT people in politics and the church.

Over on Jerry’s blog, Stuffed Animal continues to write about this blog, dialoging with Jerry. He refers to me as “Rev. Jim” when I am not in fact an ordained minister or have ever claimed to be. My wife is, but not me. No big deal, in fact I took it as a compliment.

He got another fact very, very wrong that has angered me and needs to be corrected lest anyone draw the same incorrect conclusion.

Stuffed Animal posted, “Deep down, I believe Jim accepts the lie that God condemns homosexuality as sinful, and that's why he can't see it for the damaging thing that it is. He thinks that if the Bible bullies will just stop being so virulent, and the Gay activists will just stop being so militant, then we can all find common ground and sit quietly together in church.”

That is simply a load of crap. I was disappointed that Jerry agreed with it since he and I have shared numerous constructive exchanges over the last few months.

It is beyond me how any reasonable person can read this blog and draw that conclusion. Nonetheless, just in case someone else could, allow me to state how I feel very, very clearly.

I believe that all people are equal in God’s eyes regardless of the sexual orientation they are born with. We are equal brothers and sisters who have redemption available to us because Christ sacrificed Himself for our sins. I believe couples of the same-sex should have equal rights to marry just like Brenda and I did. I believe God blesses monogamous, covenant relationships regardless of the genders of the partners. I believe God loathes promiscuity regardless of the gender of the participants. I believe GLBT people need legal protections, not “special rights” to protect their ability to hold down jobs, adopt children, and do anything and everything I can do as a straight person without having to stay in the closet.

My wife, Pastor Brenda, believes the same things. She has ministered to the GLBT community for nearly 20 years and is one of the people who continue to enlighten me about the injustices and ministry needs of GLBT people.

If anyone doubts that I feel this way, please check out anything I have posted on this blog. If you see something I wrote that makes you think Stuffed Animal is right, I would sincerely like to know. Perhaps I misstated something or put it in a way that was not clear, that’s always possible.

Just show me the courtesy of telling me directly, either by commenting on the blog or by e-mail. I’d rather not stumble across negative comments about me on someone else’s blog.