This is an excerpt from an interview evangelist Tony Campolo gave to Rev! Magazine, a publication targeting church pastors and leaders.
Have you changed your perspective on the issue of homosexuality over the years?
Campolo: I made up my mind in my mid-20s about this issue. The first time I began to encounter any intelligent discussion on this was when I was a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania. I began at that point to collect research and interview people who were homosexuals because I was doing my studies in the sociology of the family and this was a major issue. I came to the conclusion from a biblical perspective that I had to be faithful to what I thought the Scripture was teaching. Romans 1 does not allow for this behavior, but to condemn people for having feelings that they never chose to have seems crazy to say the least. That was my conclusion.
How out of step do you feel with your fellow evangelicals on this issue?
Campolo: Over the last few years I've become increasingly uncomfortable with my fellow evangelical Christians because they refuse to face the fact that in the overwhelming number of cases homosexuals do not change -- no matter hard they pray. I always emphasize that there are exceptions. But can people be prayed out of Alzheimer's disease? Of course, they can. Do you know anybody who has? I don't. The fact that God can do anything should not be questioned, but to say that you can pray yourself out of homosexuality creates a real problem. Many parents end up being alienated from their own children who are homosexual because they believe that if their kids would just get serious and pray about this they would be delivered. I could give you heart-breaking stories, of boys in particular, who cannot go home and see their parents because their parents say, "Until you repent and pray for God to change you, you can't come home."
There are two points I want to make here. First, although he stops short of total acceptance of homosexuals, he is clearly concerned about the "ex-gay" movement and strongly discredits it.
Second, he showed his views and understanding of God and His Word is still growing. Campolo is one of the best known evangelists and religious authors in the world, yet he was comfortable enough with himself to admit that he didn't, and still doesn't, have all the answers.
This is yet another example of someone who keeps his mind and heart open moving in the direction of understanding and accepting GLBT people as equal partners in the Kingdom of God. The more evangelists that come forward with this type of approach, the more isolated the hate mongers like James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson will become.
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Um, no.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who equates "gay" with "Alzheimers" gets no gold star from me.
I think you're missing the point, my friend.
ReplyDeleteWhat he's equating is the unchanging nature of Alzheimers and being gay. He's not saying we're diseased. Granted, it's hard not to draw that conclusion, but he's not saying being gay is like having cancer or something.
By the way, I met Tony's wife when I was involved with Soulforce. She is a MAJOR advocate for non-discrimination on religious grounds and is constantly working for our community in religious circles. She must be working on him too. Smile. What conversations they must have!!
Sharone
Evangelicals are having a little bother wrestling with the problem of how to handle the homosexuality question.
ReplyDeleteAs it’s obvious that Holy Literature doesn’t provide a positive guide, & as the silly beggars can’t find a way to consult with the Almighty One direct, the Rt Rev gentlemen are forced to opinionate individually as to what judgement their figmentary Lord would favour.
No surprise that disagreements are rife. Verbal gymnastics abound. Their wordy squirming is very entertaining - at times, hilarious.
Impostors - - - The lot of ‘em!
Self-righteous preachers must realise that homosexuality is just another example of the myriad of natural anomalies that occur in the evolutionary process of life. We ‘normal’ human beings, even tho’ abominating it’s existence, must learn how to tolerate it - without undue authoritative interference. There’s no alternative.
It’s very doubtful indeed that any person’s make-up is 100% male or female; an individual’s sexual orientation can lie anywhere in the spectrum. From the ‘normal’ viewpoint, those unfortunates ‘suffering’ the ultimate indignity of this malfunction have drawn a very short straw indeed. Correcting the condition is well nigh impossible.
Seeking a wrong/right ruling on this matter from some unearthly Essence displays crass imbecility. Our natural common sense must prevail.
Unrealistic Man-made ‘Beliefs’, the cause of so much mayhem & mortality of past & present are all very primitive Man-made creations - - - devious proclamations of a false & tedious nature, incessantly beguiling shallow minds with absurd religious dogma.
High time Humanity discarded these sanctimonious ramblings & put much more of their ‘Faith’ in level-headed logic!