The Church and Homosexuality

The more I listen to what the Evangelicals and traditionalists are saying in the current debate, the more convinced I become that they are wrong. It's not just the manner in which they have conducted the argument, with such poisonous uncharitableness and insufferable self-righteousness, that I'm sure there must be many people who feel, as I do, that anyone who behaves in such an unchristian way cannot be right in what they say about God, or about anything, very much. No, it is much more as Jesus said to some earlier opponents who set great store by the literal sense of their Scriptures: Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the Scriptures, nor the power of God? (Mk.12:24)

Of course they know the Scripture to the extent that they can quote the famous Levitical passages about the abomination of lying with a man as with a woman (Lev.18:22; 20:13), as well as the passages in St Paul which interpret same-sex intercourse as an expression of (or punishment for) idolatry, and wilful rebellion against God (Rom.1:18-32, esp. v.26f). Such offenders cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor.6:9; 1 Tim.1:10). If the only way we used and obeyed Scripture were literally, then there could be little doubt that homosexual practice was contrary to God's will.

But there is more to knowing the Scriptures than that. We also need to know how to use them, and especially to understand that literal interpretation and obedience are not the only ways of reading the Bible. Indeed, we read the Bible differently from that every time we open it. We no longer believe, for example, that the sun moves round the earth; that the universe was created in six days; that adulterers should be stoned to death; that slavery is permissible among God's people; that women should cover their heads and be silent in church worship; that some people may be excluded from church membership on the grounds of race. We no longer obey a prohibition which is even more insistent in the Bible than the prohibition of homosexuality, that is, the forbidding of usury, or lending money at interest (Ex.22:25; Lev.25:35-8; Deut.23:19-20; Neh.5:1-13; Ezek.22:12). In fact, usury has become the foundation stone of modern economics.

Why has the Church felt able to 'change its mind' about these clear and literal teachings of the Bible? The answer is, that as Christians have studied and prayed the Bible, and lived life and reflected on it, they have come to believe that some parts of Scripture express the mind of God more completely than others. This kind of selectivity has always existed, so that Scripture is interpreted not only in the light of other parts of Scripture, but also of extra-scriptural principles. Even those who claim to follow 'the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible', have their own extra-scriptural principles of interpreting the Bible, even if they don't like to admit the fact. And sometimes, for all of us, these principles change. In fact, the Church is constantly being driven to reflect on and redefine its interpretational principles, whenever it finds that the existing ones no longer work.

And this is what is happening now, with the issue of homosexuality. The fact is, that homosexuality exists: there are gay and lesbian people out there in the real world. We don't understand the causes of what we call 'homosexuality': whether it is the result of an individual's genetic makeup, or of that person's upbringing or early-life experiences. So long as it was regarded as a perverse choice that a person made, or some wilful disobedience of the moral law, it was possible to maintain the scriptural prohibition against it. But this no longer works, because it is simply not the experience of lesbian and gay people. Their testimony is that their sexuality is not something they have chosen, but is simply a given, an essential part of everything they are. Just as a heterosexual man or woman doesn't choose to be that way; it is simply who we are.

Once we understand this, it becomes clear that it just is not good enough simply to condemn homosexuality, or even to insist that all gay or lesbian people can only be faithful Christians if they practise lifelong celibacy. This would be tantamount to saying: What you are is so abhorrent to God, that the only way you can please him is to deny who you are, and suppress your deepest nature and longings. Where is the good news in that? It is God who has created that man or woman in God's own image, with that unique sexual makeup, together with every other unique aspect that makes human variety so precious.

What we must do instead, is help every person, whatever his or her nature, to live for God and to serve Christ to the best of his or her ability. Jo Ind, in her very helpful book Memories of Bliss, subtitled 'God, Sex and Us' (SCM Press, £9.99), explores the meaning of human sexuality, and concludes with three chapters entitled Love Yourself, Love Your Neighbour, and Love God. This way of looking at the subject poses the questions for each one of us: how can we so embrace our sexuality, and help others to do the same, that we are better able to love ourselves (without guilt, self-hatred, denial), to love our neighbour (without condemnation, abusiveness, exploitation), and to love God (with all our heart and soul and mind and strength — which includes our body)?

It is often said that the Church should not be tearing itself apart with internal squabbles, as it wrestles with issues of sexuality, but should be concentrating on preaching the Gospel, reaching out to a world which so desperately needs to hear the good news of God in Jesus. But until we have moved on from the Church's long-standing rejection of gay and lesbian people, until we have come to a healthy understanding of our own sexuality, and that it is a fundamental aspect of who we are, in our deepest place of encounter with other people and with God, what good news have we got to offer?

A change in the Church's public teaching on homosexuality is long overdue. It is now demanded not only in the interests of truth, and of public relations (to prevent the Church from being a laughing stock), but equally in the interests of the Gospel.

See also: St Peter, Patron Saint Of Those Who Can Change Their Minds. A sermon preached on June 29, 2003