[Dialogue] Spong on the church and homosexuality

[KroegerD at aol.com]

Dear Friends,  
These were the words of one of the pieces of music featured recently in a  
concert in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was for me part of an unusual and  
expanding weekend in that state of ten thousand lakes, walleyed pike, wild rice  and 
a state university which calls itself "The Golden Gophers." I had been  
invited to lead a conference sponsored by the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus of  Mi
nneapolis and St. Paul. The conference, held from 1:00 p.m. until 5 p.m. on a  
Saturday afternoon, began with the keynote address that I delivered. It then  
broke into a series of workshops on such topics as "From Rejection to  
Inclusion," "Faces of Leadership," "Responding to the Conservative Message" and  
"Success Stories and Risky Justice."  
One purpose of this conference was to celebrate and to acknowledge the 150  
churches in the Twin Cities area that proclaim themselves to be "open and  
affirming congregations," which means churches where gay and lesbian people can  
be assured of a warm, safe and genuine welcome, a place to which they can come, 
 as the evangelical hymn proclaims, "Just as I Am!" and where no one will use 
the  Bible to justify prejudice, emotional abuse or rejection.  
This Saturday conference was sandwiched between two public concerts on Friday 
 and Saturday evenings presented by this world renowned Gay Men's Chorus, as 
part  of a regular schedule of sacred, secular, classical and popular music 
which they  perform each year to sell out crowds. The entire weekend took place 
in the Ted  Mann Concert Hall of the University of Minnesota, a facility 
seating well over  1000 people.  
Each of these public concerts is carefully orchestrated by the genial,  
popular and talented conductor, Dr. Stan Hill, who is himself a remarkable and  
gifted performer. His mission is to educate the world about those who are "his"  
people. There is no debate in Dr. Hill's mind about homosexuality being a 
given,  not a chosen way of life. "I was a gay fetus," he announced. In the format 
of  this particular concert he wove into his music video clips of various 
Christian  clergy speaking in hostile language about how deeply God hates 
homosexuality. It  was clear that "God" was little more than a euphemism for these 
clergypersons'  own hatred. One of the more virulent clips was of the Rev. Fred 
Phelps, a  Baptist minister from Topeka, Kansas, whose website is 
_www.godhatesfags.com_ (http://www.godhatesfags.com/)  Seething with  hostility, he urged 
the use of rusty barbed wire to castrate gay men, even  calling their public 
executions "the will of God." The justification for his  hatred he found in the 
book of Leviticus. I have encountered Fred Phelps before  when he has 
picketed places where I was lecturing. He is a thoroughly  unpleasant, hostile man 
who even uses his grandchildren to carry his hate-filled  banners. I cringe at 
the realization that he calls himself a Christian. At the  General Convention 
of the Episcopal Church in 1998 in Philadelphia, this man  honored me highly by 
parading placards that proclaimed "Spong and Tutu are fag  lovers!" I had a 
friend photograph that picketing sign and included it in the  photo section of 
my autobiography, "Here I Stand." Perhaps Fred Phelps does not  realize that I 
consider it a privilege to be linked with my good friend Desmond  Tutu in any 
cause.  
The entire audience had to see these brief breathtakingly cruel electronic  
clips during this concert, but they were then immediately countered by a series 
 of clergy reading a few lines from the sacred scriptures about the God of 
love,  who embraces all that God has made and whose welcome is not compromised 
by  either human ignorance or bigotry. When my turn came to read in this moving 
 concert, I chose words from Micah: "What does the Lord require of you but to 
do  justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God," followed by 
words from  the first Epistle of John: "God is love and whoever abides in love 
abides in  God." I concluded with Jesus' universal invitation, recorded in 
Matthew: "Come  unto me all ye." "All ye," I noted, not "some of ye!" The other 
clergy readers  were from Congregational, Unity, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, 
Unitarian, United  Church of Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day 
Saints churches.  Non-scriptural sources were also read but all carried the same 
basic message.  The contrast between the video clips of hatred and these 
scriptural readings  about love and inclusion was telling. We became newly aware of 
just how many  dreadful offenses have been committed by religious people in 
the name of their  God. Regular victims throughout history have been Jews, 
heretics, "infidels,"  scientists, people of color, women and homosexual persons.  
Each evening the concert began with a great church-like procession of the 120 
 voice male chorus, followed by representative groups from those open and  
affirming churches of the Twin Cities area, each carrying a banner proclaiming  
their identity. They wanted to be known for their stand and did not want their 
 voices of welcome muted by fear. Most of the members of this gay men's 
chorus  processed in and sang with ecclesiastical stoles around their shoulders. 
That  presented a striking and provocative visual image. Although a stole is 
normally  the mark of ordination on this night they had a quite different 
purpose. The  Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus had collected this "shower of stoles," as 
they  called them, from gay men and lesbians who had been removed from the 
ranks of  their church's ordained ministry because they were open and honest 
about their  sexual orientation. Each stole thus told the story of a killing 
rejection from  the "body of Christ." For example, a Roman Catholic priest, who was 
now a member  of the Chorus, wearing his clerical collar under his choir 
robe, told the  audience that the day of this concert actually marked the 16th 
anniversary of  the last time he had been allowed to "offer the Mass" before 
being inhibited by  his bishop. "A priest forever" his church proclaimed him to 
be, but one who was  now forced by his vow of obedience to his bishop to refrain 
from practicing that  priesthood until he "repents" of his homosexuality. How 
can one repent of what  one is? It was poignant moment. It was as if the 
stoles themselves cried out for  justice.  
In the Church's present struggle over homosexuality honesty has been a major  
casualty. So long as homosexual people are dishonest about who they are, they 
 are welcomed in the service of the Church and many of them serve with great  
distinction and in prominent places in the ecclesiastical hierarchies. I can  
name some great homosexual bishops that I have known personally in both my  
church and in the Church of England. They have made outstanding contributions  
both to their churches and to their nations. Gay bishops have served the 
Church  of England in the most prestigious of Anglican Sees. In America gay bishops 
have  been elected by their peers to high and privileged offices. I have also 
known,  and indeed still know, homosexual bishops in my church who have spent 
their  entire careers hiding behind their own killing homophobia and leading 
the  church's condemnation of gay and lesbian people. This duplicity is so 
overt that  I have little patience with the present and basically dishonest 
dispute going on  in the churches. I know well Gene V. Robinson, the openly gay 
Episcopal Bishop  of New Hampshire, but he is not, I assure you, even at this 
moment the only  active bishop in my church who is gay. He is the only active 
honest gay bishop.  Our bishops know that. The truth is not served when they deny 
it. Some of our  gay bishops continue to hide inside the institution of 
marriage.  
Rowan Williams, the present Archbishop of Canterbury, who panders so badly to 
 the homophobia present in both the third world and in the right wing  
conservative and evangelical parts of the Anglican Church in the United States  and 
the United Kingdom, knows better than he acts. If he thinks this pandering  
will create unity, he has sadly misjudged reality. If he thinks that perfuming  
homophobia with Bible quotations is appropriate, he is not the scholar I know  
him to be. He has himself approved the appointment of a remarkably talented 
gay  man to be an area bishop in the Diocese of Oxford, only to "repent" of 
that  appointment and to use his influence to force that person, already 
officially  nominated by both the Prime Minister Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth II, to 
 resign. One wonders just how high the price is that this man is willing to 
pay  for a superficial unity, purchased at the price of his own integrity and  
honesty. One wonders if a leader who is willing to act this way has anything 
of  value left to give to the Church in his leadership role. Indeed, why would  
anyone want to be a member of such a church that had so deeply violated the  
essence of the Christian gospel?  
These were the things that flooded through my mind during this incredible  
weekend as I listened to the magnificent concert, embraced and enjoyed the  
talent of this group of gay men and watched representative congregations plant  
their flags publicly on the side of truth, honesty and integrity. I saw a parade 
 of people moving beyond prejudice into a new human wholeness.  
There is no doubt as to the final outcome of the present ecclesiastical  
struggle over homosexuality. The only question is whether there will be much  left 
that is worth saving in the Church when the inevitable victory is won. It  is 
time for Christians all over this nation, indeed all over the world, to stand 
 up publicly to say "I am no longer willing to tolerate homophobia masked as  
Bible based morality" and to declare that "the sacrifice of truth and 
integrity  is too high a price to pay for a shallow unity." It is time to recognize 
that  this battle is over, to stop the debate and to claim the victory. There 
is no  time left for further discussion. There is no other way for the 
Christian Church  to live if we claim to be the disciples of Jesus. I thank the Twin 
Cities Gay  Men's Chorus for allowing me to share in this weekend. It will be a 
landmark  memory as the tide of homophobia recedes from my nation and from 
the Christian  church. 



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