Homosexuality Issue Splitting Methodists

Christianity Today has a short but pleasant editorial on the intra-denominational politics of the homosexuality issue, which is slowly splitting Methodism in two. CT is Evangelical in orientation, so the editorial critiques the Liberal position but it does so rather gently. It points up (to me, anyway) how tough it is for Christian Liberals to defend their right flank. It isn't just that fundamentalists are good Bible-thumpers--the problem is there isn't much solid ground for Liberals to build their position on. It's hard to flesh out "tolerance" into a workable, defensible position that stops short of total acceptance and endorsement. No one is happy just being "tolerated."

Liberals are stuck in the middle, criticized by both extremes. Unfortunately, this whole critique seems to apply to Mormon Liberals with as much force as to Liberal Protestants. Noting how gays "coming out" mirrors the liberal idea that religion is about finding one's true self, the article makes this trenchant summary:

This exaltation of the self first blossomed in the values-clarification sex education curriculum used by many denominations in the 1970s—in which teenagers' self-chosen value systems became the authority for their sexual ethics. We now see its flowering in the Christian gay culture, in which gays feel they will "wither and die" (as one homoerotic bishop recently put it) if they cannot express their sexuality.

Comments

[clark]

I think that is a good point. No one wants to just be tolerated. Everyone wants to be accepted. And that will inevitably make the future of relations between homosexual lobbies and movents and Christians difficult. When the really liberal Christian sects move towards a more metaphoric view of Christianity though, they tend to lose their congregation. Yet moderate liberals, who don't go that far, end up with the tensions you mention.

[Dave]

You can't make everyone happy, but you at least have to make a substantial minority happy if your position is to survive institutionally. Liberal Protestants might be happy about middle-ground tolerant positions on the homosexuality question in a lukewarm way, but not an excited, motivated, committed way. So mainline denominations have steadily lost commitment and support, while Evangelicals (with a cut-and-dried polar position) have rallied the faithful and built strong (if decentralized) organizations. Who needs tolerance? might be the Evangelical motto.