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Published On: Jul 29, 2009 01:48 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jul 29, 2009 01:48 PM
Shut up!
I wrote
recently about the voting that's going on in the Presbyterian Church
regarding the ordination of LGBT folks in the
denomination.
Currently the vote is 51 to 80, against ratification of the amendment that would allow those ordinations. They only need 87 to defeat it entirely. So, things do not look good right now. (However, we have seen at least 23 Presbyteries flip from No to Yes this time around, and a significant number of Presbyteries come much closer to flipping their votes than ever before.)
So what does the other side want to do? Here's one idea from one of the pastors on the wrong side:
"Call upon all those within the church who cannot teach what we have repeatedly affirmed about sexuality in accordance with Scripture to cease their disobedience and be silent on this issue."
Now understand that while we may be crazy church people, we're still Americans, and still believe in things like freedom of speech. Yet this pastor, who styles himself as "classically presbyterian" is proposing that the opponents of justice and inclusion shut those of us up who dare to disagree with them. There is, just to be clear, absolutely no way, no mechanism, no ability, nor power in any of our polity or confessions, or even in Holy Scripture that would allow them to do this. But they think they can and they want to try.
(Note, depending on your prior experiences with Christianity, perhaps this statement isn't as shocking as it should be. If you're used to a more authoritarian form of church government, perhaps it even sounds suspiciously like something the Pope might say. We Presbyterians, however, are just about as egalitarian as a church can get, and shutting people up is about as far from traditional presbyterianism as one can get. Those of us who are actually presbyterian (as opposed to those who only call themselves presbyterian) believe in a concept called "the priesthood of all believers." Thus, shutting people up is simply an option that isn't anywhere on the table, ever.)
This is what happens when someone like "Reverend" Brown decides that some other person is less than human. Less-than-humans don't deserve human rights and responsibilities. Ordination? Marriage? Heck, even free speech? Of course not. Oh, and by the way, shut up.
This fight isn't over by a long shot, but now we have even more reason to see them fail: so we can show the other side how to treat people like actual living, breathing human beings, and how to be gracious in victory, and how to live out what we believe instead of trying to shut anyone up who disagrees with us.
UPDATE: As I was checking to make sure links still worked, I noticed that the link to the original blog post to which this post linked has been removed by the author. Apparently he was so sure of his stand that he deleted it.
Currently the vote is 51 to 80, against ratification of the amendment that would allow those ordinations. They only need 87 to defeat it entirely. So, things do not look good right now. (However, we have seen at least 23 Presbyteries flip from No to Yes this time around, and a significant number of Presbyteries come much closer to flipping their votes than ever before.)
So what does the other side want to do? Here's one idea from one of the pastors on the wrong side:
"Call upon all those within the church who cannot teach what we have repeatedly affirmed about sexuality in accordance with Scripture to cease their disobedience and be silent on this issue."
Now understand that while we may be crazy church people, we're still Americans, and still believe in things like freedom of speech. Yet this pastor, who styles himself as "classically presbyterian" is proposing that the opponents of justice and inclusion shut those of us up who dare to disagree with them. There is, just to be clear, absolutely no way, no mechanism, no ability, nor power in any of our polity or confessions, or even in Holy Scripture that would allow them to do this. But they think they can and they want to try.
(Note, depending on your prior experiences with Christianity, perhaps this statement isn't as shocking as it should be. If you're used to a more authoritarian form of church government, perhaps it even sounds suspiciously like something the Pope might say. We Presbyterians, however, are just about as egalitarian as a church can get, and shutting people up is about as far from traditional presbyterianism as one can get. Those of us who are actually presbyterian (as opposed to those who only call themselves presbyterian) believe in a concept called "the priesthood of all believers." Thus, shutting people up is simply an option that isn't anywhere on the table, ever.)
This is what happens when someone like "Reverend" Brown decides that some other person is less than human. Less-than-humans don't deserve human rights and responsibilities. Ordination? Marriage? Heck, even free speech? Of course not. Oh, and by the way, shut up.
This fight isn't over by a long shot, but now we have even more reason to see them fail: so we can show the other side how to treat people like actual living, breathing human beings, and how to be gracious in victory, and how to live out what we believe instead of trying to shut anyone up who disagrees with us.
UPDATE: As I was checking to make sure links still worked, I noticed that the link to the original blog post to which this post linked has been removed by the author. Apparently he was so sure of his stand that he deleted it.
Posted: Wed - March 25, 2009 at 04:21 PM