I heard a story once about a Christian missionary whose neighbor was a devout Hindu who greatly venerated a cow that the Hindu family owned.
I think most Westerners, particularly monotheists, would agree that venerating a cow is at least foolish, and probably counts as some form of idolatry in the eyes of God. Still, when the cow died, its owner was devastated, so the missionary went and mourned with him. He knew what its death meant to the Hindu man and his family, even though the missionary himself regarded that veneration as at least a foolish superstition that kept the man from Jesus.
In the same way, I think we are called to identify with other groups, when they experience discrimination or prejudice, even when we consider their defining traits to be sinful. We don't need to identify with practices that we consider sinful, but we certainly can relate to the relationships that they have, and their desire to be connected to another person, and even to have children. I don't see how we can afford not to.
The morality or im- of homosexuality (or its sinfulness, if you prefer, though I won't abide a gunpowder word like "evil," even for the sake of argument) is irrelevant to how society as a whole and how Christians specifically treat gays and lesbians. We have the example of Jesus, who held up pagans as examples of faith, children as examples of understanding, and reviled Samaritans as examples of compassion. We have a larger biblical mandate to weep with those who weep, to mourn with those who mourn, and to rejoice with those who rejoice.
Right now some goons are getting headlines because of their unconscionable reactions to the passage of Proposition 8 in California, but by and large in American society today you're not likely to encounter meaningful repercussions to disapproving morally of same-sex relationships.
You may disappoint or anger a few people, but you're not likely to be marginalized or beaten and left for dead, disowned, ridiculed and mocked, or experience the laundry list of other forms of discrimination that gays still encounter in most of this country (or the far worse punishments that await gays in other nations).
But there again, the issue isn't "Who has it worse?" any more than "Is this activity moral?"; the real issue is how Jesus would treat people.
How would Jesus treat people? Well, however you think he might view the morality of a loving couple in same-sex relationship, it's pretty clear from the record of the gospels that Jesus would commend their commitment to one another, respect the emotional and spiritual support they give to one another, and defend them against any who would discriminate against or punish them.
Shame on us if we would do any less.
Copyright © 2017 by David Learn. Used with permission.
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