The scene is a very busy bookshop. A bepigtailed elderwoman protagonist approaches the information desk. She pauses for a moment and then asks…
“Excuse me, Religion is…?”
Her bearded interlocutor pauses for a moment and then replies….
“Religion is in the gold room, just up the stairs.”
He pauses once again, and then asks, “Or were you looking for a more esoteric answer?”
Seems to me “well-meaning but homophobic” in these days and times implies vincible ignorance and is no longer useful as an excuse for homophobic language. The leaders of the C of E seem paralyzed, unable to articulate policies to move forward on equality for LGTB persons that are other than laughable. Think “deer in the headlights”.
I suppose @RevArun might say that women are welcome for the same reason, eh?
Exactly what I thought.
I’ve removed a previous comment. I’d prefer to retain the focus on the institutional elements of this rather than speculating about an individual.
As society changes many people are not sure of the new, and therefore condemn it, without thought. I am safe, with the Devil l know. It’s a way of life, not dealing with changes. If we think about how much has changed; homosexuality was illegal until 1969 in England; Scotland caught up in 1983; women have a right to equal pay; the only job that is still excluded from them is working down a mine:
There are men who are prepared to wait to see a male doctor, especially if it is the genitals.
Racism is not tolerated by most, but it is still used by people who want a reaction. There was, when the world and I were young, a shoe polish, called nigger brown. This wasn’t considered at the time as being wrong.
I take your point, and I don’t disagree. If we look at another person and only see the gay part as ‘broken’, then that’s homophobic, no matter how well intentioned. Plus I always find something disturbingly patronising when people say ‘We’re all broken’, as if the speaker doesn’t quite believe it of him/herself, while seeing it very clearly in the other.
However, there’s another way of looking at it. The very fact that we are human means that we are broken. If being gay is part of that humanity, then it’s part also of that brokenness. It’s all part of the messy mixture that we struggle with, and build our rickety lives with, but for which we also should praise and thank God.
‘Thinking Anglicans’ has a post up about Vicky Beeching’s coming out but does not link to the discussion here. I asked why but they did not reply let alone publish my question.
It seems difficult, at first glance, to see how anyone can preach anything worth saying about the story of the Good Samaritan. It does not seem to matter how often Jesus?s words are repeated, they lose none of their power. The problem for the preacher is what to say. For this is one of those…
I cannot find my ECUSA Hymnal ie the hymn book that they use in the States. I’ve been through my bookshelves twice, but cannot find it. I wonder whether I have loaned it to someone. In the course of looking for it, I did discover my American BCP and the two psalters, Anglican Chant and…
“You can't marry him Emma, we've got to tell him what happened, and if you won't tell him, I will.”Oh for goodness sake! As if life were not hard enough for the world without another love triangle and disrupted wedding in the Archers. Who ever thought of a radio soap opera anyway – it will…
My internet supplier is warning me repeatedly today of attempts to send me e-mails containing viruses. I normally just delete these as a nuisance and ignore then, but I did notice that the e-mails in question apparently eminate from someone with an ednet account. Now, I don’t know many people with ednet internet accounts, but…
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