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Church must face up to its demons
Thank God for the compassionate wisdom of the Reverend Jim Campbell's words, "we are dealing with human beings here" (Southern, May 21), amid the hue and cry against the appointment of Scotland's first openly gay minister.
What is it about organised religion that seems to make no doubt perfectly nice folk lose sight of what being Christian (as opposed to religious) is all about: the nurturing of the spirit of all of us so that we can grow and thrive and make our contribution to the world. No matter who we are. I have difficulty in seeing how the Church can survive unless it can face its demons, like many gay and lesbian people have had to do, and learn to find ways of dealing with real people and their differences instead of holding up an unforgiving hand and saying “thou shalt not”.
In an age when church attendances are dropping and scandals such as those currently happening in Ireland are being uncovered, surely it’s time to have a rethink about attitudes to issues such as sexuality?
I have long given up church attendance, but I do think there may yet be a place for the Church in helping guide us towards more fulfilled, loving, Christian lives – if it could understand the complexities of the modern world and modern lives and work with them rather than against them.
You will probably have guessed that I have a personal axe to grind here.
My beautiful, bright, brave and funny daughter struggled with her sexuality before coming out at 20. I had to watch her struggle through school where peer pressure is so cruel and any kind of difference from the perceived norm is treated with bullying and isolation. She hid a lot.
Looking for comfort, she turned to the God she remembered from her Sunday school days. And guess what? She soon found that Church members can be as cold as ice when this sort of difference is mentioned. And yet my girl has more Christian compassion, honesty and integrity than any number of churchgoers who occupy seats in God’s house of a Sunday morning.
As to the idea that sexuality is a choice – rubbish! My daughter, in the midst of her struggle, broke my heart when she said to me: “Do you really think I’d choose to be like this? You must be mad. I’m just wired differently.” And as such she has the right to enjoy the same comfort from relationships as her heterosexual peers.
Isn’t it time to be inclusive and compassionate? Then perhaps more of us might be able to see the relevance of the church and its teachings to the times in which we live.
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Weather for Galashiels
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 20 C
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Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
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