Ashon Crawley: Fighting oppression in the church

Traditionalist: Homosexuality is a sin; therefore, I do not accept it.

Me: Why is it a sin?

Traditionalist: The Bible says so.

Me: Is that all?

Traditionalist: Yes.

Me: Well, Jesus wept!

"Jesus Wept," the shortest scripture in the Protestant Bible, has become my signature response to anyone that quotes biblical scripture without supplying any context. It is disheartening when people use the "the Bible says so" argument to prove anything the Bible actually says. The Bible says many things that, if not placed into context, sound ridiculous. People are prohibited to wear cotton and polyester together. If you don't believe me, check out Deuteronomy 22:11.

However, if one can learn how to place these assertions into the proper framework, one will not come up with wrong doctrine.

Today, there seems to be an ever-growing tension in the institutional church because of diverging views on homosexuality. From conversations with people on both sides of the subject, I often hear, "It's an abomination; God loves the sinner but hates the sin of homosexuality" from straight folks and "Jesus loved the outcasts of society and homosexuals are outcasts of society, thus Jesus loves homosexuals" from gays. Both of these points of view are devoid at any real look into what the Bible both says and means.

Contemporarily, there have been many issues that place the institutional church in opposition to gay rights. There is the Catholic Church, which has issues with priests and young boys; the Episcopal Church and the openly gay bishop; and the pastor of the Brentwood Baptist Church SBC in Houston, Texas and the allegations of his sexual misconduct with males.

There is, however, one unifying theme: the institutional church is not dealing with issues of sexuality properly.

Certainly, the Bible does discuss Sodom and Gomorrah, which I believe is a story about the desire to rape two men and not a committed union between two consenting adults. Lot offers his daughters in place of the two men. The genuine question anyone should have is this: Is the rape of women more acceptable to God than the rape of men? If that is the God of Christianity, then I too have been duped into believing in an uncaring, unthoughtful God.

Then we have the holiness codes of Leviticus barring male-to-male sex acts and the passages by Paul condemning homosexuality. Yet, a thorough examination of these texts shows that these prohibitions are against pagan worship, involving folks having sex with each other in order to worship their gods, not relationships.

Fundamentally, I believe attacks against homosexuality are attacks against womanhood at the core. I am from a Black Pentecostal Church background and have heard preachers discuss "fags" and "bull daggers" ad nauseam. On Sunday, I watched a televangelist spew about how male-to-male sex causes them to walk "funny," and I have heard other preachers argue that these men are a threat to the black church as we know it.

Interestingly, there seems to be a voyeuristic fixation with woman-to-woman relationships while there is disgust with man-to-man relationships in general. I believe that people have issues with man-to-man relationships because one of the men has to take on the role of "receiver," which is generally done by women. This idea was prominent in Paul's day -- that women, because of their "receptive" bodies, were not equal with men. Thus, if a man becomes a "receiver," he is making himself into the lesser sex.

Homosexuals are not a threat to the church as we know it, but are a threat to cultural norms of masculinity and femininity. Nevertheless, these cultural norms need to be challenged. Just as the black church was the catalyst of the Civil Rights movement, religious movements can fight for the rights of the LGBT community.

Oppression must be fought both inside and outside of church walls. The message should not be about sexual freedom in that anyone should have sex with anyone or anything at any time. Monogamy is still a positive virtue. But we must all be willing to look thoroughly at issues of sexuality, gender equality and other taboo subjects in order to deconstruct oppressive behavior.

Ashon Crawley is a 2003 College graduate from East Orange, N.J.

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