Desire to discriminate to punish lgbtq quite strong among evangelicals
Criminalisation of same-sex exercise, and therefore of LGBT people around the world, is very real.
According to the Human Dignity Trust, there are 71 jurisdictions around the world that treat consensual homosexual activity as crimes, including several in which the penalty for it is death.
It therefore seems timely to put out why at Living Out we are opposed to criminalisation, even though we believe that scripture teaches that God’s good token of sexual closeness belongs only in the context of marriage between a woman and a man.
In this brief opinion piece, I would like to focus on four reasons:
1. LGBT people, like all of us, should be treated with dignity and respect
LGBT people are made by God in his image and are precious to him. They should be treated accordingly. In John 4:1-42, we read about Jesus’s conversation with a woman who was living with a man to whom she was not married (v18). While Jesus does gently challenge her about this, what is remarkable and attractive about their conversation is the respect with which Jesus, a Jewish male, treats her, a Samaritan woman.
It is unjust to cure one form of consensual sexual exercise more severely than another
Far fro
Confronting Systemic Homophobia with Biblical Social Justice
Editor’s Preface:This is the second of two essays on parish ministry and sexuality. The first essay may be establish here. The two authors ultimately land in distinct places in practical and theological terms. However, their perspectives are both so nuanced that blithe labels like “liberal” and “conservative” are not helpful; the instinct to place them in such categories reflects perhaps the lingering political sensibilities of an earlier generation. Instead, let us read, mark, and digest. It is likely that our readers will detect things to disagree with and affirm in both essays, and the discomfort of this may be frustrating. But we trust that such conversations are not just worthwhile but necessary as we explore faithfulness to the gospel.
After George Floyd was killed, white evangelical Christians seemed to lean in and learn from Black Christian leaders like Esau McCaulley and Justin Giboneyin ways that appeared miraculous compared to how many light Christians engaged in conversations about race and faith after Trayvon Martin was killed. Fellow white Christians were offered tools to z
Talk about Newsnight
Send us your experiences
- Newsnight
- 9 Jan 07, 01:08 PM
Religious groups are outside Parliament protesting against gay rights legislation due to be debated by the Lords today. Christians, Jews and Muslims are taking part. They're calling for a halt to laws banning discrimination against gay people in the provision of goods and services.
The Sexual Orientation Regulations, already at work in Northern Ireland, are to come into force in England and Wales under current government plans, but protestors say the regulations would limit their right to live according to their religious beliefs.
Is this just scaremongering or a justifiable concern about religious freedom of expression? The BBC's Have Your Tell forum is open to your views, but Newsnight would also like to hear from you. Acquire you experienced gay discrimination in the goods and services industry? Have you and your partner, for instance, been refused accommodation because you're a matching sex couple? Were you turned down outright, or did you meet with unconvincing excuses?
Alternatively, have you tried to book a gay venue but been turned down because you're straight?
Comment here.
Social work and religion: ‘It is painful to see back on the views I held’
Photo: MichaelJBerlin/Fotolia
by Anonymous
It has been interesting to follow the news of the court’s ruling to uphold the decision of Sheffield University’s Fitness to Practice panel regarding Felix Ngole’s removal from his masters in social operate course last year.
This pupil was removed from his course due to Facebook posts he had made defending an American registrar who was refusing to give gay couples marriage licences. During his Facebook discussions he states he sees homosexuality as a ‘sin’.
Also significant is the fact reports indicate that since the incident he didn’t demonstrate critical reflection or regret about his comments, showing little perception into how LGBTQ+ service users might experience such an attitude.
In the decision, Judge Rice said: “It was reasonable to predict a student whose career was at stake to have gone further to show that he understood the questions and had some reassuring answers.”
I deliberate this was a nice decision by the court.
Ultimately the wellbeing of service users need to be protected and this incident seems a clear breach of Health and Ca
This morning, I study that a "mother stabbed her teenage son to death because he was gay."
Fox World News described the incident as follows:
"A female in Brazil has confessed to stabbing her teenage son to death because she couldn’t tolerate he was homosexual, local media outlets are reporting.
The lady, Tatiana Lozano Pereira, lured her 17-year-old son to the family home after a heated argument on Christmas Eve. Once in the house, Itaberli Lozano was reportedly ambushed by the chick and two thugs she had hired to beat her son up to “teach him a lesson.”
However, the lady changed course and ordered the men to kill the boy as he was lying on the floor, severely beaten. When they refused, she took a kitchen knife and stabbed him herself, authorities said....
According to his uncle Dario Rosa and other relatives, Lozano had long been rejected by his mother for his sexual orientation."
What I find even more devastating is how this relates to the evangelizing of hate against the LGBT community by American evangelical Christians.
On July 5, 2016, The New York Times published an article by Andrew Jacobs titled Brazil Is Confronting an Epidemic of Anti-Gay Violence.
"The anti-gay v