Pro-Gay Theology

Major denominations ordaining homosexuals, priests and clergy presiding over same-sex weddings, sanctuaries invaded by boisterous gay activists, debates over homosexuality ripping congregations apart, who would have guessed we’d ever reach such a point in church history?

The pro-gay theology is much like the broader gay rights philosophy, in that it seeks legitimization -- not just tolerance -- of homosexuality. Gay spokesmen have made no secret of this as being their goal in secular culture; activist Jeff Levi put it plainly to the National Press Club during the 1987 Gay Rights March on Washington: “We are no longer seeking just a right to privacy and a protection from wrong. We also have a right -- as heterosexual Americans already have -- to see government and society affirm our lives. Until our relationships are recognized in the law -- in tax laws and government programs to affirm our relationships -- then we will not have achieved equality in American society.”1

But pro-gay theology takes it a step further by redefining homosexuality as being God-ordained and morally permissible: “I have learned to accept and even celebrate my sexual orientation as another of God's good gifts,” says gay author Mel White.2

When God is reputed to sanction what He has already clearly forbidden, then a religious travesty is being played out in bold fashion. Confronting it is necessary because the pro-gay theology asks us to confirm professing Christians in their sin, when we are Biblically commanded to do just the opposite.

The pro-gay theology is a strong delusion -- a seductive accommodation tailor-made to suit the Christian who struggles against homosexual temptations and is considering a compromise. Some who call themselves gay Christians may be truly deceived into accepting it; others might be in simple rebellion. What compels them to believe a lie, we cannot say. What we do know, however, is this theology is false. But even as we say so, the caution of a proper spirit is in order. When we answer the pro-gay theology, we do so as sinners approaching other sinners, nothing more. Rev. Andrew Aquino of the Columbus Baptist Association expressed it perfectly: “My message to the homosexual is: We love you. Come and struggle with us against sin. Don't give in to it.”3

The pro-gay theology in brief

Exactly what do the “gay Christians” believe, and how did they come to accept it? The first question is more easily answered than the second. Explaining what a group believes is not hard. Explaining how they have come to believe it is another matter.

We cannot read minds or motives. That, I am sure, is one reason Jesus warned against judging (see Matthew 7:1). We can be certain the teachings themselves are false; why people have accepted them is something we cannot prove one way or another. Yet the Bible offers clues, and testimonies from members of the gay Christian movement are also enlightening -- helping us understand what the gay Christian movement believes and what personal and spiritual factors may have influenced their beliefs.

Pro-gay theology is the cornerstone of the “gay Christian” movement (which is comprised of whole denominations, like the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, as well as gay caucuses within mainline denominations) just as the Athanasian and Nicene Creeds are the foundation of most Protestant beliefs.4 The movement is diverse; some of its spokespersons—Episcopal Priest Robert Williams and Bishop John Shelby Spong, for instance—promote flamboyant and blatantly heretical ideas. But most groups within the gay Christian movement ostensibly subscribe to traditional theology. (The Statement of Faith of the Metropolitan Community Churches, for example, is based on the Apostles and Nicene Creeds.)5

Although the pro-gay theology claims a conservative theological base, it includes additions and revisions to basic, traditional ethics. Primarily, homosexuality is seen as being God-ordained. As such, it is viewed as being on par with heterosexuality. Gay author Mel White points out, quite accurately, that “if you don't see that premise (that God created homosexuality) then gay marriage looks ridiculous, if not insane.”6

But to be seen as created by God, the traditional understanding of homosexuality needs to be discredited. This is done in four basic ways within the “gay Christian” movement.

1. Prejudice against homosexuals is blamed for the understanding most Christians have of the Biblical references to it. The founder of the Metropolitan Community Churches, Rev. Troy Perry, asserts this in his writings: “To condemn homosexuals, many denominations have intentionally misread and misinterpreted their Bibles to please their own personal preferences.”7 So, according to Perry and others, not only are most Christians wrong about homosexuality, but many or most are intentionally wrong—deliberately reading their prejudice against gays into the Bible.
2. White goes even further, stating that major leaders in the Christian community—Jerry Falwell, James Kennedy and Pat Robertson—take public stands against the gay rights movement for the sake of raising funds and increasing their visibility.8 Casting doubt on the motives of conservative leaders, and numerous denominations, makes it easier to discount their Bible-based objections to homosexuality. No wonder this tactic is so common in the “gay Christian” movement.
3. Others within the movement contend the Scriptures we understand to condemn homosexuality have actually been mistranslated. According to this view, the Bible should be taken literally in its original language; the problem with most Christians, they say, is that they do not know Biblical Greek and Hebrew well enough to realize our modern translations on homosexuality are all wrong.
4. Another claim pro-gay theorists make is that the Bible verses (Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1 Timothy 1:9-10) which seem to prohibit homosexuality have actually been yanked out of context from their original meaning, or that they only applied to the culture existing at the time they were written. (Professor Robin Scroggs of Union Theological Seminary, for example, claims, “Biblical judgments about homosexuality are not relevant to today's debate.”9)

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