At MCC we are tearing down walls and building up hope in places around the world where no other religious or charitable organisations are willing to go. In fact, in some places, we are tearing down the walls that religious organisations have created.
Reverend Elder Troy Perry founded Metropolitan Community Churches in 1968 when he hosted the first worship service for twelve gay men in his own home. His prime objective was to bring the reassuring good news of God's love for all people - especially to those from the gay community who had experienced alienation from their own churches. Thirty nine years later, those twelve have become more than 86,000 people per month who visit the MCC website and almost 20,000 who give tithes to our ministry and attend a worship gathering each week. Like the first twelve disciples, MCCers are hitting the streets in 24 countries, ministering to the oppressed, doing justice and telling the Good News of Jesus to those who feel that there is no Good News.
A year ago, the number of people visiting the denominational MCC website was considerably smaller than it is now. Why are so many more people turning to MCC? Basically because religious oppression is increasing, exclusion is practiced more and more by far right religious groups and liberation theology holds great appeal in a world that feels less safe than it did ten years ago.
We live in an unfinished world and we have an unfinished calling. Until all people are free to worship without rejection and free to commit to love whom they will, our work is not done. We believe it is our job to ask the question, "Would Jesus Discriminate?" until the world voices a resounding "No!"
Instinctively, we all sense that the answer must be "No!" Yet we live in a time when many churches around the world are leading the effort to deny gay and transgender people equal protection under the law.
Currently, the Anglican Church in Nigeria is rigorously trying to deny gay men and lesbians access to God and to basic human rights. In Jamaica gay people receive no protection from the church or the state - oppression is commonplace and even murder is not unheard of, with the perpetrators often going unpunished. Even in Indiana just last year, the legislature initiated a four-year process to amend the State Constitution to ensure that gay couples never again gain access to the same legal rights as straight couples. Such an amendment would deprive gay couples of basic rights, such as being able to visit one another in a crisis at hospital or inheriting from each other. And even though in England the relatively new Civil Partnership and goods and services legislation has improved equality for gay and transgendered people, some churches continue to preach bigotry and exclusion.
Since so many churches are invoking the name of Jesus to justify their assault on the rights of gay and transgender people, we invite thoughtful people everywhere to ask this simple question: What would Jesus do?
The answer is not hard to find. One of the themes of Jesus' ministry was a recurring conflict with the Pharisees, a powerful group of legalistic religious leaders. The Pharisees were waiting for the Messiah to come, and they believed that this would happen only when their entire nation became righteous. So, in their minds, anyone who failed to follow their particular set of rules was bringing down a curse on their nation and was therefore unworthy of contempt. Sound familiar?
The list of people despised by the Pharisees was a long one:
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The Samaritans were considered religious heretics and ethnically impure
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Those who were ill were believed to be sinners whom God was punishing
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Women were deemed unworthy of discipleship
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Tax collectors and Roman soldiers were regarded as the enemy
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The poor, who had neither the time nor resources to maintain rigorous rites of religious purity, were thought to be beyond God's grace
Jesus emphatically rejected each one of these prejudices and you can read the stories for yourself in your Bible. For example, John 4:1-42; Luke 10:29-37; John 9:1-34; Luke 8:1-3; Matthew 11:16-19; Matthew 5:38-48 and Matthew 9:18-26.
A classic example is provided in the eighth chapter of Matthew's gospel. There, a Roman soldier asked Jesus to heal his 'pais'. This is a Greek term often used in ancient times to refer to a servant who was his master's same-sex partner. (KJ Cover, Greek Homosexuality, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1978) When the soldier said, "Lord, my 'partner' is lying at home paralysed, in terrible distress," Jesus was immediately compassionate and spoke no words of exclusion or condemnation. He simply said, "I will come and heal him." In the dialogue that followed, Jesus commended this Roman soldier for having more faith than anyone he had ever met and assured him that he would sit down in the Kingdom of Heaven with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. By this miracle of healing, Jesus preserved this loving same-sex relationship.
The gospels are clear. Jesus refused to be bound by cultural prejudice. Repeatedly, he took up the cause of the oppressed and defended them against narrow-minded religious leaders. Unfortunately, the Church has often failed to live up to Jesus' example.
Too often in the past the Bible has been misused to justify discrimination, with some Christians acting more like Pharisees than followers of Jesus. For example, let us look back with shame on the following examples, which come from historical records in the USA:
Slavery (Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America): "(Slavery) was established by decree of Almighty God. . . It is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation. . . It has existed in all ages, has been found among the people of the highest civilisation, and in nations of the highest proficiency in the arts."
Women's Right to Vote (Justin Fulton, writing in 1869): "Who demand the ballot for women? They are not the lovers of God, nor are they believers in Christ, as a class. There may be exceptions, but the majority prefer an infidel's cheer to the favour of God and the love of the Christian community. It is because of this tendency that the majority of those who contend for the ballot for women cut loose from the legislation of Heaven, from the enjoyments of home, and drift to infidelity and ruin."
Interracial Marriage (A Virginia trial judge writing in 1959 in defence of laws prohibiting such marriages): "Almighty God created the races, white, black, yellow, malay, and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages."
Looking back, it's difficult to imagine that so many Christians could have defended such shameful discrimination. These examples ought to cause every thoughtful Christian to step back and wonder, "Are we repeating the same terrible mistake with gay and transgender people?"
A Call To Action
We, in Metropolitan Community Churches, call upon Christians of goodwill to have the courage to follow the example of Jesus. Specifically, we call upon Christians everywhere to take a number of key steps to end the Church's history of persecuting gay and transgender people.
We must renew our commitment to honesty: "Thou shalt not bear false witness". (Exodus 20:16) This is one of God's most basic commands. Too many Christians today are playing fast and loose with the truth, making sweeping statements about gay and transgender people without ever taking the time to investigate. For example, some confidently assert that "gay people choose to be that way" and "gay people can change their orientation if they want to" and "the gay and trans lifestyle is inherently unhealthy." None of these statements have any basis in science or reality. As Christians, God expects us to love the truth, seek the truth, and tell the truth - even when it's not popular.
We must carefully re-examine what the Bible teaches about same-sex relationships: On many occasions in the past, "accepted Christian wisdom" has been wrong. As we know, for centuries, many in the Church vigorously opposed the right of women to vote, condemned interracial marriage and supported slavery - always insisting that the Bible supported their point of view. Now we know better. Given this history, we ought to be careful. Cultural prejudice is a powerful force that often overwhelms our attempts to interpret the Holy Scriptures objectively. We invite you to carefully re-examine what the Bible says about gay and transgender people.
We must stop using laws to hurt gay and transgender people: Regardless what anyone believes about gay and transgender people, there is no excuse for doing them harm. Enacting laws that keep a dying gay person in a hospital room from seeing their life partner in their final moments of life is not Christian - it's plain callous.
We call upon political and spiritual leaders to work publicly for an end to identity-motivated discrimination and violence.
We call upon all people of goodwill to speak out on behalf of those whose lives are marginalised and jeopardised by hatred, bigotry and violence.
The effort of some modern Christians to deprive gay families of basic civil rights is shameful and must stop. Jesus would expect no less.
We, the people of Metropolitan Community Churches, wish to stand with Jesus in defence of those who are being unfairly targeted - and we invite you to join us in doing what Jesus would really do!
Suggested reading:
The Children are Free: Re-examining the Biblical Evidence on Same-Sex Relationships, Rev Jeff Miner & John T. Connoley, 2002, Jesus MCC, Indiana
The Lord is my Shepherd & He knows I'm Gay, Rev Troy D. Perry, 1972, Morris Publishing
Trans-gendered: Theology, Ministry, and Communities of Faith, Justin Tanis, 2003, The Pilgrim Press
Our Tribe: Queer Folks, God, Jesus and the Bible, Rev Nancy Wilson, 2000, Alamo Square Press (out of print but can be found, used, on Amazon)