As floodwaters still rise in Houston, many prominent Christian leaders released the Nashville Statement. This document released a flood of its own, only this time instead of homes flooded with water, it was hearts flooded with grief. Yet again, powerful people of means use the platform of the Church to demean the basic dignity of gay, bisexual, lesbian, trans, intersex, and queer people.
This isnt new. Biblical morality has been used to justify slavery, resistance to interracial marriage, genocide, and war. The scope of the Bibles narrative allows a broad interpretation of what is right and moral, and both the church and society at large have moved toward universal justice and acceptance on issues once thought to be crystal clear.
In regards to Christians across the spectrum of sexual orientations and gender identities, its past time to accept and affirm them as they are. In the same way that we no longer accept the morality of slavery based on its inclusion in our scriptures, we can no longer project first century notions of sex and sexuality on people today. The very notion of orientation, or even heterosexual would be completely foreign to the authors of both the old and new testaments in the Bible.
