Update  (March 2013): Andrew and Brenda has just visited Melbourne. I was privileged to chair a meeting we convened for church leaders and others. I also heard them both speak at St Martins’ Collingwood. (See below for my notes from these two occasions. They are two very special people).

(I didn’t include this bit, from my prepared introduction: Acts 7: 51, 54, 57: Stephen to the ‘Bible People’/ Religious Leaders: ‘You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do… When they heard these things they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen… They covered their ears and with a loud shout all rushed together against him…’ My greatest fear is to oppose what the Holy Spirit is now saying to the church; to be uncomfortable-to-enraged when God emits more light and truth to break forth from God’s Word. Pharisees are more concerned with orthodoxy than compassion and justice…’ ‘Now I’m sure you’ll see the connection between that and today’s speaker/subject. If you need some stones to throw at him, I’m sure we can find some outside somewhere :-)’.

~~

First the review of Andrew’s book:

Love is an Orientation (Andrew Marin, IVP, 2009)

Here’s a unique book by a unusual young man – a ‘straight, white, conservative, evangelical male’ with a belief in ‘the Bible as the inerrant word of God’ – who addressed a large conference of not-necessarily-Christian Gays/Lesbians and received a standing ovation! I’ve never heard of anyone with his general theological stance who’s done that and had a reception like that.

The common mantra for his kind of Christian is ‘love the sinner hate the sin’ – something he doesn’t use (mostly because those people don’t generate love as Jesus did, so Andrew suspects there’s something wrong with that approach).

What’s his secret?

Simple, really: do what Jesus did, immerse oneself in the culture of the marginalized, and honour them as human beings also made in the image of God. Don’t preach at them. Don’t offer the Pharisee-talk (‘Change… and you’ll be acceptable around here’: for Jesus it was the other way around – acceptance *preceded* repentance). Listen to their stories (and as he found, the question about whether a gay lifestyle is a freely-chosen one answers itself in the vast majority of cases). Share their pain (especially when they’ve prayed to be changed from a same-sex attraction, and wakened ‘every morning not having that prayer answered… wondering whether there really is a God, or [being convinced] that [one] is condemned to hell because of attractions [one] can’t figure out’).

Also – and this is important – don’t get bogged down arguing about the ‘clobber texts’ from Leviticus, Romans and 1 Corinthians.

Again do what Jesus did: in the Gospels he was asked ‘closed-ended’ questions 25 times but only directly answered three or four of them (pp. 179 ff.).

So leave the hermeneutical questions to biblical scholars, and the aetiology of gender-orientation to the scientists, and start loving/accepting the marginalized.

‘They’ll know we are Christians, not by our proof-texting, but by our love’ writes his mate Shane Claiborne in a commendation on the first page.

Now, Andrew’s theological approach isn’t quite mine. Except for Thomas Merton (quoted, I think, twice) all of his ‘respected theologians and Bible scholars’ are fundamentalists or conservative evangelicals (my terms – people like John MacArthur, et. al).

Interestingly, Andrew has chosen the fundamentalists’ arch-enemy Brian McLaren to write the Foreword – which Brian does with what is now his famous parable (expanded in his recent book A New Kind of Christianity) about ‘sincere well-intentioned religious people who believe in their religion so fervently they would die for it but also would kill for it – literally or metaphorically…’ Brian McLaren urges us to hang in there until the last page, and not ‘check-list’ Andrew’s approach or opinions against our own preconceived ideas… That’s excellent wisdom for a book and a topic like this…

Here are some summary-statements; and others which ‘gave me pause’:

* ‘Unless you have been sexually attracted to someone of the same sex you can never fully grasp, as a heterosexual Christian, what that means’… ‘From my experience, the GLBT community’s default system is to never take anything Christians say as genuine’ (33)

* ‘The Christian community has only ever known one way to handle same-sex sexual behavior: take a stand and keep a distance’ (37)

* ‘In general, Christians’ default belief system is that [same-sex attraction] is environmental… I know many Christians who enjoy playing psychologist – talking to GLBT people to figure out if they had an absentee dad or a domineering mom… or experienced some kind of sexual abuse in their youth… Research suggests that on average only 7 to 15 percent of the GLBT community was sexually abused in their youth’ (39, 42)

* ‘Among gays and lesbians “love the sinner, hate the sin” is the most disdained phrase in the Christian vocabulary’ (46)… [As Christians we have] ‘an opportunity to change the culture by… offering hope and compassion to a people who have been burdened with a thick dose of stigma and shame in all aspects of their life’ (53)

* ‘Even as recently as 2002 there were still fourteen states [in the U.S.] that upheld the sodomy law, and in Idaho, one could land a lifetime sentence in jail for engaging in gay sexual behaviors’ (55)

* ‘The word homosexual is offensive to someone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. So instead use words like gay, lesbian, GLBT, gay and lesbian community’ (60)

* ‘Gay Christians believe that the passages in the Bible that condemn same-sex relationships are not referencing long-term, committed monogamous relationships. Rather, [they’re] talking about inhospitality, heterosexual rape, pagan ritual sex and orgies, and pederasty (men having sex with boys)’ (73)

* ‘Currently in many circles both gay and straight, scientific and religious, there has been a more common acceptance of homosexuality’s etiology as a combination of biological, environmental and social factors that all contribute to gay orientation’ (75-6)

* ‘Gay Christians have started to change the mainstream’s mindset that GLBT people crave random sex, are STD-laced, and have alcohol and drug problems’ (76)

* ‘There is no wrong way to humbly listen and learn! … I… trust in the faithfulness of my loving Father to fill in the gaps that I can never understand’… I promise that God loves his children enough that he will always tell them what… is best for their life’ (78-9, 86)

* ‘80% of the GLBT community want nothing to do with [ex-gay ministries]’ (99); according to the ground-breaking book unChristian, [among] 16-29-year-olds the three most common perceptions of present-day Christians are that they are anti-gay (91%), judgmental (87%) and hypocritical (85%)’ (100)

* ‘A great open-ended question is, “What’s it like to be you?”‘ (163). ‘I don’t care if gays and lesbians are or aren’t born that way… Here is a good question: “How do you think your genetic make-up relates to God’s desire to be called your Father?”‘ (182)

* ‘I know some people who say that they once had same-sex sexual attraction but are now attracted exclusively to people of the opposite sex, and in fact are married and have kids and are living a happy life. Just the same I know people who have tried and tried and tried, and have not been able to “change their sexual orientation,” and therefore have stopped trying and are actively involved in the GLBT community: all these people from both life experiences are telling the truth as they perceive it, and each falls somewhere different on the spectrum of change’ (184)

* Marin’s conclusion: ‘We’re not called to posit theories that support our assumptions. We’re not called to speculate about genetics or development experiences or spiritual oppression in faceless groups of other people. We’re called to build bridges informed by the Scriptures and empowered by the Spirit. We’re called to let God be the judge of his creation. We’re called to let the Holy Spirit whisper truth into each person’s heart. And we’re called to show love unconditionally, tangibly, measurably’ (187).

If Andrew Marin read more mainline theologians, he would appreciate quotes like this one, from Walter Brueggemann’s The Prophetic Imagination: ‘Jesus in his solidarity with the marginal ones is moved to compassion. Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism, for it announces that the hurt is to be taken seriously, that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural, but is an abnormal and unacceptable condition for humanness… ‘Empires are never built or maintained on the basis of compassion. The norms of law (social control) are never accommodated to persons, but persons are accommodated to the norms. Otherwise the norms will collapse and with them the whole power arrangement. Thus the compassion of Jesus is to be understood not simply as a personal emotional reaction but as a public criticism in which he dares to act upon his concern against the entire numbness of his social context.’

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St Martins’ Community Church, Collingwood, March 17, 2013:

Andrew Marin:

* ‘This side’s right; others are bad/wrong’. Our aim should be to bring peace to divisive situations. When Abraham Lincoln talked about ‘liberty’ Northerners interpreted that to include freedom for slaves; Southerners – liberty to own slaves.

* Reconciliation is a pursuit, not an outcome

* ‘Inclusivity’ = ‘I want to include (so-and-so)’ — it’s the opposite of segregation: you can’t just include those you want to include

* ‘An eye for an eye’ was a compassionate law, preventing the escalation of violence, where you poked two eyes out for one: Malcom X said that meant blacks ruling whites; MLKing disagreed; Mandela said that meant working with everyone for peace; his wife said it meant blacks ruling whites. It’s not black/white race, but the human race.

* Jesus’ invitation: ‘Come as you are’ (not pickets, protests, petitions)

Brenda Marin:

* The story about Jesus and the children (Mark 10): note that children don’t see color / differences… So our aim is to bring everyone to the table = the powerful, the difficult… fulfilling Jesus’ desire for inclusiveness…

Andrew at East Doncaster Baptist Church, to church leaders:

More on inclusiveness:

* ‘I could care less what you believe, what they believe’ (Australian idiom: ‘I couldn’t care less…’). It’s all about accepting one another.

* Churches generally are more reactionary rather than forward-thinking. Often power/privilege dictates normalcy. When gays/lesbians ‘come out’ many experience a self-fulfilling prophecy: they again become victims: often ejected by the dominant majority – so white straight conservative guys can perpetuate the system which benefits them. A more Christian approach: humbly admit fault and release power to others…

* Google BoysTown Chicago

* Today’s social media has produced a race of cowards behind keyboards – and thus a scared generation of young people. When you’re behind a keyboard you don’t have to look at people.

* Key Principles of Cultural Engagement: [1] Principled theology which includes everyone (rather than proof-texting). Jesus tended not to answer yes/no questions: his kingdom-principle was inclusiveness. There are always going to be Others/Opposites. So reconciliation is a constant pursuit/process – to include that/those which/who are disconnected. Many of us don’t want to stick our neck out in this area and be the ‘fall guy’.  [2] The Ethic of Inclusivity.  People can call themselves ‘progressive’ but not be inclusive: they still prefer to  include ‘those like us’. And so we see a new form of segregation developing. [See Stark: The Rise of Christianity]. When Billy Graham was asked to explain why he’d eat with an adulterer/lying President Bill Clinton he said ‘It’s God’s job to judge and my job to love’. We say to LGBTs ‘Welcome to my church’ (but the sub-text is: ‘You’ll have to sit in the back row!’).  [3] Incarnation = a Way of Life  – See Andrew’s interview with the BBC (below). The core value we relate to in all human beings is their dignity. That doesn’t mean validation= affirmation. See The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life. 

But we do what Jesus did: he went around doing good.

And see Levi-Strauss: The Structuralist Approach to Myth

Anthony Venn-Brown’s response: Straight people relate to Gays somewhere along this spectrum (and hopefully are moving from [1] to [7]: [1] Hatred [2] Dislike [3] Discomfort [4] Tolerance [5] Acceptance [6] Affirmation [7] Advocacy.

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Why conservative Christians flock to a Chicago gay bar

By Christopher LandauBBC World Service, Chicago

Can one man build effective bridges between evangelical Christians and Chicago’s gay community?

That is the hope of Andrew Marin – who has spent the last decade living in Boystown, Chicago’s officially-designated neighbourhood for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) residents.

He works to try to bring Christians and gay people together in open conversation about sexuality and spirituality – and that includes running a large-scale meeting four times a year at Roscoe’s, one of America’s most famous gay bars.

That is no small achievement in a culture where openly gay people and evangelical Christians have long viewed each other with suspicion.

But Andrew Marin’s determination to bring polarised opposites together in dialogue has grown in ways he never imagined.

From small beginnings 10 years ago, he now takes his message around the world and has worked with governments as well as churches.

He is fast becoming a well-known figure in the United States, and has collaborated with one of the country’s largest Christian publishers to produce a course for churches wishing to address questions about sexuality.

Cutting ties

His main concern is to build trust between unlikely conversation partners.

Members of the Marin foundation attend the Boystown Gay Pride parade

He believes that too many Christians don’t understand the complexity of the small number of Bible verses that mention homosexuality – he also thinks that gay people are often too quick to dismiss Christianity.

But why did he feel the need to address these concerns by moving into Chicago’s gay village, with its sex shops, gay bars and saunas?

The answer lies in a series of conversations Andrew Marin had with his three closest friends over a period of three months.

One by one, each friend told him that they were gay – and he says the news came as a complete surprise.

He had grown up in a conservative Christian household, and says he was “the biggest Bible-banging homophobic kid you ever met”.

He was absolutely clear that Christianity and homosexuality were incompatible.

“I didn’t know what to do. I thought there was no way my theological belief system could ever line up with my friends’ way of life, so I ended up cutting ties with them.”

But Andrew Marin says that over the following months, he believed God was asking him to get back in touch with his friends and apologise to them.

A few weeks later, along with two of the three friends, he moved into Boystown.

Christian presence

The early years were extremely difficult, he says, as he struggled to work out whether he could reconcile his friends’ sexuality with his Christian convictions.

“When I went to gay bars or events with my friends, I felt bad, because I felt that I should have been saying to people: ‘You’re wrong and you need to change.'”

But rather than condemning local people, he decided that he should be an open-minded Christian presence.

That decision brought with it some unexpected results – and an unanticipated nickname.

“For the first three years, everybody just called me Straighty Straighterson – because I was literally the only straight male [they met]. People would start talking to me about God and church and the Bible – people would just bring their questions to me.”

So chance conversations in bars and clubs spelt the beginnings of what is now an organisation at work throughout the United States.

‘Creative tension’

The Marin Foundation hosts regular meetings in Roscoe’s Bar

One of the most unusual aspects of the Foundation’s work are its Living in the Tension gatherings, where people from all perspectives gather together to explore questions about Christian faith and sexuality.

I met some participants from a recent meeting – including a married Christian couple who minister to male prostitutes, and a woman who self-defines as “queer” and who left the church because of its attitude towards homosexuality.

Most intriguing were two gay Christian men who had reached dramatically different conclusions about faith and sexuality.

Will is an openly gay man, and a pastor in the United Methodist Church.

He says he has resolved a “creative tension” he initially felt between his calling to ministry and his sexuality.

Sitting opposite him was Brian, who also says he’s always known he was gay – but whose traditional theology meant he chose to marry a woman and has since fathered a child.

He says that falling in love with his wife was “an experience that I can only say was through God himself bringing my wife and me together”.

‘Judgement of God’

The two men’s stories could hardly be more different.

But the Marin Foundation believes that polite, honest conversation between people of all perspectives is essential if Christians are to address questions about sexuality more effectively.

Not everyone is convinced that Christians are ready – or able – to have many such discussions.

At Harvard University, a theologian who specialises in Christian understandings of sexuality has convened an international group of scholars to try and get beyond what he calls an “impasse” in current debates about religion and sexuality.

Professor Mark Jordan suggests that it may be time for “a kind of ceasefire – a disengagement, where we stop spending all of our time sniping at each other”.

And he says that each Christian faces a personal, spiritual question about how they involve themselves in such discussions.

“My hope is that I would be willing to kneel at a communion table with my bitterest enemy in these debates.”

“There comes a moment when you have to shut up – you have to silence your angry conversation and submit yourselves in some way to the judgement of God.”

Sexual morality

So does Andrew Marin’s work in Boystown genuinely offer a way forward for Christians at war with each other over questions of sexuality?

That may depend on how many Christians are willing to tolerate the Marin Foundation’s refusal to define its own position on Christian sexual ethics.

Andrew Marin admits it is a criticism he hears frequently, but he insists that his focus is on enabling gay people who wish to explore Christianity to be able to do so.

He admits that some churches will continue to focus on “healing” gay people of homosexuality – while others will simply welcome and affirm gay people on their own terms.

He says that the Marin Foundation simply wants to get gay people thinking about Christian spirituality in its broadest sense, without a disproportionate emphasis on sexual morality.

“What we try and do is help the person live the most faithful, God-honouring life that they can through their understanding of where God is leading them.”

This open-ended approach will frustrate both traditionalist and progressive Christians.

But few can argue with the fact that Andrew Marin’s foundation has enabled many conservative churches to begin open discussions about sexuality for the first time.

And there is little doubt that the relationships that he has built between Christians and gay people in Chicago would, for now, be unimaginable in many cities around the world – and may just offer a hopeful model for the future.

Christopher Landau’s documentary, God and Gays: Bridging the Gulf, can be heard on the BBC World Service’s Heart and Soul programme.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15034651

Shalom!/Salaam!/Pax!

Rowland Croucher

http://jmm.org.au

June 10, 2011

**** See also http://jmm.org.au/articles/27221.htm