David Kuo has gone from the number two person in charge of President Bush’s faith-based initiative to the Republicans’ worst nightmare: One of their own who has seen the light. Here is his take on the Pastor Ted Haggard scandal:
“The evangelical obsession with homosexuality makes this especially ironic. For many evangelical leaders, anything related to homosexuality is this special, dark sin. But that’s not what the Bible says,” says Kuo. “Really it’s a sin like gossiping to your neighbor. Jesus doesn’t even mention it at all.”
And:
“At the end of the day, this comes down to bringing Jesus into politics,” he says. “Right now, it’s not Ted Haggard on trial. It’s Jesus. This is about the God he represents. When you make yourself a public figure and you fall, you bring the perception of your God with you.”
“Jim Dobson’s response was particularly telling,” Kuo says of leading evangelical James Dobson. “He basically blamed the controversy on gays and Democrats. When evangelical leaders can’t see beyond Tuesday on any question, what on earth is happening?”
Evangelicals have bumper stickers: “One woman + one man = marriage.” Life really can’t be reduced to such a simplistic formula. Reverend Haggard grew up in a church that vilified homosexuals, so how could he admit to being one? If we were all more tolerant, and he had been allowed to grow up accepting how he was created, his life would not be a hypocritical charade today, and he would not have created this family whose very core is the father’s hypocrisy.
What a tragedy. Let’s all vote against any laws that treat gays as second-class citizens. Our culture needs to finally admit that their are some things individuals don’t choose, and sexual orientation is one of them.
-Madeline who used to be married to a Christian gay man
I guess I have two comments on Mr. Kuo’s article. First, in regard to his observation that Jesus never mentioned homosexuality, that is true, and it is remarkable. Jesus told the woman caught in adultery to “sin no more” and discussed frankly the Syro-Phoenician womans mating habits, but made no comment whatever when healing the Centurians companion. Also, in Matthew 5:22, He forbids using a word that today could be interpreted “faggot.” So, Jesus did not mention homosexuality, but may have spoken out against homophobia. Second, Mr. Kuo notes that it is not Pastor Haggard on trial, but Jesus. Jesus has been well pleased to identify with the outcast, the marginalized and the “sinner.” That the James Dobsons et. al. would abandon Ted Haggard at this time is at least as great a scandal as Peter’s denial of Jesus at the cross. The religious right may have rejected Pastor Haggard, but Jesus has known him and loved him all along. Shouldn’t we, if we are Christians, be more like Jesus?
I disagree with the basic assumption regarding what Jesus said. Jesus did in fact mention homosexuals, two gay and lesbian couples, and taught that some non-celibate gays and lesbians were acceptable to God.
I tell you, in that night,
there shall be two men in one bed;
the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
Two women shall be grinding together;
the one shall be taken, and the other left.
(Luke 17:34-35, KJV)
The O.T. cross reference for “two men in one bed” is the prohibition against homosexuality in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. When we study a N.T. passage, we should always look at the Hebrew scriptures for antecedents.
The word “grind” (“two women grinding together”) was an O.T. euphemism for sex (see Job 31:10, Judges 16:21, Isaiah 47:2-3, and Lamentations 5:13). In the time of Christ, “grind” was used as a euphemism for sex in both Latin and Greek.
In addition to this, the story of Lot, his wife, and Sodom’s destruction by fire and brimstone are in verses 28-32 immediately precede verses 34 & 35. The importance of context must be considered as well.
So, Jesus didn’t discuss homosexuality in the abstract, but he did use two gay and lesbian couples to teach us that non-celibacy for gay and lesbian believers is a non-issue for God.
Ronald: There’s a lot of misinformation packed in there. Up until the late 20th century there was no stigma — not tittering about it — when two men shared a bed, and the two women in the verse were not in bed grinding, they were grinding grain.
Besides, if Jesus viewed homosexuality as such a grievous sin, why was it that one of these sinners was swept up in the Pentecost, while the other was left behind?
Just prior to that verse, there’s this that underscores my point that adultery is considered a much more grievous sin that homosexuality in the both testaments: