Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

LGBT

Bible-believing Bisexual?

by Franziska Garner in Christian Issues, LGBT

“A simple layman armed with Scripture is greater than the mightiest pope without it.”

How highly controversial! Scripture alone is enough. Scripture is self-authenticating, clear, its own interpreter, and sufficient as the final authority of Christian beliefs. The idea is that whoever bases their faith on Scripture, whoever seeks guidance and answers in Scripture, doesn’t need anything or anyone else and will never be disappointed.

This concept of Scripture Alone or Sola Scriptura was introduced by the same man who said those words in the beginning of this article: Martin Luther, the German reformer who saw so many flaws in the Catholic Church of the 15th century that he simply had to speak up against it. His idea that Scripture alone stands at the center of an individual’s striving for and learning about God was eagerly adopted by many, and eventually by the younger evangelical denominations in the United States. To this day it is a key principal of many conservative Baptist and Lutheran churches and all those who call themselves “bible-believing.”

I firmly believe that the Bible is indeed God’s love letter to us, his children, and that all the guidance and nudges we need to come closer to this love are right there in Scripture. So yes, I call myself bible-believing.

Wait. How can a progressive Christian who is living in a same-sex marriage be bible-believing? How can someone like me adopt the same term as conservative Christians? Do I believe that my… [Read more…] about Bible-believing Bisexual?

What if the Orlando shooter was gay?

by Franziska Garner in Current Events, LGBT

Who was Omar Mateen?

The evidence is getting stronger. The Orlando shooter, Omar Mateen, was frequently seen at the Pulse nightclub in the months before the attack. He also had profiles on gay dating websites and his (more or less intimate) contact with gay men reaches back at least ten years. On at least one occasion he expressed the desire to date another man.[1]

Nevertheless, he was married to women twice. His first wife divorced him after only four months claiming he was unstable and abusive. His second wife mentioned that he was not very religious. Allegedly, he called 911 during his attack, pledged allegiance to ISIS, and spoke about being inspired by the Al-Nusra Front. The two organizations are enemies. It is therefore highly questionable why someone who really sides with one of them would be supportive of both.

Scripture Abuse

Omar Mateen was raised in a Muslim home. Islam does, just like Christianity, condemn homosexuality–at least as long as we don’t look too closely. In the Bible, Genesis 19:1-29 tells about Sodom and Gomorrah. The story speaks about two cities that were destroyed by God for a very grave sin–allegedly homosexuality. This passage is often used to demonstrate God’s treatment of and disgust with homosexual people.

A reference to the very same story is given in the Quran, stating that yes, God does not like LGBT people and will punish them horribly:

“And [We had sent] Lot when he said to his people, “Do you commit such immorality as no one has… [Read more…] about What if the Orlando shooter was gay?

Dear Non-LGBT-Affirming Christians, Please Search Your Hearts

by Emma Higgs in LGBT

I’ve just seen a news article showing the faces of those killed in Orlando’s Pulse nightclub on Saturday night.

Face after face; beautiful, young, LGBT+ people, their eyes full of light and life.

Lives so precious, unique, fragile, sacred.

Each one reflecting the image of their Creator.

Each one a beloved son or daughter. Their loss is a gaping wound, a searing pain, an everlasting ache.

LGBT+ people around the world are feeling the impact of the Orlando shooting deeply. They are mourning the deaths of these people as if they were family, connected somehow by invisible but unbreakable strands.

This is because they know.

They know what it’s like to be despised for who they are.

They have felt the hatred in the cold glances and suspicious stares.

They know how it feels to have disapproval and disgust pushed down upon them like a suffocating pillow.

They have felt the fear of physical attack.

Non-LGBT-affirming Christian, I know you know this.

I know you are outraged by this shooting. I know you feel the anguish and pain of the friends and families and are praying for them.

But when you say that you “love the sinner, hate the sin,” or offer condolences with the qualification that you “don’t agree with homosexuality,” do you realize what you are doing?

You are preventing people from being fully alive.

In trying to save people from their sin, you are oppressing… [Read more…] about Dear Non-LGBT-Affirming Christians, Please Search Your Hearts

Sunday Outing: A Transgender Woman Finds Acceptance

by Brettany Renee Blatchley in LGBT

“Yes, these women’s hands,” she said …

A cisgender woman I befriended at church a few months ago noticed I am unusual, but assumed that I was simply a tall woman of Scandinavian stock (which is largely true).

Sunday, I was driving her home from worship, and she made a comment in broken English, saying, “Renée, you did [such-and-such] as little girl?”

I looked at her tenderly, shook my head as I gently said, “Olga, I was never a little girl.”

Her eyes widened, “What?! You boy then?!”

With conviction I spoke, “Not exactly Olga.”

We were close to her house, and as we turned the corner, I said, “Remember when I told you about my spouse and said you can ask me anything? Would you like to know more about who I am?”

Olga is a new US citizen, in her mid sixties, and from Romania. She is kind-hearted, weather-beaten, deeply spiritual, and does not speak English well.

We stopped in her driveway, and I gently tried to explain, and then said, “Please let me show you.” I showed her my transitional video on my phone. She had difficulty understanding how this could be.

As the different pictures of me changing drew closer to the present, she kept asking, “Is that you? Is that you?” and then about two-thirds through she exclaimed, “That’s you! That’s you–I know your smile!”

…then she took my hands saying, “Don’t cry, don’t cry…”

She said, “Renée! You are woman! If God not want you that way, you would not be. You still my sister! But don’t tell… [Read more…] about Sunday Outing: A Transgender Woman Finds Acceptance

An Act of Love: Frank Schaefer, United Methodists and Homosexuality

by in Christian Issues, LGBT, Movie Reviews

If you pay attention to issues relating to homosexuality and Christianity, you probably know about Frank Schaefer, the United Methodist minister who was defrocked in 2013 for performing his son’s same-sex wedding. But unless you were directly involved with those events, you probably don’t know the details surrounding Schaefer’s trial or the deeply personal struggle his family faced.

The new documentary film An Act of Love brings the personal side of Schaefer’s story to the screen, casting valuable light on what was–depending on your perspective–either a valiant fight for orthodoxy, or a pivotal moment in Christianity’s move toward a more progressive stance on human sexuality.

Through candid and often touching interviews with Schaefer, his wife and children, members of his former church, and leaders within the United Methodist community, director Scott Sheppard examines Schaefer’s story as well as the ongoing divide over LGBT issues within the UMC denomination.

Particularly troubling, but sadly all too believable, is the revelation that the initial rancor within Schaefer’s congregation that ultimately led to his ouster had nothing to do a same-sex wedding, but instead stemmed from conflicts over contemporary versus traditional worship services. If we can’t negotiate compromise when it comes to choosing a guitar or a choir, how can we expect to reasonably deal with far more serious issues?

As the film makes clear, Schaefer is not alone in his struggle for a more… [Read more…] about An Act of Love: Frank Schaefer, United Methodists and Homosexuality

When I found myself on the side of Religious Freedom Law supporters

by Franziska Garner in LGBT

God doesn’t talk to me. I don’t pray about things, I think about them. For me, the Holy Spirit is an abstract idea, someone who is mainly present in worship situations. I never raise my hands and I never pray together with others, standing in circles, out loud. On the contrary, I believe that I don’t have to pray about things because God will provide what is good for me and lead me on the best path anyway. It all worked for me – back home in Germany.

And then I came to the United States where everything is different.

God talks to my wife. Sometimes, she says she can feel a “quickening” in her heart and she becomes very still and listens. She and all of her Christian friends pray about things before they make a decision. On Sundays they are so moved by the Holy Spirit, they often raise their hands in worship. They call each other brothers and sisters and stand in circles to pray together … out loud.

Am I less religious than my wife?

I don’t think so. I feel a deep love for God and I trust God’s love for me. I trust that God sees me as someone beautiful and wonderful. Someone with a purpose in this world. Just like my wife does. Yet when I came to the United States, our expressions of faith were so completely different that I experienced a true culture shock. All that noise in the church that was so hard for me to bear, was for her just an expression of worship, of love. Praying over someone for healing was for me just magical thinking, while for her it was an expression… [Read more…] about When I found myself on the side of Religious Freedom Law supporters

An Open Letter to Christian Business Owners

by April Kelsey in Christian Issues, LGBT

Embed from Getty Images

Dear Christian Business Owner,

I don’t usually do open letters (it’s against my policy), but today I feel compelled to make an exception. I’m writing to you because I’m genuinely concerned and confused about your objections to serving LGBT folks.

See, when I was growing up in church, my leaders talked about how important it was to seek out opportunities to share the gospel with others. Jesus could return at any time, and people needed to be ready to meet him. For them, this wasn’t just some pretty idea; Christians had a scriptural obligation to win souls, and everyone took it seriously. I knew people who rejoiced when sinners entered their workplace, because it allowed them to plant and water the seeds of salvation through their service.

I don’t know what has happened in the past 25 years to change all of that, but it’s saddening. If you truly believe the LGBT community is most in need of Jesus, why on earth would you advocate for laws to keep them away?

Now, I realize that some of you provide goods and services for weddings, and you believe that marriage should be reserved for heterosexual couples only. You care about your reputation as a Christian within the Christian community, and you don’t want to be seen as giving approval to a union you believe to be sinful. And it’s your business, right? You started it. Theoretically, you should have the right to refuse service to anyone. I understand that.

But think for a moment about the unique… [Read more…] about An Open Letter to Christian Business Owners

When I Was New to Homophobia

by Franziska Garner in LGBT

Zella Ziona was 21 years old when she was killed on October 15th 2015.

For my partner Lisa and me it was a happy day — it was the first time we celebrated her birthday together. We had a wonderful day full of laughter, tenderness, and the simple joy of having found each other and being so absolutely in love.

Marc Pourner was 28 years old when he was killed on November 14th 2015.

For Lisa and me it was a busy day. We were more than just a little excited. Just a day before, on the 13th, we got our marriage license — in the middle of Texas. Lisa, who has lived here all her life, could barely believe it. For her it was a miracle. After all, the infamous Sodomy Laws were abolished in Texas only in 2003. Our wedding was scheduled for November 19th and there was still so much to do. We were in a bubble of delirious happiness.

I was born and grew up in Europe. Now, in April 2016, I have been in this country for nearly seven months. During this time, at least two people who identified somewhere on the LGBT spectrum have been killed in hate crimes in the United States. Dozens more were severely injured, tortured, or beaten bloody, suffering from broken bones, severe burns, or even brain damage. Hundreds more were verbally assaulted, intimidated, and bullied for being who they are.

I grew up in Germany where I read affirmative stories about gay and lesbian couples in the country’s most popular youth magazine in 1997 when I was 13 years old. I grew up there in the… [Read more…] about When I Was New to Homophobia

Legislating Bowel Movements: North Carolina and LGBT Discrimination

by Kenneth Vandergriff in Current Events, LGBT

I wasn’t alive during the Civil Rights marches of the 1960s. I wasn’t alive during the Vietnam War protests of the late 1960s and 1970s. But I was alive to see the Berlin Wall fall, the Soviet Union crumble, and the rights of my LGBT friends become a reality.

I cried tears the day the Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage because my LGBT friends who had lived so long as simply life partners could now enjoy the same benefits in the eyes of the law that my wife and I do.

I also cried tears last Wednesday because the legislature of my state, North Carolina, passed a bill which legalizes discrimination against my LGBT friends, as if they did not already experience discrimination — the only difference is that now that discrimination is legal.

The new law overturns Charlotte’s local LGBT non-discrimination ordinance, prohibits other local governments from passing LGBT non-discrimination ordinances, and requires students in public schools and publicly funded universities and colleges to use the bathroom that corresponds to the gender listed on their birth certificate.

What the hell are the elected officials of North Carolina thinking? What’s worse is that they called a special session to ramrod this hateful, discriminatory piece of legislation through.

It doesn’t take faith in a higher power to understand that all people are created equal. No one person is inferior to another, though society often tries to tell us they are. I, however, do have faith in God. I read… [Read more…] about Legislating Bowel Movements: North Carolina and LGBT Discrimination

Dear Neighbors

by Brettany Renee Blatchley in Christian Issues, LGBT

America is my home. I love it for its landscape, its history, and especially its people. I grew-up here; I work here; I shop here; I go to church here; I raised a family here. I laugh, cry, live, and likely I will die here.

May I please share something intimate and important, something most people do not guess about my medical history? You see, I am a female person who has become a woman through her transgender nature and experience. My doctors and I have worked for years to help my body match the way my brain is wired. There are complicated reasons for this, and (for my case) the science is pointing to how I was formed in my mother’s womb.

Goodness! Why is this relevant to anything?

Well, it is important because I also use public bathrooms and change-areas. Yes, I know that’s “personal information,” and it should be … really, it should be. But what once was private for me, sadly may no longer be the case.

Some among us, mostly well-meaning people, grossly misunderstand people like me, and consider us to be a threat, even evil, for just existing as our authentic selves. Many assume God feels this way about us too.

That is difficult enough, but they also want it to be illegal for me to use the same bathroom and changing facilities that other women use, facilities I have used for years without incident.

In their eyes, nothing my doctors say, nothing science says, nothing I say, not my legal status, nothing that has or ever could be done to my body can… [Read more…] about Dear Neighbors