Spectrum of belief

Task force hears about six distinct Christian views of homosexuality

by Jerry L. Van Marter, Presbyterian News Service

[8-6-04]

DALLAS -- August 5, 2004 -- Arguing that Presbyterians' attitudes toward homosexuality fall along a spectrum rather than around two distant poles, Prof. William Stacy Johnson of Princeton Theological Seminary outlined a "roadmap of the terrain" on Wednesday that included six distinctive alternatives.

In an exhausting three-hour presentation to the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church (TTF), Johnson spoke of a range of Presbyterians, from "prohibitionists," who believe homosexuality is categorically sinful, to "consecrationists," who believe that God's grace is present in all "rightly ordered" relationships and that the church must therefore consecrate all committed, stable relationships.

As he laid out each position, Johnson invited TTF members to identify the strengths of the position, any "bridges" between it and other positions, and related issues in which the gospel is at stake.

"My only agenda," he assured the group, "is free and open exploration of these positions, and to have us think in creative and redemptive ways how to carry the gospel forward."

The central question for the church, he said, is how it is to relate to a gay or lesbian Presbyterian whose sexual orientation is firmly established; who is a baptized member; and who desires to enter into an exclusive and permanent relationship with a person of the same sex.

Johnson then framed each of the six positions -- "prohibitionist"; "definitive guidance" (the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s current position); homosexuality as a justice issue; homosexuality as a pastoral issue; "celebrationist"; and "consecrationist" -- in the light of three traditional Presbyterian theological principles: creation, reconciliation and redemption.

"What does it mean for us to say that all persons, homosexuals included, are created, reconciled and redeemed by God through Jesus Christ?" he asked.

Thinking through the issue theologically is important for Christians, he said, because history has shown that same-sex relationships have meant different things in different times, places and social contexts; because behavioral science has shown that human sexual orientation falls along a continuum; and because genetic, neurological and physical science is "inconclusive" about whether homosexuality is an "essential identity" or "a complete social construct."

Categorical prohibition

Prohibitionists, of course, argue the latter, he said. Their argument is based on an particular interpretation of Biblical passages, the notion of "gender complementarity" -- that all of creation is designed on a precise male-female fit -- and that marriage is "divinely instituted as the order of creation."

Therefore, this argument goes, homosexuality is "unnatural," and homosexual acts are to be categorically condemned as a violation of the intention of creation. Gays and lesbians must therefore "repent of both desires and deeds," Johnson said. "To be redeemed is to be liberated from bondage, so the only way out for a homosexual is to be 'renewed' in one's God-given heterosexual self, or at least abstinence."

There are a number of challenges to the prohibitionist position, he continued.

"Sorting out the Biblical arguments always calls for an examination of other kinds of evidence, and the whole body of evidence is inconclusive as to whether homosexual relationships can be faithfully ordered," he said. Moreover, the Bible does not define the "image of God" in sexual terms, and Jesus as the full image of God offers no glimpse of sexual image or "gender complementarity."

Finally, the purposes of marriage as outlined in the Bible are procreation, the prevention of promiscuity and mutual companionship. "We don't condemn people who don't have children," Johnson noted; and promiscuity can be avoided and companionship found without the benefit of marriage, "so there must be some other argument for marriage" as divine order.

'Definitive guidance'

The PC(USA)'s current position on homosexuality, Johnson said, is not a categorical prohibition, but "definitive guidance" -- in General Assembly statements dating to 1978 holding that "self-affirming, practicing homosexuals" are ineligible for ordination as church officers.

Calling this a "don't ask, don't tell" position, Johnson said the 1978 Assembly "addressed gay leadership before the church had even come to grips with gay existence," pursuing "a polity solution rather than a theological one."

By adopting a position that called on the church to welcome homosexuals as members (but not as officers), he said, the church made a subtle shift -- from viewing homosexuality as a perversion to be condemned to considering it a tragedy to be understood. "And differentiation between orientation and practice became our new theological construct."

The primary challenge to this position, he said, is that "social control has collided disastrously with social recognition -- people are 'asking' and 'telling.'"

This, he said, "has placed a greater burden on gays and lesbians than others -- forcing them to sacrifice either integrity, identity or calling …… sometimes all three." The result is what he called "functional ambivalence -- welcoming homosexual identity, but non-affirming of what that identity really means."

Homosexuality as a justice issue

Justice advocates read the Biblical drama of creation, reconciliation and redemption "as one of ever-widening grace, reaching out particularly to those whom the world excludes," Johnson said. Those who hold this position "are deeply troubled by the church's hypocrisy," he said, "inviting people into membership, but not into the benefits."

If Christ's reconciliation ought to be extended to homosexuals as a "civil right," these proponents argue, "then it's unseemly to them that the church would exempt itself."

Justice advocates argue that ordination decisions "should be made on giftedness for ministry, not sexual identity," he said, and that "homosexual orientation may be a tragedy, but it's no more sinful than any other sinful condition."

Supporters of the church's current ordination standard -- "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and woman or chastity in singleness" -- insist that homosexuals are not being singled out, Johnson said, "but justice advocates say it's a smokescreen, and that only gays and lesbians have been targeted" under the provision, G-6.0106.b of The Book of Order.

In any event, Johnson said, "a better theological argument would be the 'justification by grace through faith' argument, rather than a pure justice argument." He said the church "needs to offer a greater hope of redemption than stoic acceptance of a life of unhappiness."

In the view of the justice advocates, he said, Jesus' acceptance should be the church's model.

Homosexuality as a pastoral issue

Personal relationships with gay and lesbian people "are the experiential lens through which most people's positions are formed," Johnson said, so the pastoral approach to the issue "looks for livable solutions to real problems of real people."

Thus, the church has consistently refused to flatly prohibit same-sex "blessings," he said. "Too many Presbyterians know gay families, many with children, who they believe are living faithfully."

A preliminary report to the General Assembly of the former Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) in 1977 -- rendered moot by subsequent "definitive guidance statements in 1978 and 1979 -- acknowledged as much, Johnson said. "It says that homosexual 'condition' is not a sin but rather, to avoid falling into a shallow and moralistic view, it takes the position that homosexual condition (is) an effect of sin." Therefore, Johnson said, "it does not preclude the possibility of relatively loving and faithful actions, even within the framework of such a condition of sin. It is with a combination of judgment and grace that we are redeemed."

Pastoral advocates believe "gay relationships, while disobedient in form, may actually be obedient in substance," Johnson concluded. Pastoral advocates "know people for whom this is true, he said, and reason that "an exclusive committed same-sex relationship is better than promiscuity. It's the lesser of evils -- though still, in a sense, tragic."

Welcome, affirm, and celebrate

"Celebrationists," as Johnson calls them, "believe that homosexuality does not violate nature but is so abundant in nature that it cannot be called a perversion or a tragedy, but is a natural fact." They point out that in Genesis, God called all of creation "good."

The celebrationist position has much in common with the justice position, he noted, except that celebrationists consider homosexual orientation inherently "good." Gays and lesbians are called, therefore, "to be reconciled to the goodness of their created sexuality, to cease despising their God-given sexuality," Johnson said. In this view, he added, "What drives the Biblical drama is humanity, not sexuality."

The challenge, he said, "is how the celebrationist position can remain Christian while probably transgressing against traditional Christian theology." Also, some celebrationists "seem reticent to articulate ethical norms for sexual conduct," he added. "Their tendency is to use language that romanticizes sexuality, leading many to ask: Are there ANY boundaries?"

Welcome, affirm, and consecrate

For what Johnson calls "consecrationists," the goal is to "interpret sexual desire as part of God's desire for creation, consecrated as a means of grace, experiencing God's desire for humanity through right relationship," homosexual or heterosexual. Consecrationists disagree with celebrationists that any sexual orientation is inherently good -- "for them, sin does not reside in orientation, but in a disordered life."

Consecrationists, Johnson said, disavow Christian identity based on sexuality and insist "that Christian identity is acquired in Baptism. …… We are not gay or straight; we are all children of God." They worry, he said, "that both prohibitionists and 'affirmers' take their cues from nature, not from grace."

Sin does not reside in orientation, but in how one orders one's life, the consecrationists say. And consecration by the church is essential, the argument goes, "because rightly ordered relationships are not just a private matter -- but the community has a stake in our relationships as well."

Consecration is "for all our sakes, not just homosexuals," he said of the consecrationists' view -- which takes it beyond the pastoral position.

He said consecrationists argue that "all sexual relationships CAN be reflective of God's grace and desire for humanity," although none automatically is.

In summary: