In the Christian Bible there are a total of 31,102 verses. Only 11 of those verses have as their subject matter sexual activity between persons of the same gender. ELEVEN!
None of those 11 verses has anything to do with our contemporary understandings of the complexities of human sexuality or gender identity. Each of those ancient 11 verses is focused on condemning the physical act of sexual intercourse with a person of the same sex. Each of those verses must be understood in its own historical and social context.
The prohibition and condemnation of same sex activity articulated in 11 verses of the Bible is less about sexual behavior and more about unfettered sexual expression that was taking place in pagan fertility cult rituals of sacred prostitution.
The claim being made today by too many persons and some institutional churches that the Bible condemns LGBTQ relationships, gay marriage, persons seeking gender affirming care and individuals whose biological gender differs from their experience of their sexuality is self-righteously uninformed.
Such a blanket statement is akin to picking out verses reflecting ancient tribal patriarchal activity, taking those verses out of context, and then claiming that the Bible advocates misogyny, a male’s right for plural wives, concubines, and the legitimacy of institutional slavery.
The damage to the souls of people that has been and is being done by persons and institutional religion using ancient, out-of-context Bible verses as a weapon to enforce human doctrines of exclusion – as well as policies masking racial, cultural, and religious prejudice – is a tragedy. To justify such damage by claiming that it is a deserved punishment for going against what the Bible teaches is a malicious misunderstanding of the very Bible they claim to know and follow.
The now severely fractured United Methodist Church in its brutally hurtful, decades-old claim that “homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching” and the restrictive policies which have been enacted based on that claim or the Cleveland Catholic Diocese’s recent policy calling out same-sex attraction as sin and enacting exclusionary policy as a result are both examples of the Bible being misused, misunderstood, and wielded as a weapon.
Sixty years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. articulated a dream that has become part of the fabric of this nation’s aspirational understanding of its democratic self. King’s dream which includes his vision for a time in this nation when his children and all children will be judged by the content of their character rather than by the color of their skin is rooted in what the Bible really teaches.
The biblical witness across the generations of people liberated and inspired by its teachings affirms that at our best human beings transcend physical differences by developing our spiritual nature – our character – and our capacity to love and recognize our neighbors.
I am worried about our character development. I am fearfully worried about character development when the Bible is used by religious authority to thwart character development on purpose.
With the support of a growing number of examples of institutional religious organizations, too many of us now tolerate – and many even champion – bearing false witness against our neighbors in our public life. Too many of us now accept making accusations of neighbors without evidence. Too many of us now claim that there are such things as alternative facts in history, science, and medicine which validate our prejudices against our neighbors. And now too many of us claim the Bible as sanctified authority for the condemnation, damnation, and marginalization of neighbors whose neighborhood, understanding of themselves as human beings, and manner of expressing love for a beloved partner in life is unlike our own.
The Bible is all about character development. Over 31,000 verses tell that story; not 11 verses misused to justify self-righteous exclusion. When this is done crucifixions result. We need the Bible’s witness that no matter the act of hate, love will not die.