The reaction among church leaders themselves has been mixed, with some praising the celibacy movement as a valid way to be both gay and Christian. But others have returned to the central question of how far Christianity can go in embracing homosexuality ”” even if people abstain from sex.
Al Mohler, president of the flagship Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and one of the country’s most respected conservative evangelical leaders, said in an interview that there is “growing and widespread admiration” for Tushnet and others, including Wesley Hill, an evangelical scholar who founded the spiritualfriendship blog.
Given that LGBT people are coming out and “being welcomed,” he said, “it is now safe and necessary to discuss these things aloud in evangelical churches ”” and that’s hugely important.”
Could I just observe that the churches (in my humble opinion) fail single people generally, whether gay or not. We have activities for families and hold up family life for praise; we have activities for children; we strive to retain our teens. But the single adult men and women in our pews. What is there for them? I suppose you could reply that they can volunteer with everyone else for the soup kitchen, the food bank, the greening of the church, all the activities open to whoever turns up and rolls up their sleeves. Or the bible study or the prayer group. Well, yes. But couples or families can expect that those contacts will draw them into a social network. Can singles expect the same? If you doubt that, when did you last invite a single adult to a meal at your table?
Thank you, Terry Tee. My two unmarried early-30s daughters both report being either entirely ignored or being treated as odd at church. There are “young people” (i.e. high school and college age) and families, but many churches have no idea what to do with unmarried adults. This may contribute to many unmarrieds not attending church much.
Good point Terry and Katherine. I was well aware of this as a single many years ago, but its easy to forget once you are married.
And of course even many married people are effectively single again, through separation, divorce, mental illness of the spouse etc, and desperately need friendship.