Texas is the unlikely home of biggest gay church
stoney
Texas is the unlikely home of biggest gay church
Reuters | Wednesday, 21 March 2007
DALLAS: They say everything is bigger in Texas. But the Cathedral of
Hope in Dallas makes one Texas-sized claim that few would expect in the
conservative Bible Belt state – it says it is the world's biggest gay
church.
"I think this shows that God has a tremendously great sense of humour,"
said senior pastor and rector Jo Hudson.
On a more serious note, she says the church, affiliated with the United
Church of Christ, is a spiritual refuge for gay people of faith in a
region associated with more conservative brands of Christianity.
"Because we are in the Bible Belt we have a lot of people of tremendous
faith," she said in an interview.
"But a lot of them have been alienated and rejected by their faith
community, which is fundamentalist, so they hanker for a place where
they can encounter God," she said.
Gays and the church are no small matter in America. Many of the
country's 60 million evangelicals view homosexuality as a sinful
lifestyle choice – a stance that angers gay activists who say their
sexual orientation is not a choice.
The Episcopalian church – the American wing of the Anglican Communion –
is sharply split on the matter of gay clergy, while the Republican Party
has used state ballot initiatives banning gay marriage to get its
supporters out to the polls.
Hudson estimates that over 90 per cent of the Cathedral's 3500 members
are gay, lesbian or transgender.
Founded in 1970 by a dozen gays and lesbians who gathered in a home and
decided they wanted a safe and tolerant place to worship, it has grown
into a large and affluent institution centred on a cavernous church that
can seat up to 900.
Last year it became part of the United Church of Christ, which claims
1.3 million members in 5725 US congregations and traditions of diversity
and pioneering action on social justice.
On a recent Sunday during Lent – a period of prayer and penance in the
run-up to Easter – mostly gay couples, men and women, streamed in for
morning services.
The big pickup trucks and sports utility vehicles gave the parking lot a
Texan flavour and most were on the expensive side – highlighting the
fact that being openly gay remains a mostly white-collar phenomenon in
America.
The church offered liturgical worship with an Episcopalian flavour,
complete with communion. It also provides contemporary and
Spanish-language services.
But there was no discussion of homosexuality from the pulpit. One pastor
spoke of South African Archbishop and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu and
the importance of forgiveness.
Hudson's sermon focussed on humanity's propensity to wander.
FOCUS ON THE POOR
Members of the congregation said that while the church was a place of
spiritual comfort for gays, its focus was on ministering to the wider
community, especially the poor.
"We don't talk much about gay stuff here," said Coy James, who has been
attending the church for almost 30 years.
"We give over $US1 million ($NZ1.4m) each year in aid and services to
the poorest of the poor and we have adopted elementary schools in
low-income areas and helped them with tutoring and other things," he
said after the service.
Others are drawn by its liberal theology in a range of areas that go
beyond sexual orientation.
"I'm from a Catholic background and have an issue with its stance on
women in the priesthood," said Chris Kuntz, who said he joined the
Cathedral in 1994.
All of this places the church firmly on the left of America's political
and cultural divide – another anomaly in the red-blooded,
Republican-dominated state of Texas.
The church's store prominently displays books such as "The Real
AntiChrist: How America Sold its Soul," with a cover photo of President
George W. Bush with his hands clasped in prayer.
But its liberal views on sexual orientation are also clearly a big part
of its attraction for many members who might not feel comfortable or
welcome in other churches.
"Homosexuality & Christianity: no matter who you are, God loves you,"
declares the church's Web site, which features a discussion on the
matter, stressing among other things Jesus' silence on the subject.
Southern Baptists and other socially conservative denominations point to
mostly Old Testament passages that they say shows God's dim view of
homosexuality.
"The Bible could not be more clear – all forms of homosexual behaviour
are expressly condemned as sin," said R. Albert Mohler Jr., the
president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in a recent
statement on the issue.
Hudson says such attitudes both underscore the importance of her church
for gay Texans and explain its size.
"Sometimes where there is great oppression, great justice emerges," she
said.
/end
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Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
Rick
It's only unlikely to those who don't understand the geography of politics
and rely on simplistic stereotypes. The Sherrif in the county that includes
Dallas, the buckle of the bible belt, is a hispanic lesbian.
>home of biggest gay church
>Reuters | Wednesday, 21 March 2007
>
> DALLAS: They say everything is bigger in Texas. But the Cathedral of
>Hope in Dallas makes one Texas-sized claim that few would expect in the
>conservative Bible Belt state – it says it is the world's biggest gay
>church.
>
>"I think this shows that God has a tremendously great sense of humour,"
>said senior pastor and rector Jo Hudson.
It really shows that people are not well informed. Another example of a
so-called contradiction is that Salt Lake City has a bigger gay population
than San Francisco.
- Rick
stoney
wrote in alt.atheism
>stoney wrote in message ...
>>http://www.stuff.co.nz/4000502a4560.html
>>
>>Texas is the unlikely
>
>It's only unlikely to those who don't understand the geography of politics
>and rely on simplistic stereotypes. The Sherrif in the county that includes
>Dallas, the buckle of the bible belt, is a hispanic lesbian.
Cool!
>>home of biggest gay church
>>Reuters | Wednesday, 21 March 2007
>>
>> DALLAS: They say everything is bigger in Texas. But the Cathedral of
>>Hope in Dallas makes one Texas-sized claim that few would expect in the
>>conservative Bible Belt state – it says it is the world's biggest gay
>>church.
>>
>>"I think this shows that God has a tremendously great sense of humour,"
>>said senior pastor and rector Jo Hudson.
>
>It really shows that people are not well informed. Another example of a
>so-called contradiction is that Salt Lake City has a bigger gay population
>than San Francisco.
I didn't know that either, but it isn't something I track.
Thanks.