Gay and Christian: a contradiction in terms?
It's an ongoing religious debate that arguably will never be solved:
Is it okay to be gay and Christian?
The majority of liberal minded people will not see a problem with this mix, believing that a person has the right to be whoever they want to be and believe in whatever they want to believe. Surely, as long as you try and lead a ‘good' life, God will love you no matter what your sexual orientation may be?
Wrong. Many Christian groups have openly declared their stance against homosexuality and gay people in general. In 2006, Dr. Michael Brown, head of Coalition of Conscience in Charlotte, N.C. issued a statement to the homosexual community. He stated that “we believe that God's ways are best, and we believe that homosexual behavior is contrary to His ways, just as we believe that all sexual activity outside of the bonds of male-female marriage is contrary to His ways.”
In the UK, the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM) campaigns for an all-inclusive church and has recently criticized the formation of an openly anti-gay Anglican group. The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FOCA) was formed at the Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem in June 2008. The formation of this group is primarily as a reaction to gay clergy and same-sex civil partnerships.
However, the future of this group is uncertain and many believe that its life will be short-lived. Although they claim to have the support of the world's 77 million Anglicans, this figure has been called into question by many.
Whilst it appears that anti-gay sentiments are clearly still evident in today's society, the future looks bright for the UK's gay community especially as certain legal rights such as civil partnerships are being granted.
