Personally, I am what you would call semi-religious. In this essay I talk a lot about “I, I, I, me, me, me” not for the sake of an ego trip but to use myself as a typical gay American trying to find his spiritual niche, a pilgrim. I think religion should be a part of one’s life. We know, however, all too well, that the churches we have been dealing with as we were growing up were mostly intolerant bastions of homophobia.
Many religious gay people grew up in a church they thought was a sanctuary. A sanctuary is supposed to be a safe place. If the identity of the gay religious people was revealed, they were often asked to leave; in many instances, the “sanctuary” was not safe at all, au contraire, it was dangerous and hostile. As a result, the vast majority of gay people have become atheists, agnostics or humanists, and they have a low opinion of churchdom. My parents felt that religion was a mental sickness. So many wars in the past have been fought over differences in religious dogma. They thought religiosity = hateful intolerance and narrow-mindedness. And religious people just love judging their neighbors. They claim to worship God but they really worship the almighty dollar and social climbing.
I thought many religious people have these faults, but just as many do not. So, I went shopping for a church. Many churches nowadays tolerate gay parishioners. MCC offers an even better theology in which we celebrate our sexual orientation in a joyous Christian service. It is completely gay and Lesbian positive and completely Christian. Jim Burns is the pastor of MCC Denver. He is exactly what is needed. About 30 years ago, an MCC minister said that real liberation and empowerment of our community will come from our spiritual understanding of the divine nature of our sexual orientation, of our status as God’s children with all the rights and privileges that derive there from. I feel comfortable with that assessment.
Integrity is the gay “caucus” of the Episcopal Church which claims it has a positive view on gay rights, which is true. Integrity nowadays assists gays looking for a church to choose an accepting Episcopal church as opposed to a homophobic congregation, of which there are still many unfortunately.
In New York City, however, Integrity has a history of putting on beautiful services of its own with the emphasis on pomp and circumstance and beautiful organ and classical orchestral music. If nothing else, an Integrity service was a grandiose cultural event. Their services were held at St. Martin in the Fields in the West Village. It was run by Lesbian and gay people. It was Episcopal but quite independent.
After a while, the NYC Episcopal Church said they did not see any need for Integrity unless it became a funded ministry of the Episcopal Church. The leader of Integrity at the time, Nick Dowen, appropriately declined the offer of funding. One of the later presidents of Integrity agreed that Integrity was unnecessary. Her name was Sandy, a black Lesbian who said she felt perfectly comfortable as a parishioner of St. Paul’s Apostles Church, which she attends regularly with her partner. St. Paul’s Apostle’s church is located a block away from Penn Station. I did not agree with Sandy. Now all Integrity does is guide Lesbian and gay pilgrims to friendlier churches. I noticed that Integrity Denver has the same policy of guiding and advising only, no actual leadership rôle. I was disappointed with the way the old New York City Integrity ended.
I am sure that the Episcopal Church’s claim that it does accept Lesbian and gay parishioners is 90% true, but, without Integrity offering something special to the wider gay community, I lost interest in the Episcopal church.
Back in the 70’s I went to one Lutheran Church in Queens and spoke with the pastor after the service; he was very homophobic. I went to another Lutheran Church where a more liberal pastor said they welcomed gay and Lesbian people. The better choice yet was the United Church of Christ that combines its claim of accepting Lesbian and gay people with a rather aggressive ministry of advocating for our rights.
MCC fulfills my Protestant side, but I am also part Catholic. I thought in error that the Episcopal Church with Integrity as intermediary might be the answer. It wasn’t. So what about Dignity? As sympathetic as I am to their mission or should I say “mission impossible” of reintegrating Lesbian and gay people into the Roman Catholic Church, despite my Catholic side, I do not feel the need to join the RCC.
I want a gay and Lesbian positive congregation that worships with a Catholic inspiration, but I still have not found one.
Q. “Do you believe in God?”
A. “Yes, but I do not believe in organized religion.”
A lot of people feel comfortable with this position. I think what this really means is that, though I am a believer, the established churches are for the most part so reactionary, mindless and hateful, they repel me. The adversaries have big well-financed religious organizations that protect an evil status quo. I have nothing; I have no church that is geared to promote my interests including my spiritual well-being.
Lesbian and gay people have been victimized more than most by an evil status quo church. I do not, however, think that this revulsion of traditional churches is universal. The Unitarian Universalist Church is a beacon of enlightenment. Perhaps the gay pilgrim could join a UU congregation and fight the fight for gay rights in an American organized religious setting.
A radical alternative for the Lesgay pilgrim could be the Radical Faeries. According to Wikipedia:
The Faeries trace their name to the 1979 Spiritual Conference for Radical Fairies.[note 1] The conference, organized by Harry Hay and his lover John Burnside, along with Los Angeles activist Don Kilhefner and Jungian therapist Mitch Walker, was held over the Labor Day weekend in Benson, Arizona and attracted over two hundred participants. From this, participants started holding more multi-day events called "gatherings". In keeping with hippie, neopagan, and eco-feminist trends of the time, gatherings were held out-of-doors in natural settings.[6] To this end, distinct Radical Faerie communities have created sanctuaries that are "close to the land".[7]
The Radical Faeries recognize that, in the context of an earth-oriented spirituality, such as the religion of Native Americans, gay people were never marginalized but were accepted members of the Tribe. Radical Faeries also promote the idea that earth-oriented spirituality should be based on our common sexual orientation. This leads to empowerment and liberation of our community. I think the Radical Faeries make a very convincing case for a new spirituality.
© 25 June 2013
About the Author
No comments:
Post a Comment