In the news again we see the church wonderfully coming up trumps with a ridiculous and narrow minded reaction to The Archbishops appeal for love, respect and tolerance towards homosexuals.

Forgive my sarcasm, but yet again I find this really saddening me and winding me up. Prodigal Kiwi blogs well about this. I seem to have blogged a couple of times on this subject, and at least one person has asked why and another called my ‘true sexuality’ into question. I took that as a compliment! Why can’t some people understand why victimisation and discrimination in every single form is wrong and needs to be challenged. The role of the church, of Christians, is to love and accept – even if it hurts!

Archbishop Rowan has written an excellent letter which you can read here. I particularly resonate with this part:

So if it is true that an action by one part of the Communion genuinely causes offence, causes others to stumble, there is need to ask, ‘How has what we have done got in the way of God making himself heard and seen among us? Have we acted in such a way as to suggest that we do not believe we are under the authority of Scripture – that the Church is not the creation of the Word? Have we bound on other churches burdens too heavy for them to bear, reproaches for which they may suffer? Have we been eager to dismiss others before we have listened?’

We owe it to one another to let such questions sink in slowly and prayerfully. But these are the important questions for our spiritual health, rather than arguing only over the terms and wording of apologies. It is as we deal with these questions that we do our proper duty to each other in the Church by calling each other back to Christ.

And we should not forget those questions that may make us most uncomfortable. In the heat of this controversy, things have been said about homosexual people that have made many of them, including those who lead celibate lives, feel that there is no good news for them in the Church. Remember that in many countries such people face real persecution and cruelty; even where there are no legal penalties, they suffer from a sense of rejection. Young people are driven to suicide by the conviction that no-one will listen to them patiently; many feel that they are condemned not for their behaviour but for their nature. As I write these words, I have in mind the recent brutal and unprovoked murder of a homosexual man in London by a group of violent and ignorant youths.

Attitudes need to change. About 8 months ago I had some spare time in London and I was at Elephant and Castle so thought I would check out the Imperial War Museum as I had not been there since I was at school.

I was impressed with how things had changed and I found myself wandering and came across the Holocaust Exhibition. The visit was incredibly moving and I was particularly hit towards the end of the exhibition where there is a large model of Auschwitz and the route people took from the train to the gas chambers.

As I turned the corner I was faced by a massive glass display case that was just full of a mountain of shoes that had been removed from people before they were murdered. It was an unbelievingly moving sight as it was then that it really struck home in a tangible way that these were real people that were treated like this.

The Jews were treated horrifically because they were viewed as sub human. Lets not the church fall into this sin again by viewing its gay brothers and sisters as sub human.