It’s Time to Rewrite the Race, Religion and Gay Narrative

Just because the world defines the totality of a person by their skin color, religion and/or sexual lifestyle, why should the church do that? (Of course, professional activists have framed a narrative that connects same-sex marriage with the civil-rights narrative, something many African Americans reject.) The Word of God teaches that the totality of a human person is much more than that (Psalm 139:13-18; 1 Thess. 5:23).

I thank God that Jesus took time to know me and reveal Himself to me even when I was uninterested and had no desire to know Him. The church needs to proactively and comprehensively frame our life on a biblical morality that loves and reaches out to all humanity with respect and dignity since all humans were created in God’s image.

I have attempted to live by this ethos and it has confounded both friend and foe alike. For example, two days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, instead of objectifying all Muslims I went into a local mosque to tell their leader that I am available to help them if they started to get persecuted. Their leader was so moved he started weeping and hugging me and all those around him were also weeping; thousand-year walls began to fall before my eyes. In the mid 1990’s I gathered 25 of the leading African-American and white New York City pastors together in a small apartment to have honest dialogue regarding our racial divisions. The result has been deep and abiding ministerial partnerships that have lasted for almost 20 years.

Along these lines, although my biblical ethic informs me that the re-definition of marriage is wrong (Gen. 2:20-25 and Matt. 19:4-6), I have never allowed anti-gay rhetoric in my midst and have always blamed the high rate of divorce on heterosexual marriages for this cultural phenomenon. (Also, in the past I have publicly denounced the Westboro Baptist church because their hate-filled anti-gay rhetoric does not represent the God we serve.)

In the early 2000s I participated in a press conference with a high-level New York City political leader along with clergy who identified themselves as part of the LGBT community, when a rash of violence and bullying was committed against New Yorkers perceived as gay. At one point an influential liberal writer for a popular New York City newspaper even called me up and asked me how I was able to stand for biblical marriage without utilizing hate speech. I told him it was because my view on marriage was not disconnected from my high view of all humans as image-bearers of God. In other words, all humans warrant love, respect and dignity. (I do not believe my views regarding marriage are grounded in bigotry but in the fact that both men and women are different, and marriage coheres those distinctions for the benefit of society since children need both a mother and a father.)

Often when I preach on the kingdom, I tell Christian leaders they are not called to take their cities but to love and serve their cities. This is where our God-given moral authority comes from when we meet the practical needs of the people in our communities with no agenda but sincere love, we will be respected even by those who oppose our views on religion, marriage and politics. Although we have a duty to uphold religious liberty, we also have a duty to protect at-risk gay youth who are threatened with physical harm, and bring relief to gay men dying of AIDS. As good neighbors, we need to stop dehumanizing those we disagree with and take time to get to know them personally.

If the church is going to make a positive impact in our communities, we need to follow the way of Jesus and resist responding to the pre-programmed rhetoric of those who make a living dividing us all. Consequently, it is absurd if someone were to brand me anti-gay because I disagree with them on same-sex marriage given my history and given the fact that in my worldview, “gay” or “straight” doesn’t define the totality of a person.

In my view, human identity emanates from being an “image-bearer” of God (Gen. 1:27) which ultimately means that all humans are God’s offspring according to Acts 17:28. Disagreeing with a person’s view on a particular issue doesn’t necessarily mean you are against them as an individual. (With that faulty line of reasoning you actually have a better case for calling me “anti-evangelical” or “anti-church” since some of my writing is, as an “insider,” attempting to bring correctives to the church.) All humans deserve civil rights, but all rights as citizens should be framed in the context of what is deemed best for society for generations to come. (Of course, some special-interest opportunists on both sides revert to name-calling and “categorizations” when someone disagrees with their view of civil rights.)

In light of this, Christians need to seriously exegete the implications of the Ten Commandments and biblical civil law, but at the same time understand and practice the way Jesus summarized the fulfillment of the law with two commands: love God with all our hearts, and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. On these two commandments the whole law hangs (Matt. 22:37-40).

Elevating love in our praxis—the realization of a theory, lesson or skill—for cultural engagement doesn’t betray the gospel, neither is it merely a ploy to obtain cultural credibility. Pure love is the highest motive of the gospel (John 3:16).

In summary, if the church successfully reframes and rewrites the present segmented (human) narrative, we will be a force for good and may possibly redefine human relations person to person and community by community, which would enable us to function as the salt of the earth and light of the world (Matt. 5:13-16).

Joseph Mattera is overseeing bishop of Resurrection Church, Christ Covenant Coalition, in Brooklyn, N.Y. Visit him at josephmattera.org.