Room for Dialogue

The cover story of last week’s Chicago Reader, “His God Doesn’t Hate Fags”, profiles Andrew Marin, an evangelical who teaches classes on homosexuality and faith and is conducting research on spirituality and religion in GLBT communities. Taking a stance decidedly different from those evangelicals who try to “save” gays and lesbians from their homosexuality or those who do in fact claim that “God Hates Fags”, Marin has won the respect of both evangelicals and homosexual activists.

While for the most part he maintains standard evangelical positions on homosexuality (it is a sin, he claims, but he remains silent on the question of whether or not it is a choice), he has managed to create a space for dialogue, something that is often lacking in the culture wars about sexuality.

Indeed, sexuality is one of the issues currently pushing denominations like ours to the breaking point. But instead of thoughtful dialogue, the debate often devolves to rigid volleys of simplified sound bites and predetermined positions. The Presbyterian Church, like many other churches, needs the kind of dialogue Marin seems to have cultivated. This is a complicated issue and all sides have much to learn from each other.

Of course, the cynic in me wonders if Marin’s work is all a ruse to gain an inside front for the prevailing evangelical crusade against homosexuality. For now, though, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Homosexuality is a big issue facing our church today. What do you think about what Marin is doing? Where do you stand on this issue? What are ways that we can foster dialogue and education in our congregation and denomination?