love with pride

Tomorrow, a group of Hearth Churchers will be participating in the 7th Annual CommUnity Rainbow Run to benefit onePulse Foundation. OnePulse Foundation’s Vision is beautiful - “Establishing a sanctuary of healing and a beacon of hope by memorializing the lives taken, the lives saved and all the lives affected by the Pulse nightclub tragedy of June 12, 2016 – ensuring Pulse’s legacy of love lives on forever.” Although we plan to have a lot of fun at the event tomorrow, we also remember that the reason for this event began with a deep and unnecessary tragedy fueled by hate. Though the Pulse nightclub tragedy inspired the hearts of many people to embrace members of the LGBTQIA+ Community, it also highlighted the Conservative Church’s continual failure to do the very thing Jesus called it to do - weep with those who weep, welcome the stranger who has been cast out, stand for love, and flip over tables in the name of social justice.

Hearth Council President, Lauri, and I had the privilege of attending the Kick-Off event for the CommUnity Rainbow Run last Wednesday, and we had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Dr. Earl Mowatt, Vice President of Education for onePulse Foundation. Dr. Mowatt’s passion for equity and diversity led him to create the Faith Council in Orlando to bridge the gap between Conservative religious leaders and the LGBTQIA+ community. As we spoke, Dr. Mowatt asked me what I believe to be the greatest barrier for conservative religious institutions to accept LGBTQIA+ individuals. My response was that these institutions have a couple things in common: a limiting belief based on Biblical inerrancy; a Patriarchal hierarchy with complementarian traditions; and a message that their Church has the right answer, the only answer, and the answer that determines salvation. 

This is in direct juxtaposition with more progressive religious traditions like the ELCA, which welcome and honor questions, doubt, and wrestling with the Divine. These progressive religious traditions tend to also be more open and welcoming to all people, including those rejected from more conservative traditions. I added that unfortunately, the conservative churches tend to have the biggest microphone, the deepest pockets, and therefore the most influence on how Christianity is lived and perceived; and I believe that the reason people flock to these churches is because human beings inherently crave certainty. If this church says it is certain that it has the right answer and the only answer to know God and get to Heaven, people want to rest comfortably in this certainty. It is uncomfortable to deeply wrestle with God and the existential questions God represents. It is uncomfortable to doubt. It is uncomfortable to dialogue openly and maybe have our minds opened to new information that allows us to see that our previous way of thinking was wrong. When I finished, Dr. Mowatt asked a simple, yet incredibly profound, question: 

“But isn’t that faith?”