First 3 Religion Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

First 3 Religion Journal - Essay Example The main questions worried modern religious leaders are s Should "practicing" Christian homosexuals, bisexuals, and transgendered people be allowed to serve as ordained ministers? Should the unions of gay and lesbian couples be recognized as legitimate marriages in the eyes of God? These and other questions rend congregations, denominations, and sometimes even our families. One side asserts that people should be welcomed into churches, into the ministry, and into our understanding of the American family regardless of their sexual orientation; the other side insists that any sexual preference other than heterosexuality is a sin and should be proscribed by all faithful Christians. No apparent solution to these disagreements lies on the horizon (Rudy 54). The presence and social acceptance of homosexuality challenges the concept of a God who is known solely or primarily through gender. By their very existence, gay people, and particularly gay Christians, contest the notion that human be ings are meant to live in nuclear, heterosexual families. As a result of their desire to be faithful to and known by God, conservative Christians today are producing an environment in which theological reassurance, salvation, American exceptionalism, homophobia, and political involvement have become gravely interdependent. The marriage doctrines of the Bible demonstrate that conservatives wholeheartedly support sex in instances that uphold the overarching structure of gendered theology. The vicious animosity directed toward homosexuals, along with other aspects of the family values, keeps women at home and dependent on men and thus guarantees every Christian man, woman, and child a relationship with God. Recognition that the bifurcation is not simply between "flesh" and "spirit" brings into sharp focus how hard conservative sexual ideology and the campaign for family values work to keep women in their place. The current struggle over homosexuality in the church, then, is not only a struggle about the morality of sexual preference; it is a conflict rooted in Christian identity and the nature of God (Rudy 51). The struggle among contemporary Christians over the moral acceptability of homosexuality is directly related to who God is perceived to be and how believers think God relates to us in the world tod ay. While the Christian Right championed and developed an extensive discourse about the value of the family and the sinfulness of homosexuality, mainline Christian denominations failed to issue clear, unambiguous statements on these issues. Even progressive Christians marshaled no counterpart to conservative rhetoric. In part this is due to the fact that the belief that the heterosexual nuclear family was both superior to other configurations and in need of protection was hard to escape. It was advocated not only by religious conservatives, but also by an assortment of scholars, journalists, and cultural critics who asserted the family's superiority on sociological or psychological rather than religious grounds (Rudy 54). Homosexuality violates traditional institution of marriage as a core of the society but religious believers have no right to blame or reject homosexual men. In religious tradition, the family is the source of values necessary for resistance to power and tendencies in the modern world. Another Christian justification of homosexuality rests on the idea that homosexual activity is no less moral than intentionally heterosexual activity; that is, homosexuality is morally equivalent to the use of birth control. 2. One of the nine fruits of Spirits is "Goodness". I suppose that goodness is important for every person because