Open Letter to the Rev. Jerry Falwell

Who do you think you're fooling? by Bishop John Shelby Spong

Dear Jerry:

I know you were pleased to be present at the Republican National Convention,
even though the space provided for you, Pat Robertson and the other members
of the religious right was greatly diminished this year. Clearly someone
recognized that the rhetoric of religious hostility and cultural warfare in
1996 had contributed to the losing candidacy of Bob Dole and was simply not
going to be allowed again. So we saw a kinder, gentler, more inclusive
Republican convention and hence less time for people like you. But, as you
know, there is a lot of dead time in the typical convention and media people
look for a chance to create excitement. So you were not totally forgotten.

When an openly gay Republican congressmen was assigned to speak on world
trade, you were there, ready to be interviewed. As usual most of what you
had to say was about sex and your negativity toward homosexuality was not
hidden by your wan smile or your solemn statements. Your comments were
typical.

"As a Christian, I regard homosexuality as a sin," you said. "It is clearly
condemned in the Bible."

You went on to say that God loves sinners and you even admitted, rather
humbly I thought, that you are yourself numbered among that group. It was a
clever tactic designed to show that Christianity, the Bible and the opinions
of Jerry Falwell were mutually supportive, indeed almost identical. But,
Jerry, you know that rhetoric won't wash. I, too, am a Christian, Jerry, and
I do not regard homosexuality as sin.

You need to educate yourself about homosexuality, if you want to be part of
the larger public debate on this issue. You cling to a definition of
homosexuality that is all but rejected in medical and scientific circles.
You assume that homosexuality is either a mental disease that needs to be
cured or a moral depravity that needs to be judged or converted. That is
nothing but ignorance, Jerry, and ignorance, no matter how sanctified, is
still ignorance.

You also support that array of fraudulent organizations which claim they are
in the business of "curing homosexuals." They are in fact nothing more than
the 2lst century's version of snake-oil peddlers who promise their new
elixir will do miraculous things, which of course it never does. These
organizations have a perfect out. They can always blame the victim who
didn't try hard enough or who did not have sufficient faith. It is a
tiresomely circular argument, as arguments tend to be, when the premise upon
which they are built is false.

Perhaps you haven't noticed, Jerry, that all of these organizations that
"cure" homosexuals are identified with a right wing evangelical mentality.
Surely you don't think that is a coincidence. Yes, they quote an occasional
doctor or scientist to undergird their claims, but you will soon discover
that both the doctor and the scientist are themselves right-wing
evangelicals and none of them has rank in the top medical or scientific
circles.

There is no medical or scientific evidence I know of that will support the
assertion that homosexuality can be "cured" or changed. Please don't trot
out your corroborative data unless you are willing to have it examined by a
recognized panel of experts. I'm not interested in your anecdotal stories
that only prove that when you identify your prejudices with God it is hard
to admit that both you and God are wrong. I think anyone who tries to change
another's sexual orientation is doing nothing less than practicing pastoral
violence based on scientific ignorance.

A century ago, similar religious people thought being left-handed was either
abnormal, a mistake of nature or perverse. So in the name of their lack of
knowledge, these "Christians" tied the left hands of little children behind
their backs and subjected them to both mental torment and even physical
punishment for their "sin." Your past rhetoric about homosexual people,
Jerry, has also encouraged similar kind of pain and violence.

I am grateful you are now rethinking how you present your ideas. This was
evidenced by the statement you issued following your meeting this past year
with a large number of gay and lesbian people organized by Mel White. It was
a step forward! I was disappointed, however, to note that on that same
occasion you cancelled the dinner planned with this group because you were
not willing to eat with them. You used a rather lame excuse to justify this
insult when you suggested, Jerry, as I recall it, that the Bible enjoined
you "from eating with sinners." It was not a loving or even a polite
response.

Since those scriptures that you like to quote when it suits your prejudice
suggest that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," I don't
know how you on that basis could ever eat with anyone. Indeed, Jerry, by
your own admission in the television interview to which I have referred, you
could not even dine alone! Why don't you admit that this flimsy excuse was
to cover your exposed backside with your homosexual -hating political
constituency.

I resent greatly your prefacing your negativity toward homosexual people
with the words "As a Christian." You are surely a Christian, Jerry, I would
never suggest otherwise, but you do not speak for Christianity. You
certainly do not speak for me or for my church.

Perhaps you believe that one who is pro gay cannot be a Christian. That is
certainly the impression you give and would mean that you have dismissed
someone like Archbishop Desmond Tutu from Christianity. Perhaps you have
never met a Christian who was also gay or lesbian. The church has produced
millions of them through the years. They have been popes, cardinals,
archbishops, bishops, priests, monks, sisters and, yes, saintly lay people,
as well as ghost writers for famous evangelists. I could introduce them to
you by the score.

Some have lived their lives in the loneliness of enforced celibacy. Some
have dared to share their lives and their love in a silent and hidden
commitment that is so deep and so faithful, it puts many married couples to
shame. We've all known them. They have been members of your family and mine.
In a less sophisticated time we referred to them as permanent bachelors and
old maids.

I know some homosexual persons who have taught Sunday school and dealt with
their imposed isolation by shaping in beautiful ways the character of the
children of their heterosexual friends. Please don't tell me these children
were at risk, as if molesting children were a homosexual proclivity. In
fact, studies show child molesters are overwhelmingly heterosexual and yet
no school board and no church that I know of has ever sought to prohibit
heterosexuals from teaching in public or in Sunday school because of that
fear. So speak for yourself, Jerry, and let other Christians do likewise.

"The Bible clearly teaches" is another of your favorite phrases. I do wish
you would study a bit of church history as well as read the Bible more
carefully. Surely you recognize by now that Galileo was right and the Bible
was wrong about whether the sun rotated around the earth. The Bible was also
used to support the Divine Right of kings against the Magna Carta. It was
wrong there as well. The Bible was quoted to justify slavery, to undergird
segregation and apartheid, and to condemn Charles Darwin. Who supports that
"clear biblical teaching" today? Through the centuries the Bible has also
been quoted to keep women from owning property, going to universities,
voting, and even from being ordained.

The majority of the Christians of the world are moving way from these ideas
today, led by women who are deeply Christian. They will not long tolerate
this lingering patriarchal chauvinism. The Southern Baptist Church, with
which you are loosely affiliated, has now decided that the "clear teaching
of the Bible" requires wifely obedience. Have you tried that on your wife,
Jerry? Or better still, try it on my four daughters and see how it plays in
their generation. This same Southern Baptist Church has now voted to
preclude women from serving in senior pastor positions. Women can serve our
nation as senators, attorneys general, secretary of state and as members of
the Supreme Court. They can even be the CEO of Hewlett Packard and Toys R
Us, but they cannot be senior pastors in the Southern Baptist Church because
the Bible precludes it? Who are you fooling, Jerry? That use of the sacred
text will not endure, nor should it.

Perhaps you have forgotten that I've known you for a long time. I lived in
Lynchburg, VA., from 1965-69 and you were even then quoting the Bible to
oppose integration of the public schools, building your own segregation
academy and praising the apartheid government of South Africa as a bulwark
against Communism. You even identified the African National Congress as a
Communist front organization and its leader, Nelson Mandela, as a Communist
sympathizer. Those opinions look off the wall today and so does your claim
to condemn homosexual people on the basis of clear biblical teaching.

The Bible says many things, Jerry, but above all it has introduced me to the
Jesus that you and I both call "Lord." The Jesus that I meet in scripture,
however, never blessed the status quo or sought to suppress change. He
rather called his disciples to step beyond their security systems into a
barrier-free humanity. He reached out to all of those who were made outcasts
by the prevailing religious norms of his day. Those of us who seek to be his
disciples must do no less in our day.

My study has convinced me that homosexuality is a given part of the broad
spectrum of humanity, so I, as a Christian, could never equate it with sin
as you so glibly do.

Before you go on the offensive to cite the destructive behavior that you
attribute to homosexual people, Jerry, let me say that there is certainly
some homosexual behavior that is sinful. But maybe you haven't noticed that
there is also some heterosexual behavior that is sinful. Pimping and
prostitution are primarily heterosexual activities. I regard any sexual
activity that is promiscuous or predatory, forced or uninvited to be evil or
sinful to use your words. It matters not to me whether it is the behavior of
heterosexuals or homosexuals. It is still destructive behavior and
Christians must be clear about that.

But I also regard that sexual activity which expresses love, which is lived
out in a monogamous commitment, which is part of a relationship of trust and
dedication, which does not violate one's word given to another person and
which issues in life, to be blessed by its own fruits and thus to be
ultimately holy. I believe that the benefits and sanctity of marriage must
be extended by both church and society to faithful homosexual partnerships
and the sooner the better. Not to do so is to continue the pattern of a
killing prejudice based upon uninformed ignorance.

I, like you Jerry, was raised in a Southern fundamentalist church. I got
over it and I hope you can, too. There is so much more to Christianity than
what I found in that tradition. You need to experience that, Jerry, for in
the expression of your narrow and uninformed opinions articulated so
frequently in the public arena, you are in danger of becoming an
embarrassment to the cause of Christ. Until we meet again, I am your fellow
Christian.

John Shelby Spong