Sunday, March 11, 2001
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Gay Christians face tough choices
Churches deal with question
in different ways
By Loretta Fulton
Reporter-News Staff Writer
The church James Simmons was seeking to
serve as pastor last December when he was recognized as Barre
Cox was much like the churches the man had known all his life.
When he disappeared en route from Lubbock
to Abilene in July 1984, Wesley Barrett “Barre” Cox
was a Church of Christ family minister. When he appeared in Dallas
as James Simmons, he was a graduate of a Southern Baptist seminary
in California where he was also employed as housing director.
The community church in Dallas that Simmons
wanted to serve professes to believe in the deity of Jesus Christ,
his virgin birth, his resurrection and his eternal existence as
the only son of God.
Those beliefs echo the ones espoused by
the conservative evangelical churches Cox grew up with.
But something is different about White Rock
Community Church.
It mainly ministers to gays and lesbians,
a segment of society often shunned by conservative churches and
at the center of a heated debate among three of the nation’s
mainstream denominations considered to be more liberal —
the United Methodist, Presbyterian (USA) and Episcopal churches.
Of all the questions surrounding Cox’s
mysterious disappearance and claims of amnesia, the most puzzling
may be why, after acknowledging that he is a celibate homosexual,
he continued to be drawn to a conservative Christian theology
rather than choosing a more liberal church or shunning Christianity
altogether.
A spokesman at the church declined comment
and said Cox was unavailable to speak to a reporter.
A local woman who knew Cox when they were
younger thinks she knows why. Now a deacon at Exodus Metropolitan
Community Church, a church that ministers to gays and lesbians,
Cindi Love grew up in the Church of Christ. She understands why
Cox would not want to stray from his conservative roots.
“Everything else feels like a compromise,”
Love said. “I bet he feels like he wouldn’t be true
to his calling” in a more liberal church.
Clinging to roots
At the time of his disappearance, Cox was
traveling from Lubbock to San Antonio, where his wife and baby
daughter awaited him. He planned to stop in Abilene to visit friends
he and his wife had made while both worked at Abilene Christian
University.
Instead, he disappeared on a lonely stretch
of road in Jones County. His ransacked car was found abandoned.
Cox wasn’t seen again until December
2000, when a man in the congregation at White Rock Community Church
recognized him. Cox, who was an employee and graduate of Golden
Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in California, was auditioning
to become minister at White Rock.
After he was recognized, Cox, now known
as James Simmons, claimed to have suffered amnesia for 16 years.
He said all he recalled was waking up in a Memphis hospital and
being told he was found beaten and left in a car trunk.
Doubts have arisen about Cox’s claim
of amnesia, and the White Rock church recently failed to give
him the two-thirds vote of confidence he said he needed to remain
as pastor.
Churches such as White Rock that minister
specifically to gays and lesbians are growing, particularly in
metropolitan areas, said Love, of Abilene’s Exodus Metropolitan
Community Church. But most homosexuals choose another path.
“The majority still go to their own
church of origin or they leave altogether,” Love said.
For Love, the decision to leave the Church
of Christ was painful. She’s a fourth-generation member of
the church and a graduate of ACU, one of the denomination’s
flagship universities. Her great-grandfather was a Church of Christ
minister who established tabernacle churches.
She remembers learning the Bible in Sunday
school and being surrounded by people who loved her.
“I have hundreds of those memories,
of people who cared deeply about my soul,” Love said. “When
you have that experience as a young child, it’s strong.”
But a time came when Love decided she could
no longer hide her sexuality, and she knew she wouldn’t be
comfortable in her home church. Her partner was Baptist and both
had attended First Baptist Church on occasion. They were warmly
accepted by friends at the church who knew them as a couple.
“They were great, but it’s not
the same as being in a place where you can function with total
integrity in a relationship,” Love said.
Religion of fear
In reality, gays and lesbians would have
a hard time finding a mainstream church in the United States where
they could comfortably express their sexuality. The United Methodist,
Episcopal and Presbyterian (USA) churches have been struggling
for several years over the issue of ordaining openly gay people
and blessing same-sex unions.
Currently, the Presbyterian Church’s
regional presbyteries across the country are voting on an outright
ban on blessings of same-sex unions. Whatever the outcome of the
vote, an Austin Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Jim Rigby, fears
the worst.
“Unless we start talking, we’ll
have a split,” Rigby said, and members of other denominations
struggling with homosexual issues have the same concern.
Rigby, pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian
Church, said he believes the church is really split into two denominations
under one roof. One group’s religion is based on what Jesus
taught and did, including forgiveness and love of neighbor. The
other practices a “religion about Jesus” that believes
in a set of rules and an angry God, he said.
He has doubts about whether the two can
reunite.
“I don’t know how you can mix
a religion of love with a religion of fear,” he said.
Rigby noted that homosexuality is not a
historic concern in the church and became a hot-button issue only
when gender roles began to change. As women gained more power
and men began losing some of the control they had, some felt threatened,
he said. Suddenly issues involving gender, such as abortion and
homosexuality, became religious issues.
Rigby said most people who despise and fear
homosexuals really have inner struggles.
“Homophobia is you being afraid someone
will think you’re gay,” he said. “That is the demon
we’re really dealing with.”
Bolstered by the Bible
Fundamentalists disagree. They base their
condemnation of homosexuality on Holy Scripture. Both the Old
Testament and New Testament provide ample ammunition, as an official
with the Southern Baptist Convention pointed out.
“Scripture teaches that homosexual
behavior is sinful,” said Bill Merrell, a vice president
with the SBC in Nashville, Tenn.
The denomination’s bylaws explicitly
state that churches can be kicked out of the fold if they “affirm,
approve or endorse homosexuality,” Merrell said, and added
that that has happened.
Merrell cited the biblical books of Leviticus
and Romans as among those that condemn homosexual behavior. Homosexuality
is called an “abomination” in Leviticus and “against
nature” in Romans.
Others note that Jesus was not among those
who condemned homosexual behavior. In fact, the Bible does not
record any statement on the subject made by Jesus. But Merrell
said that is irrelevant because Baptists believe every word of
the Bible comes from God, no matter whom it’s attributed
to.
“The word of God, whether it came through
Paul or Jesus or Isaiah, is all to be taken as the word of God,”
he said.
But not all churches considered conservative
take such a harsh stance on homosexuality.
The Church of Christ does not have a specific
statement on homosexuality, said Dwight Robarts, a Bible professor
at ACU and until recently minister at Hillcrest Church of Christ.
“You’ll find churches that are
just about everywhere” on the issue, he said.
In some Churches of Christ, homosexuality
is not discussed, he said, while in others it is considered sinful.
Still others are active in ministering to homosexuals. Typically,
though, members of the Church of Christ would deem homosexual
behavior contrary to God’s will, but not a major issue.
“If Hillcrest is a typical Church of
Christ, we’re not willing to say it’s OK but we’re
willing to accept people who have that struggle,” Robarts
said.
He thinks homosexuality is such a divisive
issue because most heterosexuals can’t understand it. At
one time divorce was taboo in the church, but most people have
moved beyond that, he said. People can understand the irreconcilable
disagreements and tensions that arise in marriage, Robarts said,
but they can’t imagine being homosexual.
“It just seems bizarre” to some
people, he said.
For the past 18 months, Highland Church
of Christ has had a support group for homosexual men that provides
a safe place for discussion, said minister Mike Cope. Although
Cope believes the Bible labels homosexuality a sin, he said the
church shouldn’t become consumed by it.
“Before leading a crusade against homosexuality,
it should make sure it is also speaking against greed, social
injustice, divorce, materialism, bitterness and sexism,”
he said.
Cope said Christians sometimes tend to become
passionate about issues that cost them little, such as railing
against homosexuality in a conservative city.
“A bolder, more costly move would be
to get close to people who are tortured by their sexual identity
— to listen to them and to love them,” he said.
No one left out
Cindi Love is comfortable with her decision
to leave the church where she was baptized and nurtured as a child
to find a place in a denomination that is affirming of who she
is. The theology of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community
Churches is mainstream Christian, with basics beliefs about Jesus
and his resurrection.
But even with a similar theology, Love still
misses what she left behind. She loved the a cappella music the
Church of Christ is noted for, and she misses the goodness of
the church that she remembers.
“I think I got such a wonderful gift
from the church and such a wonderful feeling of acceptance by
Christ,” she said.
For that reason, leaving the church altogether
was never an option for her. At Exodus Metropolitan Community
Church, she found an evangelical Protestant church with a theology
much like what she had known. The service of Holy Communion is
held each Sunday, just like in the Church of Christ, and traditional
as well as praise and worship hymns are sung.
The church places a strong emphasis on social
justice and teaches that everyone is accepted by Christ, Love
said.
“A central theme is that no one is
left out at the table of grace,” she said.
While Love has found peace and happiness
in a Metropolitan Community Church, her prayer is that someday
such a church won’t be necessary.
“I’m sad there is a need for MCC,”
she said.
Contact religion writer Loretta Fulton
at 676-6778 or fultonl@abinews.com
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Copyright ©2001,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps. Publications
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