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| NOT MR. ARE VERAAS |
04 Dec 2013
A member of the Salvation Army in Norway has
been barred from becoming a secretary in the organisation because he is gay.
Mr. Are Veraas has been a member of the
Christian charity-church since he was 19, and was overjoyed when he was asked
last month to act as a secretary to the (local) congregation .
After he told the Salvation Army's local
leadership that he was in a relationship with another man, however, he found
the offer suddenly withdrawn.
"To not be true to myself, or to call my
boyfriend just 'a friend' so that I'm worthy to be appointed secretary, is just
not good enough," Veraas told Norway's TV2 channel.
He said that he had felt completely accepted by
the Salvation Army when he first came out as a gay man after his marriage broke
up eleven years ago, and never realised that the group's leaders believed he
did not have an active sexual life.
"It was mentioned that they thought I was
celibate, because I was not living with my wife anymore," he said.
Andrew Hannevik, spokesman for the organisation
in Norway, said that the group's local leadership was simply following the
guidelines set by the global organisation.
"Gay people in a (sexual) relationship with others
are not permitted to be soldiers or officers in the Salvation Army," he
said. "It's based on the fact that the Salvation Army is a Christian
church and our understanding of The Bible."
A new (Norwegian) law effective Jan 2014 will not alter the Salvation Army’s position’.
Are Vera thinks, ‘it's discrimination that he did
not get the appointment in the Army because he is gay and has a boyfriend ‘.
On 1
January, the new anti-discrimination laws comes into effect, but (private) communities- are still
protected .
By Synnøve Gjerstad , Kadafi Zaman
and Kjersti Johannessen
--------------------------
The leader of the country’s association for
lesbians and gays , Bård Nylund , is among those who are upset about the
history of Are Vera .
- I never cease to be amazed at the Salvation
Army and many other religious communities still fail to treat people with
dignity and in an equal manner , he said to TV 2
New law does not help Are
1 January will be the new Equality Act introduced in Norway . Nylund said Tuesday that he hopes that it will then be difficult for communities to discriminate.
However, according to the Ministry of Children ,
Equality and Social Inclusion Act will not contribute to big changes for Are Vera,
or others who feel discriminated against by religious communities.
In a statement to TV 2 Wednesday said the
ministry that they do not wish to comment on individual cases , and that the
Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud ( LDO ) that enforces
anti-discrimination legislation and processes complaints of discrimination .
Generally speaking, states BLD that there are
changes in the new discrimination laws or working law when it comes to faith (based
groups).
- New discrimination laws were passed by
Parliament before the summer and comes into force on 1 January 2014. Whether or
not this specific case is contrary to the prohibition against discrimination in
legislation - LDO says it may need to consider in an email to TV 2
Equality and Anti-Discrimination Sunniva Ørstavik
told TV 2 that it basically is a shame that people are excluded important
positions in our society because of their sexual orientation.
- Is this illegal?
- No, probably this is in line with current legislation
. It is such that it does not protect you against discrimination based on
sexual orientation outside employment and housing . In this case we are talking
about a position in a religious community .
Should it include all?
Østavik says Salvation Army thus probably has the law on his side.
12 comments:
Doesn't say much for the Krisiansund SA's corps officer's (pastor) ability to know his congregation and discern their suitability to hold a local office. And what does it say about poor Are believing he suddenly qualified; did the SA change its proviso?
Sweden
Good on TSA for upholding Biblical principles. Why would the corps officer know this man and his sexual preference particularly, just because he has a same sex friend? Many people have friends of the same sex without going to bed with them. Most corps leaders only see their 'flock' on Sundays for an hour or two. They have a mountain of admin stuff to occupy them during the week, apparently, and spiritual nurture with other officers - hardly any time for the needs of their members. Do officers check on the sexual practices of all their congregation? I hardly think so.
This article sheds light on the rather common opinion (outside the Army) that gays are discriminated against in/by the Army.
The Army's widespread practice of non-discrimination regarding social services does NOT overcome this other widespread reality of blatant discrimination against gay members/leaders.
This is a recurring problem & discussion in SA circles.
The many faithful Christians are distancing themselves from the Army for this very reason.
Active, USA Central
"Why would the corps officer know this man and his sexual preference particularly, just because he has a same sex friend?"
Perhaps through a home visit? 11 years living together?
I have many same sex friends but we don't share a home and private moments in it.
Ever so pleased you are reading these articles.
I'm curious as to whether or not there's gay marriage in Norway? Evangelical churches such as the Army will always have an argument for fidelity in marriage and chastity before but once gay marriage is the law of the land, any rational argument ends as long as the soldier gets married to his boyfriend.
I know it's far from a perfect analogy but for decades there was a prohibition in the Articles of War against Salvationists going to the movies, except of course for whenever Evangeline Booth had the opportunity to be seen in one (e.g. "Fires of Faith" 1919) or a newsreel, usually doing that Queen of England thing with her hands. lol!
However, once television came out, one had to be a total dunce not to realize that if it was O.K. to wait and watch a movie 5 years later on the boob tube, why would it be some big horrible sin to go see it at the cinema when it first came out?
Anyway, that's my take on it. If Are (?) or whatever his name is, can get married to his partner, he should do so and then he'll at least have a leg to stand on.
I also think it's sad that once again the international gay community is probably going to add this story to its arsenal of "proof" that TSA hates gays---and it will probably then cut into fundraising efforts causing a decrease in the number of marginalized people the Army will be able to help each year throughout the world.
Daryl Lach
USA Central
No-one has ever suggested that we ignore biblical teaching. In fact, what the 'pros' are crying out for is a deeper re-engagement with Scripture, because when we do so, we find that there is NO biblical teaching against homosexuality, and we find that the 'antis' are choosing how they interpret Scripture in regard to what is 'fulfilled' and so no longer relevant to us and can be ignored.
No, we are calling for a very much deeper re-engagement with Scripture - nothing less.
Yours,
Graeme Randall
Former Australian East in London
How much longer us this LGBT series going to continue? It is getting very old very fast.
Dear: "How much longer is this LGBT series going to continue? It is getting very old very fast."
Here's a thought, with respect, ours is but one of 200 million blogs posting nearly 1,000,000 blog articles per day. May we recommend that you visit a few hundred of those - come back to ours around mid-February. However, if the number of visitors is still running in the several thousands per month, we may run the series until others speak out sharing your sentiment.
The articles may be fresh, but the comments are desperately the same. How can they be different? There are 'pro' comments and there are 'antis'. I think people (like myself) are visiting in the hope of finding a different topic. Mid February? Oh dear. There IS life outside of the LGBT issue. Let's have some relief from it.
Here, here Graeme! Amen!
If people are really concerned about biblical teaching they should be more worried about doing justice and what's really behind their own sinful homophobia, rather than taking six passages out of the Bible that have nothing to do with each other, or our modern day understanding of the science, etc. behind homosexuality, in order to feed and maintain a culturally ingrained prejudice.
As I mentioned once before on this site, look up on the internet Baptist clergyman Dr. Thornton (?) Stringfellow (I've momentarily forgotten his first name but I think it was Thornton), who between 1841 until the end of the American Civil War was the # 1 biblical apologist for slavery being a God ordained institution---and a benevolent one at that!
Read it and weep because one day in the not too distant future the "antis" are going to look just like him to future generations of Xians, as he does to us today!
Unfortunately for TSA, included in that number, sadly, will be a chunk of the Army's leadership of today, along with Salvationist commenters who've shared their worn out, James Dobson inspired, 1950s time warp, views about the subject on sites such as this.
Daryl Lach
USA Central
"You Must Go Home By the Way Of the Cross, To Stand With Jesus In the Morning!"
Am I understanding this correctly:
• SA soldier was being considered for a local leadership position of Corps Secretary?
• He is advised (by his CO?) that he’s not appropriate for the role because he’s in an active sexual relationship with another man?
• He goes to the TV station to tell them?
Is that how it played out?
Don't get me wrong; I consider myself an LGBT ally ( least someone who is trying to be) - and confess to being pretty progressive in my view as a Salvationist.
However, if every Soldier who had a grievance, complaint or issue (justified or not) with the Army went to the TV stations, we'd have a higher profile than Barack Obama!
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