1.
Conclusion: the Salvation Army – What is the position of the SA on questions of
equality, acceptance and inclusivity of LGBT persons/couples with reference to
our religious practices, church membership
and ordination?
The
story is told of one of the 18th century preacher Jonathan Edwards’
daughters said to have a violent temper. And when a
young man who’d fallen in love with her requested her hand in marriage Edward’s
response was a firm, no! He was denied the request. When the young man sought
an explanation Edwards replied: “She is not worthy of you”! “But,” said the
young man, “isn’t she a Christian”? “Yes she is, but the grace of God can live
with some people with whom no one else can live”
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Over the course of these last several weeks when we looked at
the divisive issues surrounding the LGBT inclusivity debates I wonder if
Edwards’ indictment isn’t in a sense descriptive of some of our attitudes at times.
Sometimes we need to face the brutal honesty that exists between family members
who earnestly love each other but who sometimes expresses blunt disapproval. In our case
it’s an unwillingness to get alongside and accept a different point of view or
interpretation of the Bible. Salvationists in the northern hemisphere reject
those in the south and conversely those in the South just can’t accept and live
with the views and life choice advice of those in the North. And it isn’t only
across borders north and south but also east and west; east coast America to
rural central and the south central states.
Instead of reaching across Salvationist borders and cultures and
learning from our individual experiences we become too easily frustrated and
angered because ‘we know better’. - Love is not easily angered Paul tells us,
and we keep no records. I don’t store up in my memory the rubbish opinions
tossed out by the good ole boy from Hayseed. Not angered and keeping no mental
count? Not much I don’t! I’d give Scrooge a good run in finding and registering
mistakes in a ledger-
Predictably we expected a varied outcome in the debates.
However, any
assumption that there has been a representative posture or a semblance of geographically
balanced posts, discussions, or comments by Salvationist officers, soldiers or
adherents on these questions would be far from correct. The balance has been
largely distorted as comments and articles have come from mostly younger
Christians, all living in the Northern hemisphere with a few baby boomers in
their midst. Some older respondents, new to the LGBT scene along with most of
the rest of us have in their wisdom have been able to recalibrate and adjust
their approach to the heady discussions as the times have changed. They seek to
influence with grace while reflecting a strong commitment to the Scriptures.
They have their preferential position, a strong conservative endorsement of
traditional teaching but willing to listen and share in non-judgmental or
dismissive tones with anyone.
Fair
enough you say, but where then is the imbalance? Well it rests in the fact that SA leaders will
not write a ‘new’ Salvationist position statement that seeks to unilaterally
impose itself on 1,150,000 soldiers in 126 countries is unlikely because it’s an impossibility.
Not only, as some suggest, because of the sheer numbers, different cultures,
languages, education and experience. But because the large majority of
Salvationists garner their guarded opinions and reasoning from places where we
do not; their local provinces, cultures, fundamentalist Bible teaching and
government laws, where homosexuality is considered a sin. We have no large
middle ground Salvationist population that counts for and represents a more
liberal Bible interpretation and support
I
shared in an earlier article that seventy five per cent of the world’s
population, four billion of us, use social networks regularly and it has
overtaken email as the number one activity and the web. Ours (FSAOF) is but one
of 200 million blogs posting nearly 1,000,000 blogs announcement and articles
per day.
Since
the inception of the FSAOF blog six years ago we have posted 1,419 articles and
as many as 15,000 visitors per month have viewed more than 335,000 pages and
left 9,000+ comments. But just how many in our Salvationist fellowships, those
many in fundamental and more conservative communities have taken the time or
indeed have access to our discussions on these divisive issue.
While
we in the Western world, families, communities and religious fellowship
continue our discussions and grow in our understanding of the issues,
approximately 60% of our worldwide fellowship or more than 600,000 soldiers
know little of our leaders’ grappling with the form of a revised positional
statement.
Number of Salvation Army Senior Soldiers World Wide
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1,135,000
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Senior Soldiers”
African Continent- India and Korea
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624,000
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Senior Soldiers:
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Canada
 UKIT
USA
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103,000
Millions
are stuck behind centuries of prejudicial condemnations and blind
discrimination. Some of our more fundamentalist and conservative Christian and
cultural minorities have been "left behind". Computers and the Internet use by Africans
(Salvationists) was carried out in eleven leading
commercial cities in African countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia,
Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Nigeria, Zambia, Madagascar and Angola by Consumer
Insight, a leading research agency in the region.
The most recent, and now 5 year old study established that 74
percent of residents in Nairobi – Kenya have used a computer at least once. The
second and third best in computer literacy are Lagos - Nigeria and Kampala -
Uganda at 69 and 68 percent, respectively. Lusaka - Zambia was ranked last with
32 percent.
This means that 68 percent of Lusaka residents have not used a
computer, compared to only 26 percent of Nairobians. Illiteracy and lack of
ready access to and computer instructions were the key negative factors. The
study established that browsing the internet was the most common use across
countries
Almost all religions practiced across Africa, from Christianity
and Islam to traditional African religions, reject same-sex relationships.
People living in a homosexual relationship or who campaign for the rights of
gays and lesbians may face prison sentences of up to ten years in one country.
In almost all other countries, the law foresees prison sentences for same-sex
couples indulging in sexual relations although such penalties are rarely
imposed.
The negative opinion of homosexuality held by religious groups
is also reflected in the population at large. According to opinion polls, up to
90 percent of the population in certain Southern hemisphere countries consider
homosexuality to be morally unacceptable.
Against this background, the situation of homosexuals in Africa
is unlikely to improve in the foreseeable future. While there can be discussion
about human rights, "if almost all members of society do not agree with a
certain right, then it should no longer exist." According to Amnesty International, South
Africa is so far the only African country in which the rights of homosexuals
are laid down in the constitution.
A Catholic leader said that there is no doubt about this topic.
"The Church can respect human rights. But if human rights conflict with
God's commandments, then a (African) judge will never support them."
Part 2: Are we really expected to sit down with those who represent two
thirds of our total membership and whose position appears entrenched?
Sven Ljungholm, Liverpool
