How overturning Roe threatens LGBTQ+ rights — faith leaders need to defend them | The Hill
By: Rev. Serene Jones and Rev. Fred Davie (The Hill)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
by Rev. Serene Jones and Rev. Fred Davie, opinion contributors - 05/16/22 5:00 PM ET
The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill
Greg Nash
The Supreme Court's apparent readiness to overturn the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision is being rightly seen as an assault on women's reproductive rights and control over their own bodies. But make no mistake: the conservative assault on progressive values won't stop with abortion — and same-sex marriage and other LGBTQ+ rights could be the next to fall.
The depressing reality isn't simply that millions of LGBTQ+ Americans could soon lose the right to marry the person of their choice and be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve. Instead, we also need to focus on the fact that many of the same far-right Christian leaders who have been leading the crusade against abortion rights are now threatening the basic freedoms of yet another group of Americans.
As with abortion, these faith leaders are using a fundamentally twisted interpretation of the Bible to condemn LGBTQ+ people as sinful and work to undermine the protections that community has gained in recent years, most notably the right to same-sex marriage guaranteed by the Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell decision.
As ministers and heads of a seminary that is training the next generation of progressive faith leaders, we are outraged by this blasphemous use of the Bible as a tool of hatred and division, and not as one of unity and love. And we know it is up to faith leaders from all major religious traditions — both in the U.S. and abroad — to fight against those twisting the word of God to justify bigotry, hatred and discrimination.
These reactionary faith leaders aren't simply going against some of the Bible's most fundamental precepts; they are also out of step with the vast majority of religious Americans. A March 2022 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute found that religious communities overwhelmingly support nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people — and that the support increased during the Trump years. The figures are staggering: 83 percent of Hispanic Catholics back those protections, along with 82 percent of white mainline Protestants, 80 percent of white Catholics (80 percent), 85 percent of Jewish Americans, 84 percent of Mormons, 87 percent of Buddhists, and 75 percent of Muslims. The poll that large majorities of those religious groups also support gay marriage.
Our nation prides itself on freedom and tolerance, but misguided and unjust policies that outright target the LGBTQ+ community are growing far more common. In Texas, parents of trans youth can now be investigated by state child services authorities for letting their children medically transition. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis and his Republican-dominated legislature passed a law opponents dubbed as the "Don't Say Gay Bill" that would ban classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through grade 3. Similar bills have popped up in legislatures across the country, and more than a dozen states have proposed their own versions of Florida's bill.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, hate crimes motivated by biases against trans and gender-nonconforming people in 2021 surged by almost 30 percent, compared to the previous year. Even worse, 2021 was officially the deadliest year on record for transgender people, according to the Human Rights Campaign, with murders reaching their highest numbers since the organization began recording fatal violence in 2013.
As theologians, what troubles us most is that these hate crimes and anti-LGBTQ+ policies aren't simply being advanced by opportunistic politicians and outright bigots. They are instead being fueled by vocal support from far-right leaders across the United States. For example, earlier this year, evangelical pastor Franklin Graham bashed corporations, such as Disney, who opposed the DeSantis bill, stating that "LGBTQ activists [were] using corporations to force their agenda on the public."
Right-wing religious leaders profess that the Bible supports these acts of hatred and division, but they ignore the lesson core to all of the major faiths: love a fellow human as you'd love yourself. And as Hebrews 12:14 notes, "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord."
Faith leaders have a moral obligation to spread this message. Faith leaders should be at the forefront of efforts to publicly protest these abominable laws and rally their congregants to oppose them. They should provide shelter and financial support to those who fled their own states to find places where they can medically transition in safety. And they should encourage members of their communities to donate to the groups challenging these hateful policies in court.
Here's the bottom line, and we want to say it as clearly and bluntly as we can: God loves LGBTQ+ people and demands respect for their dignity and humanity. It's up to faith leaders of conscience to combat the far-right extremists saying otherwise.
Rev. Serene Jones, Ph.D., M.Div., is president of Union Theological Seminary, a globally recognized graduate school of religion devoted to putting faith into practice for the common good.
Rev. Fred Davie is senior strategic adviser to the President at Union Theological Seminary.
Jones and Davie have helped launch the "Elders for Equity & Inclusion" initiative, which aims to form a network of well-known faith leaders to with government and promote policies that support LGBTQ+ rights.
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Finally a series of articles from the Religious 'left' to errand brothers and sisters in the Religious 'right'! About time, in my strong opinion!
Would it even be good politics for the GOP to come after gay rights?
I know more than a couple of gay people who are quite conservative except when it comes to gay rights.
First they came for uteruses, but I did not care because I do not have a uterus. Then they came for gay marriage, etc…
Eventually their enemies list will be comprised of 80 percent of the electorate.
There is something unfathomable about boys and men who oppress/repress girls and women. And girls and women are called, weaker, why again?
Why? Why do people bully others so they can take their stuff or prevent them from getting what is rightfully theirs?
But, women have been and are the human lifegivers in this world. It is a unique position they (alone) occupy. Why do any man think it is his prerogative to control the womb? Why do females, especially women, permit it. Don't get me wrong, males, especially men should have a voice in the activities of giving life, but to takeover the entirety of the process? Even propose penalties for 'failure to produce'? It's antiquated thinking and processing.
Because we have had civilization and pre-civilization predicated upon violence for thousands of years?
Isn't violence OVER-RATED? What is wrong with mankind that it can't get clear on/of violence and base-level (immature) behaviors? What is wrong with. . . some of us?
Sometimes I need to stop worrying about what is wrong with other people and just work on what is right/wrong with me and what I could be doing better.
There is a dark cloud gathering right now over the world and over America. We are going to need each other to be our best selves.
Who is not being there 'best self' here?! Who is 'messing' around or asking MAGA to alter are find a path of "righteousness" for all of the diverse peoples assembled here calling this place-home? Think about it. "MAGA" is old-school conservatism. That is, it is not investing its energy into progress, but is looking to drive this nation backwards into a cocoon of white-SELF dominion.
Am I really supposed to accept that all 'America' ever shall be is home for white "supreme" authority? What are you saying to me?!
It is one thing to lecture about the rights and wrongs which lead to betterment all-around, it is another thing to tell right and wrong to take a seat in the back and let passions return them to a by-gone era (of over 200 plus years) for which this nation supposedly felt so strongly that it apologized to varying groups about what it wrought!
Are you talking about you and me, Newstalkers or the entire USA?
Who do you see as needing to be "our best selves" right now. And do you see any group or political party not being its best participation in democracy?
What is Christian nationalism and how the "h" is this nation stumbling backwards into it yet again?
Yeah, the bible is not a good source for claiming peace. Especially when it comes to abortion
Hosea 9:11-16 “Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer. Give them, 0 Lord: what wilt thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. . .Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.” Clearly Hosea desires that the people of Ephraim can no longer have children. God of course obeys by making all their unborn children miscarry.
Is not terminating a pregnancy unnaturally “abortion”?
Numbers 5:11-21 The description of a bizarre, brutal and abusive ritual to be performed on a wife SUSPECTED of adultery. This is considered to be an induced abortion to rid a woman of another man’s child.
Numbers 31:17 (Moses) “Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every women that hath known man by lying with him.” In other words: women that might be pregnant, which clearly is abortion for the fetus.
Hosea 13:16 God promises to dash to pieces the infants of Samaria and the “their women with child shall be ripped up”. Once again this god kills the unborn, including their pregnant mothers.
2 Kings 15:16 God allows the pregnant women of Tappuah (aka Tiphsah) to be “ripped open”. And the Christians have the audacity to say god is pro-life. How and the hell is it that Christians can read passages where God allows pregnant women to be murdered, yet still claim abortion is wrong?
God is the Provider of life and the Taker (Away) of life. Other than that, you will have to ask a(ny) prolifer about claims of abortion as wrong.