Spirit of a Liberal

Last week, former ELCA presiding bishop Herb Chilstrom asked questions of church leaders opposed to the gay friendly policies of the ELCA.  Although the former bishop has taken much abuse for his comments, no critics have offered a response to the question that lingers.

What will you say to your sons and daughters, sisters and brothers and others in your churches when they tell you they are homosexual?

Let me expand the question to include the youth of your community.  What influence and effect do your church’s policies have on the gay youth in your community?  Do you add to their angst or is your church a sanctuary?

Here in Minnesota, the question has become critical with three gay teen suicides in the last year in a single school district.  Today, I received an email about the crisis in gay teen suicides, which I reprint below in its entirety.

One suicide is one too many.

But three suicides in one year, within one school district, all by students who are gay or lesbian?  That’s nothing short of an epidemic, and it’s the problem currently facing Minnesota’s Anoka-Hennepin school district.

The most recent incident occurred in July, when a 15-year-old student took his own life. A concert cello player in his school’s orchestra, the student was incessantly bullied because of his sexual orientation.

“I’m not asking you to accept this as a lifestyle for you,” his grieving mother recently said in testimony before the Anoka-Hennepin school board. “I’m only asking that you please make the school safe for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students still alive and in this district today.”

Statistics underscore the danger to LGBT students. Nationwide, gay youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual classmates, in large part because of toxic environments where anti-gay bullying can thrive. Nearly 90% of gay students have experienced harassment in school, and almost two-thirds say they feel unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Yet in the Anoka-Hennepin school district, a “neutrality” policy has tied the hands of school administrators and teachers to combat homophobia. This policy was put in place due to the influence of anti-gay groups such as the Parents Action League, which believes homosexuality is a behavior that can be cured, and it requires teachers and school officials to remain silent about subjects pertaining to sexual orientation.
Because of this anti-gay influence, the school board turned down a request by Minnesota’s largest gay rights organization to conduct a district-wide anti-bullying program. And it prevented the district from taking action against two teachers who harassed a student believed to be gay until an investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights intervened and punished the teachers.

Stopping the harassment of people based on their sexual orientation shouldn’t be a liberal or conservative issue. It’s a humanitarian issue, and can literally be a matter of life and death.

The only way to fight the suicide trend in the Anoka-Hennepin school district is by changing the climate in the district. Call on the Anoka-Hennepin school board to stop ignoring the problem and end the policy that prevents school officials from effectively dealing with anti-gay bullying.

Suicide doesn’t occur in a vacuum. As we commemorate National Suicide Prevention Week this week, let us remember that we all have influence over the environment in which harassment thrives. If we sit idly by and do nothing, we’re part of the problem.

Our churches are a significant component of that environment.  What message does your church convey to the youth in your community?  Amidst all the negative and esteem shattering messages emanating from too many churches, the ELCA should be a beacon of inclusivity and hope, bearers of good news and not of judgment.  Our ELCA congregations should be in the forefront of creating a safe environment in our schools and communities, and our church leaders should be leading advocates for the bullied and bruised.  If we fail in these responsibilities, we are, indeed, part of the problem.

I’ve taken a little abuse from time to time in the conservative blogosphere over posts on this blog, but the volume got amped up this weekend over my Wisdom from Herb Chilstrom article.

The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau is a pan-Lutheran organization with members from both the ELCA and the Missouri Synod (LCMS).  It sponsors the Lutheran Forum and the ALPB Forum online, which is not a blog but a bulletin board forum.  Those who register can comment on posts or even initiate a thread, especially under the “Your Turn” category.  I don’t spend a lot of time there, but I do occasionally catch a link into my own blog, and I follow it back only to learn how poorly regarded I am by the ALPB folks. 

Here’s a clue as to the general attitude of ALPB contributors:  An entry entitled “Liturgical boundaries, the role of women” posted yesterday has already received 544 replies and 6,323 views, but an entry entitled “Bragging about an ELCA Church” posted a few days ago has not received a single response, and only 216 folks bothered to read it.

In any case, seems I touched a nerve with my post about Herb Chilstrom’s three questions to those who have departed the ELCA, but certainly not as much as the vitriol directed against Herb himself.  For instance, several (including one of three ALPB administrators, Richard Johnson) thought it great sport to joke about Herb’s present position as Director of the Linnaeus Arboretum at Gustavus Adolphus College coupled with Herb’s article comment about being relieved.  Johnson’s snarky comment, befitting a Jr High School boy’s toilet humor, was:

Too bad. I’ve always enjoyed that arboretum. He’ll likely end up killing the trees. But he’ll be relieved; fewer to tend to.

Most commenters twisted Bishop Chilstrom’s closing statement.  Herb said he was saddened by the departures but also relieved that those remaining could now get on with the mission of the church.  Many commenters overlooked the first part of his statement while indicting the latter, including the use of potty humor masquerading as rational discourse.  How clever! 

Did any actually attempt to answer Bishop Chilstrom’s three questions?  Not really. 

First, what is it about sex that pushed you over the edge?

Second, why are you organizing new churches?

Third, what will you say to your sons and daughters, sisters and brothers and others in your churches when they tell you they are homosexual?

In particular, the silence in response to his third question spoke eloquent testimony.  Ministering to the gays in our midst is not that important to them. 

After a week’s worth of Chilstrom bashing, someone identified as “Bergs” brought up my blog yesterday.  Bergs has a byline on the ALPB forum, battle for truth, justice & the American way, which is a direct quote from the 50’s Superman TV show.  Hmmm.  One wonders if Bergs can leap tall buildings in a single bound. 

Thanks to Bergs’ link to my blog, my article and my psychological shortcomings and even my wretched novel became the grist for ALPB for the next few pages of comments.

the blogist is into power and control.

Said one, and another added,

by [his] own theory, [he is a member] of the “privileged class” …  a convenient diversion. It helps the blogger to not deal with a stark reality: His views are not universally accepted and acclaimed as right.

It’s all true.  I seek a power base as an alternate lay delegate to the next Church Wide Assembly, and my views are definitely not accepted by those who regularly follow the ALPB forum.

A Pastor Charlton reminded the others that I was the author of a novel, but I didn’t receive the recognition for the brilliance I thought I deserved.  That’s true, too.  Awhile ago, a friend joked that the best publicity the novel could receive would be criticism from an esteemed conservative such as Charles Dobson of Focus on the Family fame.  Ah, pastor Charlton, if only you were someone of such import; nevertheless, I would be pleased to have you do a book review—please order your copy here and then you can make informed comments about the novel after you read it.

The same Pastor Charlton also suggested that Bishop Chilstrom and I each derived our foundational ideology from Karl Marx.

Another openly wondered whether my criticisms of CORE, LCMC, and WordAlone were really self-projections.  Charlton again chimed in, suggesting that I have “died to my whiteness”, and I am therefore an honorary person of color.  I guess he could say, I’ve “died to my straightness”, and I’m therefore an honorary gay.

The blog roll of Otagosh of New Zealand includes a special category, Blogs I love to hate, consisting of two bloggers, including the pompous Paul McCain of the LCMS who loves to trash the ELCA, as well as any vestiges of moderation in his own denomination.  He is the Rush Limbaugh of Lutherandom.  McCain wades into the Chilstrom thread with the following piece of brilliance, although he refers to current Bishop Hanson and not retired Bishop Chilstrom (blowhards never miss an opportunity to say their piece even if it is irrelevant to the discussion at hand):

the pious clap-trap he continues to mouth as front-man for the left-wing, liberal, homosexual and feminist agendas that have taken control of the ELCA and the other large state churches in Europe.

Lest I give the impression that everyone over at ALPB Forum is a boogeyman, Pastor Charles Austin had the last word (as I write this on Monday evening—I’m sure there will be plenty more venom to come).  As the lone voice crying in the wilderness, Pastor Austin had earlier defended Bishop Chilstrom and me, and he wrapped up the thread with this response to McCain.

keep on predicting and praying for an apocalypse in international Lutheran relations, for doom and gloom is the coin of your realm and you obviously seek riches.
Some of us have greater hopes for partnership in the Gospel and greater trust in the fellowship of believers granted not by your permission or with your approval, but by the Holy Spirit.

Although McCain may be the most outspoken and outrageous of the naysayers, why is it that some persist in cheerleading the troubles of the ELCA?  Pastor Austin’s initial response to the thread raises the best question:

So those who disagree with the ELCA can call our leaders liars and political operatives, accuse them of abandoning the Bible, and worse; but a relatively mild editorial such as the one in question gets people upset?

I don’t get it.

Marriage is an institution that strengthens and stabilizes society. It is an institution that has the capacity to bring profound joy and happiness to people and it is a matter of equality and keeping faith of one of the charters of the nation, the right to live your life.

What left wing politician made this radical statement?  Were the attendees at a high profile marriage equality fund raising party the usual suspects, the bleeding heart liberals?

Actually, no.  Turns out some big shot Republicans are getting on board:

I think there is a growing mass of people in Republican politics who are fundamentally sick and tired about being lectured to about morality and how to live your life by a bunch of people who have been married three or four times and are more likely to be seen outside a brothel on a Thursday night than being at home with their kids… There is a fundamental indecency to the vitriol and the hatred directed against decent people because of their sexuality. People have reached a critical mass with this.

According to Sam Stein’s blog, the prominent Republicans who are publicly backing marriage equality include former McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt, former Bush campaign manager and Republican National Committee chair Ken Mehlman (who recently came out of the closet), former New Jersey governor Christie Todd Whitman, Mary Cheney (the lesbian daughter of former VP Dick Cheney), and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.  Of course, we previously blogged about the influential Republican lawyer (Ted Olson) behind the court case challenge to Prop 8 that is working its way through the court system.

But then there is the little matter of the Tea Party–the angry, gun-toting, populist, nativist, anti-Muslim, homophobic, racist, modern version of the “Know Nothings”* who are threatening to take over the Republican party, if they haven’t already done so.  Time will tell if the Republican big tent can contain the bloody wrestling match between the establishment Republican elites and what is euphemistically referred to as “the base”.

*”The Know-Nothing movement was a nativist American political movement of the 1840s and 1850s. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to Anglo-Saxon values and controlled by the Pope in Rome. Mainly active from 1854 to 1856, it strove to curb immigration and naturalization, though its efforts met with little success. Membership was limited to Protestant males of British lineage over the age of twenty-one.”  Wikipedia

Since the formation of the ELCA in 1988, the denomination has been shepherded by three presiding Bishops:  Herb Chilstrom, H George Anderson, and currently Mark Hanson.  Herb and wife Corrine now reside in retirement in St. Peter, Minnesota.  On August 26th, Herb penned an op-ed piece for the newspaper in nearby Mankato—his response to the formation of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC) as a splinter from the ELCA.  Bishop Chilstrom asked three rhetorical questions of those who have departed the ELCA for NALC, Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC), or another church body.

First, what is it about sex that pushed you over the edge?

The retired Bishop wonders why some elevate questions of sexual behavior over more momentous issues such as abortion, war and peace, and the death penalty.  What is it about the sexual behavior of others that causes such a visceral outcry and schismatic response?

[Other issues seem] far more serious than getting upset about two adults of the same gender who, like most of us straight folks, chose to live peacefully in a life-long relationship — the only such pairing the ELCA has approved. Like their straight neighbors, they live peacefully, go to their jobs every morning, pay their taxes, volunteer for good causes and, in many cases, worship with us. What is it that upsets you about this?

Ah, the straw that broke the camel’s back comes the response.  The various dissident groups go to great lengths to suggest that LGBT issues were merely the tipping point that reflects a lengthy ELCA drift away from tradition and traditional Biblical interpretations.  To be sure, LCMC was formed nearly a decade ago, and many LCMC congregations departed the ELCA prior to CWA09 (but the LCMC has doubled in size since CWA09).

Here is my take.  CWA09 resolutions were not the tipping point but the opportunity seized upon by long time ELCA detractors to scare the the folks in the pews into following their leadership.  For much of the hierarchy of WordAlone, CORE, NALC, and even LCMC, their disaffection with the ELCA goes back to the very beginning, and it can all be summed up in one word—CONTROL.  This blog has previously critiqued the comments of dissident theologians Nestingen, Braaten, and Benne who in similar ways lamented the egalitarian impulses of the newly formed ELCA thereby diminishing the power of the male elites.  Over the years, this coterie repeatedly attempted, unsuccessfully, to achieve leadership status within the ELCA.

But then came CWA09.  They saw their chance and they took it.  CWA09 handed the dissidents a cultural wedge issue that they could use to drive ELCA congregants and congregations away from the ELCA and into their own organization, under their control.  So, Herb, it is not about sex.  Nor is it truly about Biblical interpretation.  Here the Missouri Synod critique of the new Lutheran church bodies makes sense—if these new organizations truly want to be Biblical traditionalists, why do they allow female clergy?  Or divorced clergy?  The existence of female and divorced clergy within their ranks puts the lie to the claim that it is all about strict and traditional Biblical interpretation.  No, Herb, it is something else.  It is all about power and control.

Here is Bishop Chilstrom’s second question:

Second, why are you organizing new churches?

Surely there must be one among them [existing Lutheran bodies] that would welcome you. Why go to all the unnecessary expense of setting up an entirely new structure with officers, boards, committees and institutions?

This might be a good place to interject some basic data about the numerous small and uniformly conservative Lutheran Church bodies that exist in the US in open criticism of the more-progressive ELCA.  For comparison, the ELCA has over 10,000 congregations and over 4 million members (statistics for each derived from Wikipedia or the organization’s website)

• Missouri Synod (LCMS) 2.4 million members
• Wisconsin Synod (WELS) 1,300 congregations
• Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) 500 congregations
• Free Lutheran Churches (AFLC) 270 congregations
• Lutheran Brethren 123 Congregations
• North American Lutheran Church (NALC) 18 congregations.

Bishop Chilstrom assumes the reason why LCMC and NALC don’t join one of the other bodies is because LCMC and NALC will continue to ordain women as their legacy from the ELCA.  I know the LCMC is attempting to to position itself as the moderate middle of Lutherandom with the more progressive ELCA on the left and the more conservative others on the right.  There would also appear to be an organizational difference between LCMC (congregational autonomy) and NALC (a denominational structure).  I have previously characterized LCMC as a website and a mailing list.  Their organizational paid staff is minimal.  No seminaries, no colleges, no candidacy committees, no disaster relief, no missionary support, no … fill in the blank.  It is merely an affiliation of like minded congregations that are free to do their own thing with minimal organizational support or control.

There’s that word again.  CONTROL.  See the answer to number 1, Herb.

Here is Bishop Chilstrom’s final question:

Third, what will you say to your sons and daughters, sisters and brothers and others in your churches when they tell you they are homosexual?

This is the nub of it.  We can argue about “gay issues” till we’re blue in the face, but we miss the human element.  This not some academic argument; this is about real lives, children of God, baptized brothers and sisters.  I asked last week how many church bulletins proclaim “all are welcome”—and really mean it. 

“What will you say to your sons and daughters?” Herb asks. 

Will you offer empty platitudes (hate the sin but love the sinner)?  Will you “pray the gay away?”  Will you offer junk science such as reparative therapy that will only deepen their pain?  Will you turn your back or offer an embrace?

Retired Pastor Duane from my congregation tells the story of the gay high school boy who came out to him and then asked Duane to accompany him when he came out to his parents. 

Mom came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron, with a worried look on her face when the pair arrived in the driveway.

“Mom, I’m gay,” the boy said.

“Is that all?” and mom smiled with relief and gave her son a hug.

They were still in the driveway when dad arrived in the pickup with mud flaps and a rifle slung in the rear window.  He exited the cab with a mixed expression of anger and concern.

“Dad, I’m gay”, the son said.

Dad’s face drained of all color, and his eyes turned black.  He looked at his son, his wife, Pastor Duane, and back at his son.  Then, his eyes moistened and his lips quivered.

“I don’t understand,” he said, his voice cracking, “and I probably never will.  But, you’re my son, and I love you.”  Father and son fell into each other’s arms, shaking and sobbing.

This isn’t about doctrine, or confessionalism, or Biblical interpretation, and it ought not be about control.  This is about grace.  This is about trust.  Let go and let God.  Listen to the wisdom of Herb Chilstrom:

I am both sad and relieved that you are leaving. Sad, because this was not what we hoped for when the ELCA was formed some 22 years ago. We believed we could be a church where we held to the essentials and allowed for differences on non-essentials.
But I am also relieved. Now those of us who remain in the ELCA can get on with our primary mission of telling everyone  — everyone — “Jesus loves you. You are welcome in this church.”