Can We Get Along?
In this last installment of the series “Desegregating Worship,” we will explore the issue of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender (LBGT) individuals and their exclusion from many of our churches. While most churches state that they are open to all people and that they accept people as they are, their stance toward people with non-mainstream sexual and gender identities may not be included in their definition of “acceptance.” While the culture at large is moving at an unprecedented pace to affirm the LBGT community, many churches tacitly pretend that a societal shift is not occurring.
Nothing is likely more controversial in the church than the church’s stance on lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender individuals (LGBT), and in many congregations discussion of this topic is off-limits. To raise the question of the church’s inclusion of the LGBT community among some Christians may be to risk being stereotyped and viewed with suspicion.
In this last installment of the series “Desegregating Worship,” we will explore the issue of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender (LBGT) individuals and their exclusion from many of our churches. While most churches state that they are open to all people and that they accept people as they are, their stance toward people with non-mainstream sexual and gender identities may not be included in their definition of “acceptance.” While the culture at large is moving at an unprecedented pace to affirm the LBGT community, many churches tacitly pretend that a societal shift is not occurring.
Nothing is likely more controversial in the church than the church’s stance on lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender individuals (LGBT), and in many congregations discussion of this topic is off-limits. To raise the question of the church’s inclusion of the LGBT community among some Christians may be to risk being stereotyped and viewed with suspicion.