Monday, April 24, 2006
Chris' Stoy Part III
This is the letter that Chris wrote in response:
Dear Cameron:
Thank you for your fine email. I appreciate what you have to say and have carefully considered and attempted to understand your concerns. Aaron's story was just that, Aaron's story. It is his personal experience. In telling it, I am sure that his understandings are reflections which are exclusive to him and his journey through the Mormon church. It is only one person's experience and should not be generalized.
Sadly, the Mormon church has a policy regarding gay people that is similar to those of other right-wing Christian churches.
I can indeed see that your faith is precious to you, and that you cherish it, as you say. But please understand that I am not attacking your faith. My battle is with homophobia and the non-acceptance of gay people. I believe that those things are a much better threat to faith than my arguments could ever be. I see them (faith and homophobia) as being two separate things that have been wrongly intertwined.
Years ago, racism was as central to Christianity as homophobia is to it today. The KKK was considered a Christian organization. But now we look back and realize that racism has nothing to do with faith, and the idea is ridiculous to us.
My vision is for a day when people don't misuse faith to shun and exclude people who are gay. My vision is that all churches, including the Mormon church, will fully accept and integrate gay and lesbian people into their lives and practices. See: http://www.affirmation.org/
You wrote something that I found very interesting. You said, "We (Mormons) are not a pack of sex obsessed monsters, as easy and as convenient as that is for you to believe." It is interesting because your statement makes me realize that perhaps you as a Mormon and myself as a gay man are fighting the same perception! Ignorance and misinformation is indeed a detriment to all people.
You also say, "Your painting us as one-dimensional does you no credit..." Again, as a gay person, that has been my feeling, that society and the church has painted us as one-dimensional. That's the way it is with any prejudice. The humanity of the person is denied in favor of a one-dimensional stereotype. You know a lot more about the experience of gays and lesbians that you know. I am still amazed at how many people I hear from who send me emails and apparently believe that my life is all about a particular sex act.
I laugh because I wake up in the morning, catch a NYC bus to the office, start my work, answer emails, do a lot of writing, talk to my friends, read more of a book, go to lunch, do more work, get dinner, rent a movie, catch the bus back home, then relax, watch TV then go to bed and do the same thing all over again. It's weird how I can present an argument about gay rights and the only thing a certain type of person sees is a sexual act. Oh well.
I believe that sexual sin is indeed the third most grievous sin in Mormon doctrine. You say that adultery ("heterosexual or homosexual") is. However, in your doctrine, there is no way for a gay person to act sexually without being guilty. There's a huge double standard there. A heterosexual can marry and have sex within the "acceptance" bonds of marriage, but anytime a gay person has sex, they are guilty. A heterosexual has an option to act sexually, while a gay person simply has none. This is unacceptable to me.
However, I did research, and, based upon this, I made a small change in Aaron's story. I changed the previous line which is:
Worse, I grew up a Mormon and was taught that homosexuality was equivalent to murder and was the third greatest sin.
to...
Worse, I grew up a Mormon and was taught that sexual sin was the third greatest sin.
I hope that you consider the new line to be more accurate regarding your faith. My desire is, indeed, truth. I do believe that you are mistaken when you say that homosexuality is not mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Please correct me if this citation is in error: 2 Nephi: "Homosexuality (the sin of Sodom) is evil". 13:9
Again, thank you for taking the time to write your heartfelt email. I assure you that my motives are pure. I seek justice for gay and lesbian people, and I believe that it can be attained by separating homophobia from the faith.
I hope you had a good Mission!
Regards,
Chris
www.fallwell.com
Dear Cameron:
Thank you for your fine email. I appreciate what you have to say and have carefully considered and attempted to understand your concerns. Aaron's story was just that, Aaron's story. It is his personal experience. In telling it, I am sure that his understandings are reflections which are exclusive to him and his journey through the Mormon church. It is only one person's experience and should not be generalized.
Sadly, the Mormon church has a policy regarding gay people that is similar to those of other right-wing Christian churches.
I can indeed see that your faith is precious to you, and that you cherish it, as you say. But please understand that I am not attacking your faith. My battle is with homophobia and the non-acceptance of gay people. I believe that those things are a much better threat to faith than my arguments could ever be. I see them (faith and homophobia) as being two separate things that have been wrongly intertwined.
Years ago, racism was as central to Christianity as homophobia is to it today. The KKK was considered a Christian organization. But now we look back and realize that racism has nothing to do with faith, and the idea is ridiculous to us.
My vision is for a day when people don't misuse faith to shun and exclude people who are gay. My vision is that all churches, including the Mormon church, will fully accept and integrate gay and lesbian people into their lives and practices. See: http://www.affirmation.org/
You wrote something that I found very interesting. You said, "We (Mormons) are not a pack of sex obsessed monsters, as easy and as convenient as that is for you to believe." It is interesting because your statement makes me realize that perhaps you as a Mormon and myself as a gay man are fighting the same perception! Ignorance and misinformation is indeed a detriment to all people.
You also say, "Your painting us as one-dimensional does you no credit..." Again, as a gay person, that has been my feeling, that society and the church has painted us as one-dimensional. That's the way it is with any prejudice. The humanity of the person is denied in favor of a one-dimensional stereotype. You know a lot more about the experience of gays and lesbians that you know. I am still amazed at how many people I hear from who send me emails and apparently believe that my life is all about a particular sex act.
I laugh because I wake up in the morning, catch a NYC bus to the office, start my work, answer emails, do a lot of writing, talk to my friends, read more of a book, go to lunch, do more work, get dinner, rent a movie, catch the bus back home, then relax, watch TV then go to bed and do the same thing all over again. It's weird how I can present an argument about gay rights and the only thing a certain type of person sees is a sexual act. Oh well.
I believe that sexual sin is indeed the third most grievous sin in Mormon doctrine. You say that adultery ("heterosexual or homosexual") is. However, in your doctrine, there is no way for a gay person to act sexually without being guilty. There's a huge double standard there. A heterosexual can marry and have sex within the "acceptance" bonds of marriage, but anytime a gay person has sex, they are guilty. A heterosexual has an option to act sexually, while a gay person simply has none. This is unacceptable to me.
However, I did research, and, based upon this, I made a small change in Aaron's story. I changed the previous line which is:
Worse, I grew up a Mormon and was taught that homosexuality was equivalent to murder and was the third greatest sin.
to...
Worse, I grew up a Mormon and was taught that sexual sin was the third greatest sin.
I hope that you consider the new line to be more accurate regarding your faith. My desire is, indeed, truth. I do believe that you are mistaken when you say that homosexuality is not mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Please correct me if this citation is in error: 2 Nephi: "Homosexuality (the sin of Sodom) is evil". 13:9
Again, thank you for taking the time to write your heartfelt email. I assure you that my motives are pure. I seek justice for gay and lesbian people, and I believe that it can be attained by separating homophobia from the faith.
I hope you had a good Mission!
Regards,
Chris
www.fallwell.com
# posted by American Cowboy @ 5:04 PM 
