jodie in the comments on yesterday’s update has posted a lot of questions.\u00a0 They deserve their own post, so I’ll answer them here.<\/p>\n
\nHow do the youth in your church view the Evangelical hostility to gay ordination? Is there a generational gap there too, besides the theological one? In my church the youth are flabbergasted that anybody should care. It seems that among college kids and younger, homosexuality just is. There is no scandal in it at all. There is huge support for kids that are gay but don’t get parental support, and if the Church has a problem with gays then it’s because the Church has forgotten what Christ was all about. Not only that, but if someone says that Homosexuality is a sin because the bible says so, then for them that is just proof that the bible is wrong. In other words, the Evangelical war is actually undermining the authority of the Scriptures. Are you guys seeing the same thing?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The answer requires a little background.<\/p>\n
First, my church is tending toward the liberal end of the denomination.\u00a0 The town surrounding the church tends to be a bit more liberal as well.<\/p>\n
Second, the youth group hasn’t talked about sexuality per se since I started working with them.\u00a0 It was the subject of a retreat last year before I joined them.\u00a0 So I’m working from conjecture.<\/p>\n
Third, our youth are not homogenous in their views on sexuality.\u00a0 I know that we have some outspoken proponents of gay rights.\u00a0 I also know that we have some youth that I suspect hold more conservative views on the subject.<\/p>\n
We’ll take the questions in the order that my brain spews text.\u00a0 Hopefully I’ll answer all of the questions.<\/p>\n
We have one or two youth who participated on their own initiative in the National Day of Silence<\/a> last year (and will participate this year).\u00a0 I’ll put them at the pro-gay end of the spectrum.\u00a0 We have had a youth who is the daughter of a pair of gay men (who were one of the first civil union couples in the state) – she has graduated now.\u00a0 Several members of the rest of the group talk about generally liberal causes (poverty, environment, the distrubution of wealth throughout the world).<\/p>\n
We don’t talk about evangelicals using that name.\u00a0 We do talk about judgmental Christians (the implication being Too judgmental).\u00a0 Our youth group has as part of our covenant that the group is a safe space to talk about things that are important to you without ridicule from other group members.\u00a0 We don’t expect everybody to agree, and we do debate issues sometimes, but in the end we respect and love the person and at worst listen to the idea.\u00a0 The group does speak negatively about those Christians who are unable to love each person – who condemn them and use loaded names and terms for people.\u00a0 Please be clear – when I use the term “we” I mean the youth, the adult advisors, and the paid staff.\u00a0 As a group we only talk about judgmental Christians (we don’t even use a term for them) in passing.\u00a0 It’s not like we spend a night talking about them.<\/p>\n
I think you’re right.\u00a0 Gay people are just a fact of life for these youth.\u00a0 They have grown up in an era where prejudice against identifiable groups (even groups attacking our country) is not tolerated.\u00a0 This attitude naturally carries over to homosexuality.\u00a0 These youth recognize that anti-gay speech (up to and often including “homosexuality is against God’s will”) is just not expected.\u00a0 If anybody harbors anti-gay feelings I haven’t seen it openly.\u00a0 Now, this is New Jersey where civil unions are the law of the land and are practically the same legally as marriages.\u00a0 I can see how it would be different in other parts of the country.<\/p>\n
Henceforth you ought to counsel your spe rx viagra<\/a>t before taking this Jelly Advantages: There are five kinds of renal intrinsic cells. The most common cause of ED is atherosclerosis- hardening \/ narrowing buy cialis australia<\/a> of the arteries. PE is also known as quick ejaculation, premature sex climax or too early ejaculation. buy generic cialis<\/a> Exercise gives your body a http:\/\/www.midwayfire.com\/board-of-commissioners\/<\/a> buy viagra new energy, restores your confidence and enhances your stamina for carrying activities inside and outside the bedroom. <\/span><\/p>\n
Another problem that we are fighting in our youth group is pressure from church members (most often parents of youth who do NOT participate) not to make the church youth group too “churchy”.\u00a0 Our youth director reports that he’s actually had parents tell him that mentioning the Bible too often will drive the youth away from the group.\u00a0 I think that this is true for some youth, but hey!\u00a0 This is church.\u00a0 That’s what we do.\u00a0 We’ve made a conscious decision to up the theological and scriptural content of the youth program one notch and see how it goes.\u00a0 The youth know right from wrong and have a vague sense that it’s the Christian thing to do, but I believe they’d be hard-pressed to link their right actions to our beliefs.\u00a0 We aim to fix that.<\/p>\n
\nNot only that, but if someone says that Homosexuality is a sin because the bible says so, then for them that is just proof that the bible is wrong. In other words, the Evangelical war is actually undermining the authority of the Scriptures.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
I repeat that quote because it’s huge.\u00a0 I can’t say if this war is turning youth away from the church or the Bible, but I can speak for myself.\u00a0 It DOES turn me away from the church sometimes.\u00a0 It doesn’t turn me away from God, Christ or the Bible because I understand the concept of interpretation and “Reformed, Always Reforming”.\u00a0 Of course, I have experience with the church above and beyond what our youth have plus a religion minor in college including 50% Christian courses backing my thoughts.\u00a0 They don’t.<\/p>\n
Speaking purely of my unchurched and formerly churched friends in their 20’s to 40’s, this legalistic attitude in the church does turn them away.\u00a0 Many of them were previously heavily involved in church but aren’t now – and the judgmental nature of the media image of Christianity (and their own experience with it) keeps them away.\u00a0 They speak of themselves as “still a Christian, but I don’t want to be part of a church”.<\/p>\n
It’s also important to realize that Generation X and to a lesser extent Generation Y have an attitude of “waiting for the world to change”.\u00a0 They know that someday the leaders (corporate, church, governmental) will retire and die off and at that point the Gen X and Y folks will be able to make the changes that they see need to be made.\u00a0 There’s a feeling that gay marriage will inevitably be accepted by society and subsequently the church so why worry about it.\u00a0 It’s just a matter of time.\u00a0 In the mean time they go on about their lives without regard to the “outdated” rules.<\/p>\n
And the Millenials? They aren’t waiting.\u00a0 They’re just forging ahead with their own rules and their own structure and succeeding.\u00a0 They aren’t waiting for the rules to change – they are going around the obstacles in their path.\u00a0 These are the folks who need to understand why a work assignment needs to be done and how it fits into the larger picture before they’ll lift a finger.\u00a0 The Gen X and Y folks are going to find that they waited too long for control and the Millenials already grabbed it from the Baby Boomers.<\/p>\n
And the Millenials don’t understand what the fighting is about.\u00a0 Gay people are gay people – what’s the big deal?<\/p>\n
One last note – the youth at my church barely understand what ordination is.\u00a0 We’re working on that – in part by adding a seat to Session intended for one year terms for a youth in high school.\u00a0 But the gay ordination fight isn’t on their radar.\u00a0 It’s not an issue in our church (yes, we’ve ordained openly gay people) and they just aren’t plugged into the news or greater church enough to understand the gay ordination debate.\u00a0 They just see it as more discrimination against a minority group.<\/p>\n
\n