Anthony Venn-Brown: Problems & Concerns in the Anti Gay Marriage Camp

Anthony Venn-Brown: Problems & Concerns in the Anti Gay Marriage Camp

Anthony's commentary on the 2011 annual hatefest held in parliament house Canberra is both insightful and kind compared to some of the language I have seen used to refer to the vitriol spewed forth from the official speakers at the event this year.

The Mad Katter, Barnabyisms  and rampant homophobia were the fare of the affair.

AFA and ACL scored own goals once again thanks to the extremist attitudes spewed from their proponents.

Jim Wallace can I ask you to please invite Ms. Rebecca Hagelin to speak every year. She defines your argument so well. We really want people to hear her speak all over the country.


Love and Kisses

Stephen Smith, please support Marriage Equality

I am a Christian and I am Gay. I have spent a large portion of my life studying scripture and almost as much of that time experiencing a sense of condemnation and self hatred thanks to the homophobia and Judgemental teachings of blinkered single version bible bigots who followed discriminatory teaching about other human beings simply because their seminary promoted that teaching, or they didn't bother to do some serious research for themselves; they followed an ideology ignorant of science and dismissive of any learning that questioned their prejudice.

I spent years taking part in reparative therapy programmes like Exodus and their like. All of them were based on a lie that human sexuality is a choice and that all I had to learn was the way to make straight choices. They told me that I could be straight if I had enough faith; that my thoughts and feelings would change. But they lied.

I discovered over the 10 years i took part in these programmes that even the people who claimed to have been successful maintained a struggle with thoughts and desires for those of the same sex. Their thought processes had not changed; in fact they had simply learned to lie to themselves; I know there are many who have suicided and committed acts of self-harm as a result of such programmes around the world.

I eventually learned to accept myself and embrace my feelings when I learned that medicine had found that sexuality was something innate; a part of myself as integral as my hair  and skin colour. I had to wait until I was 31 to come to a place where I could be true to myself; the first step I believe God requires of every one of us in coming to him.

Even then I had to deal with my own internalised homophobia and at times felt unworthy to be able to even turn to God in my times of need. I found that I sought solace in more and more sexual encounters only to find the result was a deeper sense of emptiness.  Eventually I was diagnosed with HIV disease and even then in my distress felt that I was not welcome in the church unless I got my act together first; something I found both inhumane and now believe to be seriously un-Godly and definitely Un-Christian.

I was extremely lucky that even in what I believed to be my damaged; diseased state I found a wonderful man in Damian. Our friendship grew and 12 months later we were engaged and 2 years after we met we were legally married in Toronto City Hall, Ontario Canada. Just before leaving we had a service of commitment, conducted by an Anglican Priest, before 100 of our friends and Family. For our relatives and our friends the symbols and order of service was not very dissimilar to any other wedding they would have attended for heterosexual friends or family. They all understood the significance of the day and supported the declaration of our love for one another; as well as the type of commitment we were declaring before them.

Almost Ten years since we first met and Eight years since we were legally married we are more committed to one another than those years ago. Strangely, we have never met anyone who has condemned us for our relationship. Rather, we have had total strangers walk up to us to congratulate us on our relationship; to congratulate us for our commitment to one another. The greatest challenge we have encountered has been from petty, small-minded politicians, pandering to a minority of people calling themselves Christians; such as those heading up the ACL and the Fatherhood foundation.

Thirteen years after coming to a place of self acceptance later I finally found other GLBTI Christians who, like myself, believe that they are as God made them to be; that there is no person who could ever be good enough to deserve the love of God. That the key to the whole Christian relationship is that we are all there by God’s Grace; that the only one who has the right to judge any one of us is God and that the act of judgement by anyone but God is the measure that God will use to Judge them.

I have since been able to return to church, confident of God’s love for me. I attend Riverview Church in Perth, Western Australia; this is the church that I used to attend many years ago. It is also the church that originally ran the Bible college I attended in the 1980s; Rhema Bible Training Centre; I may have begun my studies there, but that is only where my hunger for God’s word started.

I am a well-respected member of the community. I volunteer as a Systemic Disability Advocate on a national level. I am the Deputy Chair of the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations AFDO (I recently retired from the position of Chair which I held for 3 years.) I was appointed to the National Health and Medical Research Council’s   AHEC, the Australian Health Ethics Committee 2 years ago. I am a member of the    board of governors of the Australian Council of Social Services, ACOSS; as well as representing People with Disabilities to Centrelink, FACSIA and the Australian Electoral Commission.  However, none of these things are as fulfilling as my relationship with God.

I am a fully qualified and experienced High school English teacher. I was chased from my career by unadulterated homophobia and underwent a constructed dismissal from my final posting in 2001 on the suspicion; not on any factual knowledge, of my newly diagnosed HIV status; a suspicion based upon an unacceptable level of homophobia in the 21^st century.

Since reading “what’s so Amazing about Grace” by Philip Yancey; “Love is an Orientation” by Paul Marin and a whole swathe of books which deal with the evidence of what the Bible actually says and does not say about homosexuality I have been able to grow in confidence of the Love God has for me and for my GLBTI Christian brothers and sisters who have been abused and maligned by those in the church who demanded they change before they would be welcome in God’s family.

I have not been blindly led by the opinions of others but have studied as I am required to do; as a member of the Body of Christ. I do not just take what a pastor or teacher says without question. Instead, I challenge opinion and position using the tools of context and history to understand what the scriptures really have to say to us in the 21^st Century. I agree that the bible is a God inspired group of texts that were written by men who felt compelled to have these words written down for the guidance those members of the church to come.

It is interesting to note that the book that is referred to as the Bible, or the Canon of scripture, is a particular selection of all of the writings of the early church. They were selected by the Church of Rome by men who held the prejudices believing that the world was flat and was the centre of the universe, that human slavery was acceptable and that same sex orientation was (and as they even say today) intrinsically evil. This is not strange from an organisation that ordered the crusades as well as the Auto de Fetes of the French inquisition; even worse than the Spanish inquisition.

The great moral challenge for the Church in this century is not an attack by GLBTI people. Rather, it is the hurdle that the fundamentally challenged face in understanding and accepting that their hatred and violent verbal, psychological and even in some cases physical remonstrations against people of same sex orientation are equal to the dilemma faced by the issue of human slavery toward the end of the 19^th and the first half of the 20^th centuries.

When those of the more fundamentalist arms of the organisation calling itself ‘the church’ come to realise that God will not be limited to their small & narrow minded view of Christ and Christianity then we will see a church more interested in meeting the needs of the hungry, the poor the sick and the homeless; instead of focussing on what two people who love one another do, or do not do, in the privacy of their own bedrooms.

We, as Christians need to remember that all of us fall short of declaring ourselves righteous, because we could never do enough to earn the Love Christ demonstrated on the Cross. His gift of the ability to go before God was and is so great, none of us will ever deserve it.

“Namely, the righteousness of God which comes by believing with personal trust and confident reliance on Jesus Christ (the Messiah). [And it is meant] for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and are falling short of the honour and glory, which God bestows and receives. [All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favour and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,

Romans 3:22-24 (AMP)

So, does the fact that the right of GLBTI people to marry the person they love producing the kind of stable relationships that their critics continually condemn them for NOT having make their ‘Christian’ critics afraid that they will have nothing to use to attack them with?

Or, are they just more concerned with ensuring that their self-confessed homophobic reasons to deny legal state based marriage gives them the ability to distract themselves from looking at their own shortcomings; providing them with the opportunity to stand before God and say “thank you God for not making me like them”?

Either way, their justification for denying state recognised marriage from same sex oriented people is nothing less than facetious; a form of social elitism unacceptable in the Church, the true body of Christ, or society in the 21^st century.

Amazing Grace: Where would I be without it?

Suicide is not a popular topic. However, I've been there too often to ignore its place n my life and journey.

I have tried to end my life on more than one occasion in my youth because I couldn't resolve my sexuality with the Christian life that I desired to live. I wanted to be the best Christian I could be and yet at every step I seemed to be moving further from the desired goal. My sexuality did not measure up to the person I believed I was supposed to be; the person I believed I was meant to be and desire to be.

I was called a pervert before I knew what being a pervert was; and I use the term with some reservation; I'm sure that the anti-homoxual group will want to exploit such a confession. I was singled out by my peers without knowing why and I suffered horrendous persecution and bullying for something I had no control over. 

My sexuality was developing without my input or sanction; yet it was drawing me down a path of personal understanding that did not fit with the expectations of either my parents or my peers. It also created a strong sense of guilt in my relationship with God and provided much material for the Confessional growing up Catholic.

By the time I had come to a place of self acceptance I was in my mid-thirties; in fact I didn't 'Come Out' until I was 31; there are so many things that I feel a sense of regret for. Yet, I also realise that I have learned so much from the period of torture, bullying sexual abuse and abasement that I am now a stronger person; even if I still fall.

When I was teaching in the Wongan Hills in WA i had originally wanted to spend weekends in town and become established. However, as a result of the lack of privacy; because of shared accommodation I found the need to retreat to the city each weekend to maintain my sanity. 

As conditions deteriorated in the School, I found that I would have to fight with myself not to crash my car into a tree somewhere along the Great Northern Highway as I returned to the town. This scared me as I had not considered suicide since my teen years.

Suicide has not been a part of my thought processes for a very long time. I have been in dire situations where I have been more terrified of what would happen if lost control and I couldn't stop myself. But the actual desire to end my life and the pain that the anguish brings is truly a stranger to me now.

The years between being in Ministry; losing that role through betrayal feeling distant from God  and eventually realising the wonder of God's Immutable Grace was a period of 'feeling' alone lost and separated from God's Love. 

It was interesting to discover, only last year, that God's Grace is sufficient for me; personally. Thank you Phillip Yancey and thank you to the lovely lady on the flight from Melbourne to Perth who recommended Phillip's book.

I still have a strong desire to fulfil God's call to ministry; but I don't know what direction that will take. I always enjoy preaching and teaching. I especially enjoy singing. But, does my style fit into the current model of church? I can only hope so.

My Response to Bill Muhlenburg's Post regarding COMPASS on Sunday 10 July

Bill's original post can be found here, as well as a very sad commentary from other followers.

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2011/07/11/the-abc-should-be-put-out-of-its-misery


Bill,

Please Brother! You talk about homosexuality being rammed down your throat by the ABC. What you're really griping about is that there is someone trying to pull this argument into some sort of balance.
There is no 'real' argument you can push other than the religious agenda in relation to the push for equal civil marriage recognition. There is no call to impose, or demand that Churches be forced to perform ceremonies they don't believe in.

Marriage is not a static thing, it is also not a religious state any longer. There are ceremonies conducted by religious organisations and institutions but, it is the state that confers marriage in our day and age. If you want to try turning back the clock then you have a similar job to that of King Canute.  The history of marriage and to whom it has been available is and has always been in an amazing state of flux. At one stage in both the history of this country, as well as around the world the poorer classes did not marry, they "jumped the broom" with a leader in their community and they were regarded as being in a "Common Law Marriage."

In point of fact unless you were wealthy you didn't get married in a church because it was an extravagance. You could buy the materials to build a home with what it would cost you.

The definition of marriage changed dramatically in the 19th Century in the Victorian Era. that is the period when it became 'fashionable' to get married in church.

In the 1960's Interracial marriage was frowned upon and it was often declared that it would signal the end of society as we knew it; the sky didn't fall then.

Marriage took a further modification when women were given the franchise and informed that they were no longer the property of the husband, but had equal standing and rights in the marriage covenant.

Then towards the end of last century  and more broadly in this century marriage was expanded to include those of the same gender. The marriages conducted in other countries of those in same sex relationships are regarded as equal to those of their heterosexual counterparts. The fact that the Australian Marriage Act was modified to exclude the recognition of those validly and legally conducted marriages does not mean that the definition of marriage hasn't already changed. The lack of legal recognition of those marriages does not un-marry them.

How about considering the position from the other side of the table; with all of the Heterosexist programming that is forced down all of our throats to push that agenda. This is not a subject where the church has the right to force a religious agenda down other people's throats either.

Australia is not a theocracy. It is a Democracy. Democracy does not mean that the majority rule and damn everyone else; it requires that the majority ensure that those in the minority have their needs met as well; something that many forget when they spout about Australia being a democracy.

I am a Christian. I am also a Homosexual man. Neither are mutually exclusive unless you happen to take the scriptures completely out of context, or simply ignore the concept of context altogether. I believe Jesus is my Lord and Saviour. I follow the tenets of the word of God and am very aware of what the bible does and actually doesn't say about homosexuality. I could elaborate further but you might like to get in contact with Rob Buckingham at Bayside Church in Melbourne and ask him about the "Clobber Passages" that 'christians' (purposely all in lower case.) use to constantly condemn Gays and Lesbians.

Australia is a Secular country whether you like it or not. Nowhere in the scriptures did Christ or the apostles say go out and change the world's political systems, 'Forcing' your way of life upon the population.

Instead the great commission was to go out and make disciples of all nationalities (to the ends of the earth.) Instead, the word of God has been perverted by many church leaders and by many of those who blindly follow the pastor and never challenge what they are taught. There is also the FACT that much like the belief that the world was once flat; science has recognised the intrinsic nature of human sexuality; something you choose to ignore.

God gave humans brains to use them not to simply follow unquestioning. Try asking how we came about the hatred and intolerance that many in the church spew forth with such vigour? If the answer comes back that "It's always been that way! Or, that's what I was taught at the seminary! Or, that's what my church teaches! Then that is nothing more than parroting. That is not pleasing to God; that's 'sounding brass'.

Some of us forget that is is not our job to point out the sin in the lives of those who do not know Christ, that is the Job of the Holy Spirit. One thing that truly grieves the spirit of God is when we, as the body of Christ start standing in judgement over those around us; how many hearts can you actually see into?

It's time for the church to realise that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. ALL, that includes the sanctimonious; the Neo-pharrisees; all those who look at other people and forget that ALL of us need the Grace that God has to offer; Freely; without condition.

"They shall know you by your love"; not your hatred; not your constant harping. The command calls for us to be the light not another source of hatred, bile and darkness.

Bill, and others on this list we have a real opportunity. We can continue to condemn and criticise and point out the sins of those around us; remember the Pharisee who prayed in the temple "thank you God for not making me like him" (referring to the poor man beside him.) Instead the poor man's prayer was "Thank you God for loving one such as me, a sinner."

Since when did we get the right to think that we have had enough of the Grace of God? John's first epistle points out that "if any man say he is without sin then God does not live in him." We all fall short of the glory of God in this life, that's why the Grace of God provides for the Forgiveness of sins for those who fall" (the next point in the same chapter.

As we take up the yolk of Christ in this world, then it involves loving those YOU deem unlovable; the smelly homeless person who sits on the bus beside you. The Single mother who is on heroin and finds it hard to cope with her child and the physical agony that her addiction causes her every day until she gets her next fit. And God also requires you to LOVE the homosexual; including the extravegant ones on the Mardi Gras floats that are mocking the church.

Consider the possibility that the mocking may be the symptom of the bile and hatred that those people have encountered from those who have nothing better to do than judge them and pass sentence on them bashing them with the Bible; instead of Loving them with the Word of God and healing the hurt. Bridging the Gap. Remember many have used the scriptures as a justification for physical and psychological violence against the GLBTI community.

It is not their role to make the first move church; It's ours! We have been sent into the world to reveal Christ to them and as long as we act like the Pharisees and not like Jesus, well perhaps we need to get on our knees and ask for God's Grace and Favour in our time of need so that we can be the blessing we are meant to be and not the curse.

There is no phrase more offensive to non-believers as "Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin." it is often used against Gay and Lesbian people. It is offensive and has the stench of Hell to it because it comes from Pride and One-up-man-ship; it exalts the one saying it to a position of superiority over the victim.

God Loved EVERY Sinner, Loves EVERY Sinner and Will Love EVERY Sinner; for all eternity. The Blood of Jesus is sufficient for everyone. It is sufficient for me and you believe it is sufficient for you. If so, then why is it not sufficient for ALL homosexuals?

Christ did not say, and nor did any of the Apostles say "Get your life in order before you can come to me." Instead, we have been told to Proclaim the Good News of Christ to the World. Sometimes we forget that if we're only proclaiming to those who turn up on Sunday we're "Preaching to the Converted."

Please! My Gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters deserve a better church than that. Have you ever thought that it might be the 'Religiosity' they're rejecting instead of rejecting Christ? From what I've heard and experienced Christ is usually missing from those encounters.

Dalai Lama attracts all walks of life

This is the most reasonable precis of what the Dalai Lama had to share on Sunday 19 June 2011 that I have read in the media. Well Done Katherine

Katherine Fleming

The key to inner peace and a harmonious world is to foster compassion for others, particularly in a world where corruption and the pursuit of wealth are so prevalent.

That was the Dalai Lama’s message to 14,500 people at Burswood Dome yesterday. It was the final leg and the biggest crowd of his Australian speaking tour.

In a wide-ranging speech, punctuate regularly by his trademark giggle, the 75-year-old Buddhist monk also lamented that global efforts to tackle climate change were being stymied by nation’s refusal to make short-term sacrifices for the long-term benefit of the global community.

The broadness of the Tibetan spiritual leader’s appeal was clear from the crowds streaming into the venue. There were hipsters in jeans, families with children, Buddhist monks wrapped in robes and older couples.

Central to the theme, the Dalai Lama said, was that religion was not the only path to happiness. But the happiness that comes from material possessions and “sensory” joys such as good food, beautiful music and sex would only be short-term.

“Whether we accept religion or not is individual,” he said. “If you have no interest in religion, no problem, but you should not neglect that inner value of compassion and sense of others’ wellbeing because it brings inner power and inner strength.

“It reduces fear and insecurity, which bring anger and frustration and many destructive emotions. Compassion and warm-heartedness is their antidote.”

Asked about celebrations after the death of Osama bin Laden, he responded that he opposed the death penalty.

“Give them life imprisonment and give them our forgiveness,” he said. “We must forgive the sinner but oppose their sin.”

The Dalai Lama leaves Australia today.

The West Australian pg.7 Print Edition Only, Monday 20 June 2011.

What's all the fuss about?

There's a lot of polling and politicking going on, not only here in Australia but around the world, regarding the subject of 'Gay Marriage', or 'Same-Sex Marriage' the reality is that what is really being called for is 'Marriage Equality'. Not special acknowledgement but actual acknowledgement of the validity of our relationships.

Sadly, the strongest voices against such equality are the very same that decry the promiscuity, hedonism and instability of relationships outside their vanilla mould. However, modern statistics and the media choices of the larger population would demonstrate that such moral turpitude is not the franchise of the GLBTI community.

The idea that Gay and Lesbian people would want to settle, establish long-term committed relationships should be celebrated rather than rejected. Instead they are greeted with disdain and mockery that belittles the level of commitment that those wishing to enter such relationships have demonstrated. In reality, GLBTI people who wish to marry have a greater level of commitment to the institution than their heterosexual counterparts because they have had to fully consider the implications of what they are entering into.

In point of fact the marriage industry is a booming success with numerous repeat clients who seem unable to get it right the first time. In western society the commoditization of marriage is and has always been the device through which power, property and status has been achieved. This is also evident in the feeding frenzy, which is the tabloid media and its infatuation with celebrity and political marriage, divorce and re-marriage. 

The anti-equality crowd seems to be stuck in the idea that God instituted marriage 6000 years ago and it hasn’t changed since. However, Marriage, as a social construct has evolved and changed dramatically over the centuries according to the social and financial pressures placed upon it.

Until the 20^th century, in western society, marriage involved the transaction of property, lands, and in particular the ownership of the females owned by the master of the house. In point of fact very few people who didn’t have money until the Victorian age got married but they relied upon the convention of “Common Law Marriage” or what would be regarded as de’facto marriage in modern parlance.

In Australia of 2011 the position that the definition of marriage is the union of one man and one woman for life is an artificial construct that neglects the ‘FACT’ that the social construct of marriage in the 21^st Century has already changed; that the social construct of marriage internationally includes marriages between people of the same sexual orientation. It is, in fact, a burying of one’s head in the sand.

Marriage in 2011 internationally includes those marriages celebrated in places like Canada, Spain and the Netherlands. However, countries around the world that do not recognise marriages that have been celebrated in such jurisdictions are both burying their heads in the sand and neglecting their responsibilities under the Hague “Convention of the 14 March 1978 on the celebration and recognition of the validity of marriage”. Article 9.

The concept of the separation of Church and state, as a social convention, is central to what is regarded as a secular society. Countries like Australia are not Theocracies and so should not bind religious conventions to the rest of society. Given that the current Prime Minister is a confirmed Atheist and in a De’facto relationship there is no legitimate justification for supporting the John Howard definition of Marriage which was shoved down the corporate Australian throat 13 August 2004.

Many Gay and Lesbian couples have been married and remain married with a stronger level of commitment than most of their heterosexual counterparts. Yet, in Australia, they are still not recognised; instead they are shunned. What’s all the fuss about?