John Dickson has written a great article for ABC Unleashed arguing for a more nuanced discussion about homosexuality. It’s reasonable, intelligent and well-argued.
I think this is an important issue to be discussing and appreciate Dickson’s input. Christians have to work hard at not being jerks in how we speak.
Here’s another recent article from Michael Jensen on the issue.
EDIT: Here’s a great quote from Dickson:
There is a failure of ethical imagination here, an inability to utilise two mental muscles at the same time: the muscle of strong conviction and the muscle of compassion for all. Jesus was the master of this ethical exploit. Open the Gospel of Luke at chapter 13 and you’ll hear him condemning certain behaviour and warning of coming judgment. Continue through to chapter 15 and you’ll find him wining and dining with ‘sinners’ – those you might have thought were first in line for judgment – and illustrating the point with a parable about a father’s love for his prodigal son. Keep reading to the end of the story and the point is made with disturbing clarity: so seriously did Jesus take sin that he thought he had to die for it; so seriously did he love sinners, a category in which he placed us all, that he thought he had to die for them. He was able to be morally exacting and deeply compassionate toward the same people at the same time – though it is a sad and undeniable fact that many in the church since have had difficulty emulating the feat.
I’m glad some higher profile people are taking up this cause. I think it’s really important we move the goalposts in this debate to protecting our right to discriminate within the boundaries of the church, rather than forcing the democratically elected government to cater to our minority.
If some of the comments on the Dickson post are anything to go by, we have a lot of work to do in reaching out to the gay community to educate them about who Jesus really is, and not what ever their misconceptions are about Christians may be.
I’m certainly not one who would be good at this, but it’s an area where I’m sure many of us could step up in – even in small ways.
i read the first 20 or so comments as they came in on friday arvo – a bit frustrating… i felt that people had missed the whole point of the dickson’s argument!!