Fundamentalism at the Equality Ride?

I really love Susan. She comes from a fundamentalist evangelical background and started to feel out of place in heterosexuality in high school. Being a Christian she felt like she needed to repress, that this was her “thorn in the flesh” moment. She did this for years, eventually moving here to plant a church. But after a while Susan found that she couldn’t hide her sexuality and be “fully human.” So she left the small Bible college she was attending and came out.

 

What I especially appreciate about Susan is how she still struggles with what the Christian faith has to say about homosexuality. All she knows is that there is something inside her that is incompatible with the sexuality the church believes she should be expressing. But she would never try to make the Bible work for her. She’s smart and astute; she doesn’t know if her choice to come out is compatible with Scripture but she certainly wants to figure it out.

 

It was this sense of progression and formation that made me think Susan was perfect for the Soulforce Equality Ride. If you aren’t familiar, Soulforce sends a group of young people on a bus tour to talk about gay and lesbian oppression on evangelical Christian college campuses. They strive for “open and honest discussion on these topics (as) the first step towards reconciliation” and they do this both formally and informally at the Wheatons, Gordons, Messiahs and Westmonts of the country.

 

But there are a couple of funny things about the project. Interestingly Soulforce rarely if ever has actual Christians on the ride. My friend Laura had the Ride visit Wheaton when she was there. She remarked that the Riders weren’t at all ready for the rigor of theological discussion and engagement asked for by Wheaton students. Instead there were a lot of stories, usually very emotional stories. Laura said it was strange that the Riders couldn’t engage in the way their audience needed to be engaged.

 

The other strange thing was learning that Susan is probably going to be rejected from the Ride because she told the leaders she’s not sure that homosexuality is not a sin. Soulforce said that a position that homosexuality is absolutely not a sin was essential to their mission and maybe this wasn’t a “good fit.” (This is also strange because I’m not sure that it matters or not if non-Christians think homosexuality is a sin. Sin is a theological term used by the church. I’m uncomfortable with Soulforce using that word.)

 

This seems problematic for “open and honest discussion.” The more I heard from Susan the more I felt like Soulforce was at odds with its own mission. Instead the group seems like they’re trying to convince others that they are right. The possibility of vulnerability to other opinions, a willingness to engage critically with disparate theologies and a willingness to allow people to be in process were totally absent. Essentially, this sounds like a missionary effort. It looks a lot like the worst parts of evangelicalism to me.

 

I’m ending with part of Susan’s letter that followed up on her closing-door interview. I think it’s such a poignant and helpful reminder of faith driven by non-violence. It’s reminiscent of the wild patience of John Howard Yoder that Romand Coles writes about: “vulnerable relations with outsider are integral to the otherness of the church that when this understanding of caritas is forgotten and unpracticed the church loses its otherness and is assimilated to the violence of the world. When Christians cease to engage outsiders with receptive generosity, they cease to let the church be the church; they lose sight of Jesus Christ.” That’s real pacifism, baby.

 

Here’s Susan’s gloss:

 

I think this is true non-violence: being honest in ways that expose our own vulnerabilities so as to draw others into our experiences, create understanding and acceptance, and break down the barriers that have been built because we have so often remained separate and immovable in our beliefs.   From here we can build relationships that truly reflect the love, compassion, and sacrifice that has been exemplified through the life and work of Christ.