Seeking a liberating interpretation of the Bible

By Gayle Pollard-Terry of The Los Angeles Times

At the recent national convocation of the Unity Fellowship of Christ Church, held in Los Angeles, one of the most popular workshops was “Homosexuality and the Bible.”

It started with a prayer, then challenged the conservative interpretation of certain texts, such as the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, comparing them to scriptures once used by whites to justify slavery and verses cited to support second-class status for women.

Rejecting a literal reading of the laws of Leviticus, which reference homosexuality, the Rev. Jacquelyn Holland, from the Unity Fellowship of Christ Church in Newark, N.J., put the scripture in the context of when and where it was written.

“The Bible was written at a particular time, by a particular group of people,” she said. “It speaks to their culture and to some of their history.”

Calling for a liberating interpretation of the Bible, the panelists also addressed texts in the New Testament.

“Jesus never said one word about homosexuality. The only thing Jesus said was to love everybody,” said the Rev. Benita Ramsey, the minister of the Unity Fellowship of Christ Church in Riverside, Calif.

“When Jesus died on the cross, the old laws went away. If you are in a loving relationship, God loves you.”

The Rev. Horace Griffin, a theology professor, said that only six books in the Bible address homosexuality.

“What I raise in my work is, generally African-American Christians have chosen those passages selectively… The Bible is addressing homosexual activity without an understanding of how we view homosexuality in the 21st century.”

“We would certainly not say they had slavery in the Bible, and it was not condemned so we should follow the mode of Abraham and Job,” he said.

Addressing how women are treated in some scriptures, Griffin said, “We have moved beyond the text of women (being) inferior to men.”

The conservative interpretation of the Bible favored by most black congregations presents obstacles for black, gay Christians.

“There are a lot of black same-gender-loving people who are oppressed by the Bible,” said Jasmyne Cannick during a break between workshops at the convocation. As a result, she said, they don’t go to church, although “black people as a whole are spiritual people. When things go wrong, we pray. We pray on a daily basis. I know black gay people who don’t feel that they can pray to God, that they can call on God for help. I know black gay people who actually do believe they are going to hell.”

The communications director of the Black AIDS Institute, she also belongs to the Unity Fellowship of Christ Church in Los Angeles. Armed with her church’s biblical interpretations, she stands up for her beliefs.

“When you have a discussion, people ask, ‘What Bible are you reading from? You must be reading from the gay Bible,’” she said. “So it’s important when you have these discussions that you invite people to come and bring the Bible that they use on a daily basis, and dissect that Bible, dissect that scripture with them.”