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Behind the Pew

Adrianna Howard
Christianity and Sexuality in the United States
Published in
6 min readMay 10, 2017

A Look at the Church Today…

Visual

Inspired by Bishop Yvette Flunder’s “Healing Oppression Sickness.”

Artist Statement

  • What is supposed to be a place for healing and relief, has slowly become a place of condemnation and distress. A place where people come to be loved and accepted, but instead they leave out deprived and heartbroken. This is not to say that all churches are completely bad, but it is to say that there is a problem going on within the church, and religion as a whole. It is in God’s very house where He has become the guest, and we, the hostess. His Word, His love, His entire being has become humanized; and as a result, people suffer. It is in these churches (some) that we project destructive personal opinions and judgments on to people, and justify it by saying “ it’s in the Bible.”
  • The purpose of this piece was to illustrate perception versus reality. The woman on the left represents those who go to church (view religion as) to be uplifted, loved, respected, and understood. However, when she leaves out (on the right), she is filled with everything that she did not come there for.

Background

Kim Burrell Bashes Homosexuals|Implies They Will Die in 2017-YouTube

For this project, I based everything upon a church-related incident involving gospel singer and pastor, Kim Burrell. During the New Year’s Eve service, Burrell preached a sermon that was unknowingly video recorded. The 2 minute video captured her saying some pretty controversial things involving members of the LGBTQ community. Probably the most controversial thing said was when she referred to homosexuality as a “perverted spirit.”

Kim Burrell Responds to Backlash On Homosexual Sermon-YouTube

The video instantly went viral and as a result, Kim issued out her response/apology towards the backlash she was receiving. Unfortunately, the backlash continued to increase. One of the few things that happened was her cancellation to appear on Ellen. The songstress was to preform alongside Pharrell Williams the song “I See a Victory” from the Hidden Figures movie soundtrack. However, due to her comments, she was not allowed on the show. Additionally, her radio show that aired out of Texas State University was cancelled, and she was uninvited to the BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards where she was a co-honoree.

If that was not enough, she received a slew of responses on social media, especially on FaceBook. The comments ranged from supportive, to in the middle, and to just pure hateful. It was actually quite interesting to see the mixed reviews, but it was also hurtful. From these comments, I gathered that there were was an overwhelming amount of hypocrisy. Rather than this incident being used as a teaching moment or an opportunity where people could respectfully share their opinions, it turned into an outright brawl (with words). Here is one example:

Rickey Smiley Official Fan Page-FaceBook

What makes this even more sad was that people fought “hate” with hate. The same way in which people claim that church/religion is judgmental, hateful, and hypocritical is the same way in which they responded to Ms. Burrell. So, the question is: who is really at fault? Are people on the outside (of the church/secular world) any better than the Christians or those who practice religion? By no means am I excusing or lessening what she did, but you cannot hold one group of people to a standard, and not yourself. It doesn’t make sense to go out into the streets and protest about love and acceptance, when in certain situations, you pick and choose who to give it to. Just like you cannot be behind a pulpit preaching about God’s love and living right, and then condemn, shame, and project your negative opinions in the same breath.

Connections to Class

There were a few readings in class that I felt connected most to this topic. The first would be Kelly Brown Douglas’ article “Sexuality and the Black Church: A Womanist Perspective.” Douglas explained the sexuality crisis of black people beginning with slavery up to present day. She talked about how the sexuality of black peoples have been demonized and oversexualized, so much so that it has been ingrained in our present society, and it has trickled down into the black church and community. One group that suffers from this are those who are members of the LGBTQ community. Often times they are made to choose between identifying as their race or as their sexuality, never as both. This can cause so many problems: mentally, emotionally, and sometimes physically. I also saw this same correlation while reading “Reactions to Gospel Preacher Kim Burrell on LGBT Issues Reveal Split Among Black Churches” by The Washington Post. This article describes some of the same things that Douglas discusses, while putting an emphasis on how not only is Burrell’s view common in the black church, but it also impacts suicide rates among black youth (Shellnut, The Washington Post).

Very similar to Douglas’ article is that of Richard N. Pitt. In “Still Looking for My Jonathan: Gay Black Men’s Management of Religious and Sexual Identity Conflicts,” he explains the negative impact the black church and community has on the sexuality of black peoples. He also touches on this notion of having two separate identities when it comes to members of the LGBTQ community who are also religious. Because they have to learn how to turn on and turn off different parts of them, it doesn’t allow for them to practice what he calls “identity synthesis.” This is basically where instead of having split identities, an individual joins together his/her gay identity with their religious identity, so that they become simply one, accepted, identity (Pitt, 41).

The last readings deal with the idea healing and finding a church that is right for you.“Healing Oppression Sickness” by Bishop Yvette Flunder. Flunder describes oppression sickness as” internalized oppression that causes the oppressed to be infected by the sickness of the oppressor” (117). In other words, those who have or feel that they have some type of privilege use that to keep others -who they deem as less than or less loved by God for whatever reason-down, especially in the church. “We are God’s Children, Y’All: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Lesbian- and Gay-Affirming Congregations” by Krista McQueeney explains how including sexuality in to religion makes it easier for people who do not fit into sexual norms to actually feel like they are apart of a religious community. Additionally, there are churches and spaces that are pro-LGBTQ, as McQueeney researched, who teach the Bible and represent Christianity in a way that is inclusive and accepting. What I took away from these articles was the importance of love and acceptance. When we realize that love and acceptance is for everyone, then and only then can people truly heal.

Personal Reflection and Conclusion

I was sort of at a crossroads while I was doing this topic. One part of me was extremely hurt because Kim Burrell was somebody who I “knew”. I knew who she was, I knew her music, and we are sisters in Christ. So, it was hard for me to see her receiving all this scrutiny. On the other hand, I was also hurt by what she did. I truly believe that there is a right and a wrong way to do things, and if you are going to be doing things in the name of Jesus, then it needs to be done in love. I felt like she could have handled her words better, and her tone could have been much more loving. We cannot expect-the church/believers- to reach outside of the church on our own. We have to do things with the love of God because if we do what we want to do, we are only going to hurt people.

References

Christianity
LGBTQ

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Adrianna Howard
Christianity and Sexuality in the United States

Written by Adrianna Howard

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