God Loves Everyone — Except You
…A story about Homosexuality in the Catholic Church
I believe in God.
More specifically, I believe in a Christian God.
Holy Father, Holy Spirit, Jesus.
I do not care about the name; I care about the message.
A God that sacrificed his own son, himself, out of love for humanity.
Love.
Something we all crave to get, we all long to give.
1 Corinthians 13:4–5 says Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
So, what is sinful about love?
What is unholy about deeply caring about someone?
And what exactly is sacrilegious about sharing this unique message of love with the rest of the world?
125 permanent, voluntary, current and former employees of the Catholic Church Germany have outed themselves to be gay or queer in a video. This coming out was published under the hashtag #OutInChurch and the public television channel ZDF provided a documentation, “Wie Gott uns schuf” (How God created us), about this topic that contained several interviews with affected people.
The Catholic Church runs churches, schools, nursing homes, hospitals, charity organisations and much more. Without its employees, volunteers and members, this would not be possible. In order to work for it, a potential employee has to sign a contract which contains the obligation to follow the tuition, sexual morality and law of the Catholic Church.
Homosexuality and Transsexuality contradicts with the Catholic tuition, sexual morality as well as Catholic canon law. This means that there is currently no possibility for homosexual or transsexual couples to receive the holy blessing or to be married by the Catholic Church. Furthermore, according to the beliefs of the Catholic Church, same-sex couples live in sin and must be renounced communion. If it is brought to attention that an employee lives in a same-sex partnership, this person is very likely to be fired from its working position. Furthermore, there is a very high risk of not getting any pension due to violating the contract. Vicar or doctor, teacher or nurse, this applies to every single employee of the Catholic Church.
The Bible says that a man and a woman should unite and multiply (1. Mose 28). The Catholic Church still holds on to this idea today. If a man were to join with a man and a woman with a woman, they would not be able to have children. It would be unnatural and not wanted by God.
The most famous example of homosexuality as a sin in the Bible is Sodom and Gomorra. Genesis 19 tells the story about the worshipper Lot and how he was visited by two of God’s angels. Lot invites them into his house and grants them hospitality, this means from this point on his guests are under his protection. The male citizens of Sodom, aware of the presence of the guests in Lot’s house, demand the guests to be handed out to them, so that they can be intimate with them. Their demand is neglected by Lot and he calls it evil. However, the real sin is not the homosexuality in this story. It is the demonstration of power. The male citizens of Sodom strive to violate the hospitality Lot has given to his guests by dominating and raping them. This was a common strategy in the antiquity. Therefore, the humiliation of vulnerable people and the practice of sexual violence is the sin in Genesis 19 not homosexuality.
Seeing homosexuality/transsexuality as wrong is not something solely Catholic. As a student for Protestant Theology myself, I can assure you I have heard some homo- and transphobic utterances in my own theological “party”. These utterances were often followed by the generous statement of “But who am I to judge?”. Indeed, who are you to judge? You can only judge if there actually is something judgeable. Is decent love judgeable? Is it rateable? Is there something like good love on one hand and bad love on the other?
It is correct that there are bible phrases that reject homosexuality. This is a fact. But neither antiquity nor the Bible know our current understanding of sexual orientation, partnership or lifestyle. The Bible is a product of its time. When reading a biblical text, it’s social, cultural and historical context needs to be taken into consideration to be properly understood.
And when arguing with the Bible, verses that promote love should not be ignored. What happened to Let everything you do be done by love (Corinther 16:14)? What about Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them (1. John 4:16)? When two people of the same sex love each other, aren’t they fulfilling God’s wishes?
This is not an encouragement to leave the church.
This is a call for change. If everybody leaves, no one is left to bring about this change.
There is this saying, “You can’t change a running system”. Well, you can, if you are part of this system.
I want to encourage every single reader, straight, gay or queer, to take the space in church that every faithful person is entitled to. There is not a church, you are the church.
Step up for yourself. Demand change. Be change.
Maybe this attitude is rather old, but I believe in fixing things instead of throwing them away.
And I believe this is something worth fixing.
Because I believe in God and I believe in love.
