Gay-rights advocates reinterpret Scriptures

About 1,000 advocates are to meet in a convention next week.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
The Book of Leviticus is often cited as clear proof that homosexual activity is forbidden.
"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination," says Leviticus 18:22, New Revised Standard Version.
"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination ... ," declares Leviticus 20:13.
But religion professor David Otto argues that the Bible verses are not so black and white. When biblical and cultural context are considered, what appears to be absolute gives away to ambiguity, says Otto, a professor at Centenary College in Shreveport, La.
Otto will discuss the Bible as a sacred text that offers something other than condemnation to gays and other sexual minorities as one of the speakers at a national convention of about 1,000 Christian gay-rights advocates. Billed as the largest ecumenical event of its kind ever held, WOW2003 (for "Witness Our Welcome") is scheduled for Thursday through Aug. 17 in Philadelphia.
Current topic
Homosexuality is a hot-button issue in the Christian world, as the current feuding in the Episcopal church shows.
Many WOW participants will come from Protestant denominations -- Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and others -- that have fought internally for years about whether to allow same-sex rites and actively gay clergy.
Otto said he would encourage WOW participants to read the Bible in a way that considers "the depth of the text" and the assumptions and biases brought by contemporary readers.
Scripture often has multiple meanings, he said, so one needs to do "deep reading." Questions to apply to the Leviticus passage on homosexuality, he said, include:
"How does this fit into the context of other statements of law in the chapter? What did the text mean culturally at the time? Is it the same as a modern-day understanding of homosexuality? Is it really sexuality at all, or does it have to do more with the role and status of women?"
Welcoming strangers
He also said churches had lost the ability to welcome the stranger.
"In much of the Bible, an encounter with a stranger is not an encounter of fear, but a potential encounter with the sacred" -- or God, Otto said.
"How do we reclaim the ability to live in the midst of 'the other' and not see them as a threat?"
WOW's goal is to foster inclusive worship in congregations. Convention activities will include workshops, Bible study, daily worship, gospel concerts, and a legal-rights forum.
There also will be an exhibit of liturgical stoles owned by clergy, elders, deacons, seminarians and others who have been barred from serving their faith communities because of their sexual orientation.
The convention sponsors are 13 gay-activist groups including More Light Presbyterians, the Reconciling Ministries Network who are members of the United Methodist Church, and the Open and Affirming Program of the United Church of Christ.
Conference co-chairman Marco Grimaldo said many participants come from churches struggling with issues of inclusiveness, a dilemma rooted in what he calls an unyielding worldview.
"Some people are so vested in their understanding of what Scripture means that it is very difficult for them to grow beyond that," Grimaldo said. "They feel they are going to lose something if the rest of us are allowed to study things in a new way."
XFor more information, visit http://www.wow2k.org.