Quote of the Day

. . . Things are changing – the world is becoming a safer place for my gay friends. They’re going to get equal rights. . . . The Church keeps scratching its head, wondering why 70% of 23-30 year-olds who were brought up in church leave. I’m going to offer a pretty candid answer, and it’s going to make some people upset, but I care about the Church too much to be quiet. We’re scared of change. We always have been. When scientists proposed that the Earth could be moving through space, church bishops condemned the teaching, citing Psalm 104:5 to say that God “set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.” But the scientific theory continued, and the Church still exists. I’m saying this: we cannot keep pitting the church against humanity, or progress. DON’T hear me saying that we can’t fight culture on anything. Lots of things in culture are absolutely contradictory to love and equality, and we should be battling those things. The way culture treats women, or pornography? Get at that, church. I’ll be right there with you. But my generation, the generation that can smell bullshit, especially holy bullshit, from a mile away, will not stick around to see the church fight gay marriage against our better judgment. It’s my generation who is overwhelmingly supporting marriage equality, and Church, as a young person and as a theologian, it is not in your best interest to give them that ultimatum.

My whole life, I’ve been told again and again that Christianity is not conducive with homosexuality. It just doesn’t work out. I was forced to choose between the love I had for my gay friends and so-called biblical authority. I chose gay people, and I’m willing to wager I’m not the only one. I said, “If the Bible really says this about gay people, I’m not too keen on trusting what it says about God.” And I left my church. It has only been lately that I have seen evidence that the Bible could be saying something completely different about love and equality.

. . . We want to stay in your churches, we want to hear about your Jesus, but it’s hard to hear about love from a God who doesn’t love our gay friends (and we all have gay friends). Help us find love in the church before we look for it outside. . . .

– Dannika Nash

"An Open Letter to the Church from My Generation"
April 7, 2013

Recommended Off-site Links:
Millennial Support for Gay Marriage Hits All-Time High: Pew Research Center – Tyler Kingkade (HuffPost College, March 21, 2013).
GOP Pundit Bill Kristol: Republicans Shouldn’t Listen to Know-Nothing Young People on Same-Sex Marriage – Annie-Rose Strasser (ThinkProgress.org, April 1, 2013).
Gay Marriage, Millennials, and Why Bill Kristol Is Dead Wrong – Nick Vadala (The Philly Post, April 5, 2013).
Approval of Gay Marriage Is Greater Among College Freshmen Than Americans at Large – Sara Lipka (The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 16, 2010).
Young People Lead Way in Changing Gay Marriage Attitudes – Christopher Burbach (Omaha.com, May 10, 2012).
Strong Support for Gay Marriage Now Exceeds Strong Opposition – Damla Ergun (ABC News, May 23, 2012).
How Opinion on Same-Sex Marriage is Changing, and What It Means – Nate Silver (New York Times, March 26, 2013).
Is the Debate on Gay Marriage Effectively Over? – Nigel Barber (HuffPost Politics, July 10, 2012).
I’m Young and Straight, But Gay Marriage is My Issue Too – Alejandra Alarcon (New America Media, April 3, 2013).
Gay Marriage 2013: Who Are the 26% of Young People Against Gay Marriage? – Hannah Ridge (PolicyMic.com, March 2013).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' "Same Love"
Marriage: "Part of What is Best in Human Nature"
From Australia, "Possibly the Most Beautiful Ad for Marriage Equality"
Lanae Erickson on Taking a Lesson from Down Under
God Weighs In on the Gay Marriage Debate