Quote of the Day

Christianity has an ugly history of promoting one human’s race, gender or sexual orientation as superior to that of another. People who have intersecting identities as Christians and as members of marginalized groups have had to learn how to occupy many spaces simultaneously in order to affirm their humanity. They’ve had to interrogate their faith, face difficult challenges to it and make decisions about how they will live freely within it. As [late Episcopalian priest] Pauli Murray summarized Major J. Jones’ Christian Ethics for Black Theology, "It is a sign of maturity when an oppressed people are no longer willing to adopt without question a religion or God who accepts the idea of inequality for any part of the human family."

People want and deserve love and acceptance because they are human. That should be enough of a reason for the church to give it. And enough of a reason to question why the church isn’t, as Rev. Candice Benbow said, "radical in its expression of love/acceptance."

– Mariam Williams
Excerpted from "Good Can Come from Christians’
Uncomfortable Confrontation with Gay Marriage Ruling"
The National Catholic Reporter
July 13, 2015

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Same Premise
• Compassion, Christian Community, and Homosexuality
• Celebrating and Embodying Divine Hospitality
• Trusting God's Generous Invitation

Related Off-site Links:
Why You Can't Be Pro-Black and Homophobic at the Same Time – Brandon Ellington Patterson (Mother Jones, July 2 2015).
Transgender and Catholic — Nick Stevens (The New York Times via The Progressive Catholic Voice, May 24, 2015).