Article on Symposium in local Boston Newspaper

NEWS http://www.innewsweekly.com/innews/print.php?article_code=3547 Progressive Christians see hope for gay marriage Massachusetts-based Christian think tank, Institute for Progressive Christianity, holds winter symposium by Chuck Colbert March 01, 2007 A progressive Christian organization held a winter symposium on Feb. 23-24, at First Church in Cambridge, offering up an ecumenical, liberal vision of the Christian tradition, gay marriage, and political action - one not often heard in public discourse. Incorporated in Massachusetts, the Institute for Progressive Christianity (IPC), an academic think tank, sponsored the event, which drew about 50 people. "The message of Christianity has to be for full freedom and equality," said Richard Parker a lecturer at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, who also urged attendees "to be who you are, the emerging majority of progressive Christianity" and not to be defined "in reaction to the last 30 years" of the Religious Right's ascendancy in American politics. That theme was no more apparent than during the marquee panel discussion of same-sex marriage organized by Otis Gaddis III, who discussed the witness of gay marriage as a "moral good" in "Christian theology." He also suggested assuming a "non-defensive," forward-focused outlook, pointing to a recent University of California and Los Angeles poll that shows 61 percent of college freshmen favor same-sex marriage. "We must own, by faith, that the future will be more just," Gaddis said. Also affirming a positive case for same-sex civil and religious marriage, Gina Farag, an IPC contributing author, pointed to a "disconnect over sexual sins" among conservative Christians, who, she said, "actually consider a variety of sexual behaviors as sinful," including "promiscuity, and adultery" as well as "rape and child molestation." Yet none of these immoral or illegal sexual activities preclude marriage, Farag said, only "gay sexual behavior." Two Episcopal priests, Anne C. Fowler and Pam Werntz, offered their positive perspectives. Rev. Werntz, a legally married lesbian and mother of three, said the "social capital" of marriage, the "status it conveys to families" was important, especially to her children who were eager for their parents to marry. "My desire to witness to the richness of my marriage to my wife Joy Howard brings me to this place," she said. Werntz serves as associate rector in Brookline, St. Paul's Church. Rev. Fowler spoke about "a wave of weddings since May 2004," when the historic Goodridge decision became the law of the Commonwealth. "Perhaps one-third of our families are newlyweds," she said, adding, "We have seen such an outpouring of energy, love, creativity, joy and gratitude, as I've never before had the privilege to be part of." Fowler serves as rector in Jamaica Plain's St. John's Church, as well as board president of RCFM (Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry), an interfaith organization of more than 700 clergy who support same-sex civil marriage. Not all the conversation focused outreach to progressive people of faith. Raised as a Southern Baptist, Justin Lee said he grew up surrounded by people who held "the unwavering belief that homosexuality was a sin and gays were doomed to hell." Lee, who in 2001 founded the nationally acclaimed Gay Christian Network, said "To impact fully the culture at large, progressives must find better ways to engage the conservative evangelical churches and community," especially parents, who sometimes disown children after finding out their own are gay. For GLBT youth, the organization's Web site (gaychristian.net) provides information and support anonymously at the same time protecting the safety (from online predators) and privacy of young people who register. Locally, the RCFM has in fact sought faith-to-faith dialogue with Cardinal Sean O'Malley. But so far no meeting has occurred. The RCFM has also expressed an openness to dialogue with other religious conservatives, including evangelical Christians, while the Massachusetts Family Institute, an anti-gay marriage group, has called for civil but not religious dialogue. The Religious Right was a topic of discussion. Chip Berlet, a senior analyst at Somerville-based Political Research Associates, said it was a mistake for progressives to characterize religious conservatives as "crazy" or "stupid," he said, adding, "They have different ideological structures, frames, and narratives." But their religious "extremism is not helpful," Berlet explained. He posited "advocacy for greater democracy and equality" as a solution to the right's "demonization" of the other and "apocalyptic" world view of the end times. A final panel discussion concerned the intersection of faith and political activism. Mass. state Rep. Byron Rushing (D-Boston), a layman active in the Episcopal Church, said his "primary ministry" was in "politics." In favoring civil marriage for all, including gays, Rushing said, people of faith can indeed advocate in the public square, "doing our political work as religious people." •