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Are church teachings on homosexuality driving millennials away from faith?
March 31st, 2014
02:18 PM ET
How evangelicals won a culture war and lost a generation
(CNN) – On March 24, World Vision announced that the U.S. branch of the popular humanitarian organization would no longer discriminate against employees in same-sex marriages. It was a decision that surprised many but one that made sense, given the organization’s ecumenical nature. But on March 26, World Vision President Richard Stearns reversed the decision, stating, “our board acknowledged that the policy change we made was a mistake.” Supporters helped the aid group “see that with more clarity,” Stearns added, “and we’re asking you to forgive us for that mistake.” So what happened within those 48 hours to cause such a sudden reversal? The Evangelical Machine kicked into gear. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the decision pointed to “disaster,” and the Assemblies of God denomination encouraged its members to pull their financial support from the organization. Evangelicals took to Twitter and Facebook to threaten to stop sending money to their sponsored children unless World Vision reversed course. Within a day of the initial announcement, more than 2,000 children sponsored by World Vision lost their financial support. And with more and more individuals, churches and organizations threatening to do the same, the charity stood to lose millions of dollars in aid that would otherwise reach the poor, sick, hungry and displaced people World Vision serves. So World Vision reversed course. Stearns told The New York Times that some people, satisfied with the reversal, have called World Vision headquarters to ask, “Can I have my child back?” as though needy children are expendable bargaining chips in the culture war against gay and lesbian people. Many of us who grew up evangelical watched with horror as these events unfolded. As a longtime supporter of World Vision, I encouraged readers of my blog to pick up some of the dropped sponsorships after the initial decision. I then felt betrayed when World Vision backtracked, though I urged my readers not to play the same game but to keep supporting their sponsored children, who are of course at no fault in any of this. But most of all, the situation put into stark, unsettling relief just how misaligned evangelical priorities have become. When Christians declare that they would rather withhold aid from people who need it than serve alongside gays and lesbians helping to provide that aid, something is wrong. There is a disproportionate focus on homosexuality that consistently dehumanizes, stigmatizes and marginalizes gay and lesbian people and, at least in this case, prioritizes the culture war against them over and against the important work of caring for the poor. Evangelicals insist that they are simply fighting to preserve “biblical marriage,” but if this were actually about “biblical marriage,” then we would also be discussing the charity’s policy around divorce. But we’re not. Furthermore, Scripture itself teaches that when we clothe and feed those in need, we clothe and feed Christ himself, and when we withhold care from those in need, we withhold it from Christ himself (Matthew 25:31-46). Why are the few passages about homosexuality accepted uncritically, without regard to context or culture, but the many about poverty so easily discarded? As I grieved with my (mostly 20- and 30-something) readers over this ugly and embarrassing situation, I heard a similar refrain over and over again: “I don’t think I’m an evangelical anymore. I want to follow Jesus, but I can’t be a part of this.” I feel the same way. Whether it’s over the denial of evolutionary science, continued opposition to gender equality in the church, an unhealthy alliance between religion and politics or the obsession with opposing gay marriage, evangelicalism is losing a generation to the culture wars. A recent survey from Public Religion Research Institute revealed that nearly one-third of millennials who left their childhood faith did so because of “negative teachings” or “negative treatment” of gay and lesbian people. Christians can disagree about what the Bible says (or doesn’t say) about same-sex marriage. This is not an issue of orthodoxy. But when we begin using child sponsorships as bargaining tools in our debates, we’ve lost the way of Jesus. So my question for those evangelicals is this: Is it worth it? Is a “victory” against gay marriage really worth leaving thousands of needy children without financial support? Is a “victory” against gay marriage worth losing more young people to cynicism regarding the church? Is a “victory” against gay marriage worth perpetuating the idea that evangelical Christians are at war with LGBT people? And is a “victory” against gay marriage worth drowning out that quiet but persistent internal voice that asks, “what if we get this wrong?” I, for one, am tired of arguing. I’m tired of trying to defend evangelicalism when its leaders behave indefensibly. I’m going AWOL on evangelicalism’s culture wars so I can get back to following Jesus among its many refugees: LGBT people, women called to ministry, artists, science-lovers, misfits, sinners, doubters, thinkers and “the least of these.” I’m ready to stop waging war and start washing feet. From ATB: Words, scriptures, situations, and ideas to think and pray about during Lent.
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Opinion by Rachel Held Evans, special to CNN
Social Gains for Women Linked to Domestic Violence
MARCH 27, 2014, 5:26 AM
NEW DELHI — Indian women who experience economic and social gains in the form of employment and education are often at a greater risk for domestic violence, according to a study released on Tuesday.
The study, published in the peer-reviewed Population and Development Review, analyzed responses from more than 60,000 married women in the National Family Health Survey of India conducted from 2005 to 2006 in 29 states.
Abigail Weitzman, a doctoral candidate in sociology at New York University, wrote in her study that compared with women who do not work, women who are the only employed members of their households face more than twice the risk of frequent domestic violence and 1.51 times the risk of severe domestic violence, which includes beating, choking, burning or attack with a weapon.
Women with more education than their husbands had 1.4 times the risk of domestic violence and 1.54 times the risk of frequent violence compared with women with less education than their husbands.
“For lots of families, money is a source of power, at least implicitly,” Ms. Weitzman said in a telephone interview. “If you’re starting to change the balance of power, it changes the equation.”
The idea of empowering women through development programs is almost as old as the idea of developmental aid itself. The United Nations Development Program considers women’s empowerment as one of eight millennium development goals.
In India, the idea of women’s empowerment has received more public attention since the gang rape of a woman on a bus in New Delhi in December 2012 received widespread international attention.
Ms. Weitzman, whose findings are echoed in similar studies in India released recently, said that attempts to empower women through government programs like micro-financing were far more complicated than they seem.
“Scientific evidence of the unintended consequences suggests that programs that are designed to empower women are much more complicated than simply providing women with resources to achieve complete autonomy,” she said in a telephone interview.
“Change is often very turbulent,” she said. “I think that’s perhaps what India is witnessing right now, and I don’t think India is alone in experiencing this turbulence.”
Blogger’s note: We arrived just a few weeks after the horrible group rape of a young woman on a bus in Delhi that is mentioned in the article. It led to speeches and demonstrations all over the country. The leaders in India do seem to be awake now on this horrible problem. The other side of the coin of women’s empowerment and economic gains causing domestic violence is out in the light now, too. It reminds me of years ago in the US when women started having jobs outside the home. It was argued that families would suffer and men would lose their jobs due to women working. There was an adjustment for families and the workforce. As Ms. Weitzman said in the above article, “Change is turbulent and India is not alone in experiencing this turbulence. ” There are examples of this upheaval for women in other parts of the world, especially in the Muslim world as they, too, strive for equality with the men. Patience and understanding of the psychology of change is important, but progress forward is the goal and that should never be forgotten. Finding and naming the challenges are the first step of overcoming the problems.
Challenges for Women in India!
TalesAlongTheWay 