As the resident Nashvillian at SoF and someone who works at the UMC down the street from Belmont University, I am obligated to weigh in on the issue of Lisa Howe’s forced resignation from her position as the women’s soccer coach. For those of you who have not heard about this injustice, it has reached national news coverage. The short synopsis is that Linda Howe announced that her same-sex partner was pregnant and Belmont University had issue with her openly discussing herself as a lesbian, which led to her forced resignation that was said to be a “mutual agreement.”
A little background on Belmont University is helpful. Up until 2007, Belmont had been affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. After the break, it still claimed a Christian identity but promoted itself as ecumenical. Its mission statement is as follows: “Belmont University is a student-centered Christian community providing an academically challenging education that empowers men and women of diverse backgrounds to engage and transform the world with disciplined intelligence, compassion, courage and faith.”
On one level, I think a lot of students at Belmont are being empowered to transform the world. This is best seen at the protest that was held on December 8th (see picture) where students held signs with messages like: “Christ is Love” and “Jesus was born to a nontraditional mother, would Belmont fire her too?” Later they hosted a letter-writing campaign at the student center. Needless to say, the students realize the discrepancies between the school’s mission and the administration’s actions and they are not happy about it.
Important alumni are also speaking out on this issue. Most notably, Mike Curb, president of Nashville based Curb Records, came out with very powerful statements claiming that Belmont needs to decide between being a nationally recognized University or being a church. He promised to continue to speak out until Belmont makes some substantial institutional changes, including the addition of an inclusive statement of LGBT people.
This story is heart-breaking. Howe had been working for Belmont for several years. She was able to recruit great athletes and transform the soccer program. By no means was her identity as a lesbian detrimental to her job performance. Now, she is unemployed with a child on the way. In my opinion, her forced resignation is not in conjunction with any Christian teaching that I can think of. On the contrary, Jesus’ message is one of love and compassion for all, with a special emphasis for “the least of these” (Mt. 25:45). If we are going to claim to be Christ-followers, we have very little space to be judgmental. Too often, “Christians” cast judgments on others with ease in lieu of extending the hand of Christian hospitality.
I do not know about y’all, but I am pretty sick and tired of having my tradition co-opted by those who hate. Now, I am no saint. Most of us are not. I just wish that we all had the wherewithal to take the logs our of own eyes, so we can recognize that unjust actions, like Lisa Howe’s termination, are not a part of any Gospel justice. Thoughts?
I am going to present a personal response which may come across as harsh, but please take this as a simple statement of how I actually think about an issue which exercises me greatly.
Just as you are sick and tired of having what you see as “your” tradition “co-opted” by those who interpret scripture differently to how you do, I am sick and tired of people of faith denying the responsibility borne by their religion in cases such as these by trying to claim that those who spread hate aren’t “real” Christians, Muslims etc. The whole enterprise strikes me as disingenuous and shifty.
This is particularly clear when you say “In my opinion, her forced resignation is not in conjunction with any Christian teaching that I can think of.” I am tempted to reply, in my inimitable British way, “Bollocks”. I think you know precisely which parts of scripture those taking these actions drew upon to justify them, and I will not insult your intelligence by quoting them here.
The whole problem with this approach – the “We are the real Christians and we really like gays!” approach – is that, of course, those who disagree say precisely the same thing. They would refer to YOU as a “Christian” and they would cite passages to support their position.
This highlights to me the problem of taking our moral positions from texts which are open to multiple legitimate interpretations. There is no way I can see by which you can substantiate your claim to be representing “real Christians” which would not be open to a critique on the very same bases on which it is itself founded.
Both the comment & reply leave a lot to be desired in terms of speaking fairly about the “person” involved.
She is obviously a human being & to be treated “less than” as has been done here is a real injustice to her. It is also an injustice to the very institution that let her go. Its mission statement does include the words “that empowers men and women of diverse backgrounds, etc.”
Looks like they don’t really mean what they say.
“Christian” is bandied about so much, it has lost its savor, like the salt the Master speaks of in his talks. Maybe that is why one sees such a large growth in Islam? Christianity is nothing more than “fractionalized” cults. & if I remember correctly, Jesus said himself, “A house divided cannot stand”. It is time to come together under the banner of Love, not judgement.
“The Fatherhood of God & the Brotherhood of Man” is Jesus’ message (the two Commandments). Anything else is not acceptable. There are only two mortals God recognizes, those that choose to to His will & those who do not choose to do His will. It is time to wake up & realize God loves you no matter what. What he is waiting for is for ALL Mankind to love each other in that same way.
Thanks for your comment. I’m in the middle of exams right now and don’t have much time to comment but I can address a few things.
First, I take the responsibility borne out of my tradition very seriously, which is why I am so upset about this case in the first place. Perhaps, using quotes around Christian was not the best tact. More often than not, I am a “Christian” too! I do not deny their belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but was rather critiquing the school’s christopraxis: “…faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead,” (James 2:17). True, there are as many interpretations to the biblical texts as there are people in the world (probably more too!). But for me, an interpretation that engenders hateful attitudes towards others is problematic because that is antithetical the overarching commands of the Gospels: love of God and love of neighbor.
Being a Christian (I won’t even say being a good Christian) is more than just loving gays. It is extending the loving arm of Christian hospitality to all people, which is easy to say and much harder to do.
In response to your last paragraph, where do you recommend we derive our ethics from? It is not just this text that is open to many interpretation. All texts are. Furthermore, anything we do, say, experience or whatever is open to many interpretations.
Thanks again!
Anthony
I agree with Mr. Croft — though I am not sure “Bollocks” is the appropriate term of response here. (The first line of the Wikipedia listing reads “Bollocks is a word of Anglo-Saxon origin, meaning “testicles.” Look what happens when those Brits try to speak American!). One does not have to look far at all to find in the Christian tradition homosexuality categorized as sin. I’d guess 80-90% of self-identified Christians on the planet today think so today. Of course, if the issue is with firing Coach Howe w/o concern for her ongoing material well-being and that of those for whom she is responsible, one does not have to be Christian (real or otherwise) to see that’s pretty crappy. However, the ideas that a private university (it is, right?) has no right to hold its faculty to its own standards of conduct so that it could presumably only fire somebody for legally criminal acts, or that embracing “diversity” means countenancing anything (how about cannibals) strike me as ridiculous. People who don’t like their actions can ask Mr. Curb for a scholarship and go to one of those nationally recognized universities where there’s not so much hate.
(I think I just gave a bit of a rant when mostly I just wanted to thank James for having the bollocks to speak his mind and help keep us Christians honest.)
Anthony,
Thank you for sharing this, as my busy Bay Area life has kept me from my Google Reader this week. My thoughts on the injustice are easy to discern so I instead I wanted to throw something else into the “real Christian” mix.
I too am guilty of thinking “I am a REAL Christian” and those who use my LORD and Savior’s name for actions of hate are “Christian” at best and ignorant at worst. While it might be semantics, I think this faction among Christianity is a valid point to discuss. In our Theology class we took in undergrad Dr. Cavanagh made us create a church which we felt would be relevant to today’s world. I think this is the crucial part that is often over looked when you see Christianity as “fractionated” cults.
It’s not that Christianity is comprised up of separate groups, it is that the religion itself is grappling with the traditional hermeneutics in different ways. Yes, there are scriptures that do talk about homosexuality as a sin, and I won’t deny that. But there are also scriptures of stoning your children for misbehaving, silencing women, and slavery. While some of these scriptures are still quoted, you’d be hard pressed to find even the most “conservative” or “Evangelical” Christians stoning their child these days. There are scriptures that flat out, don’t get preached anymore. But you’d better believe they used to.
And, I might add, this isn’t a “Christian” problem. In every religion and world view there are differences of opinions and those who want to distinguish themselves from others. Every change in history came from differences of opinion both, religious and secular, emerging out of a desire to break from tradition. The problem isn’t the differences, it’s the lack of understanding what those differences mean, where they come from and how they can be engaged.
http://www.change.org/petitions/belmont-university-employees-shouldnt-be-forced-to-resign-for-being-gay