Merging LGBT Politics Into Church Doctrine Divides & Destroys Faith Communities

For better and mostly worse . . . The Bible and most traditional religious texts are pretty clear about where to direct hatred. 

However . . . Over the past 20 years a great many faith communities have prospered by preaching a gospel of acceptance, love and more than just tolerance but celebration of their LGBT churchgoers. Meanwhile, religious hardliners are having a MUCH harder time selling old school fire & brimstone messages when surveys show us the rising number of LGBT Americans who have been embraced by by their church and communities. 

Full disclosure . . . TKC was raised Catholic but we try to keep an open mind and stay light and breezy despite our growing disdain for EVERYTHING but the most sacred of items . . . Snack cakes & cartoons.

And so . . .

This Sunday we notice a worsening schism amongst faith community advocates of LGBT acceptance vs. more traditional viewpoints of Christian doctrine . . . 

Let's start with a longstanding debate amongst The Church of the Resurrection . . . 

As this fight evolved — and as Rev. Adam Hamilton correctly notes, “human sexuality is the real issue here” — he looked for ways to keep all sides in the same denomination. But that approach eventually failed. 

And then . . . 

Here's important follow-up on a KCMO school that shut down over LGBT issues . . . 

Why did parents, donors and church leaders cut their support for this idealistic urban school? The Star said it was the candid change in the school’s doctrinal statement on LGBTQ issues — period. Quoting the school’s leader, the original report assured readers that “no other issues have led to the school’s situation.”

Here's what will have to suffice as the reason for the FAIL . . . 

The school was built on support from Black families and sympathetic donors in local churches, including strategic gifts from Southern Baptist congregations. While the change in the doctrinal statement was important, it was more than symbolic that the change was simultaneously reflected in the lives and beliefs of the school’s leaders — including a publicly announced same-sex marriage and plans for a pregnancy.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Still curious about the closing of a pro-LGBTQ Christian school in Kansas City? An update - GetReligion

Every now and then, I see an email or comment from a reader who says something like: "If you guys keep seeing big holes in stories, why don't you do some work and try to fill them?" Truth is, we are a commentary website, not a hard-news operation.

Church of the Resurrection Confronts Uncertain Future

The ground seems to be shifting under the strikingly successful United Methodist Church of the Resurrection (COR), which now has six campuses in the metro, including its primary one at 137 th Street and Roe Boulevard in Leawood. For starters, the mainline Protestant denomination that includes COR is experiencing a painful schism, essentially over what the Bible says, if anything, about homosexuality.

Developing . . .