Is the church homophobic?

Today, after a discussion with a colleague of mine, I had cause to try to consider again my thoughts on this topic. You see, in my mind the answer to the question "Is the church homophobic?" is "No."

But I might be wrong.

I have always rejected the term "homophobic" because it implies fear. 'Phobia' is the term we attach to all kinds of things to show that we fear them. Arachnophobia is a fear of spiders, claustrophobia is a fear of closed in spaces, and if you know someone with these fears then you know how they will react when confronted by a spider or small dark room. The sweating. The shaking. The fear in their eyes.

I feel none of that when I consider LGBTI people. And as I discuss this with most of my peers, I see none of that fear either.

So I reject the term 'homophobia'.

But in my reading today I came across this article, which in itself is very helpful. Here Wesley Hill describes his experience as a gay, celibate, Christian and the reactions he has received within the church. Interestingly, they are mostly positive experiences. The article itself is worth reading, and I encourage any reader of this to take the time to do so.

But it is the comments that really helped to shine a light. Rather than summarise, I'm going to quote completely what one commentator wrote:

To throw more complexity into this issue, and to speak from my own experience, I wonder if part of the issue here is language. To use an extreme example, xenophobia and racism are not the same thing. Someone can be horribly racist towards a certain people group without being afraid of them. Someone can see another race as fundamentally less-than, or as barred from opportunities we all share by merit of their skin, without being afraid of them. Someone can even be racist and kind, as some slave holders were to their slaves, while still believing on principle that they were lesser. We have no corresponding complexity of language for bias against homosexuality, and the word “homophobia” is woefully inadequate. When many Christians say they are not homophobic, they are probably telling the truth. That does not mean they still don’t experience, consciously or unconsciously, a bias against gay people, be it very small or very large.

Perhaps this writer has pointed out something that is helpful, but nonetheless confronting for the Christian church. While there are the equivalent words of Homophobia and Xenophobia, there is no equivalent word for 'racism' in this context.

Maybe this is a problem for those critics of the church.

And maybe this is an issue for those in the church too; to recognise and admit that while we refuse to be labelled as 'homophobic' perhaps within us is something that makes us 'racist' to people who are same-sex attracted; that we still "experience, consciously or unconsciously, a bias against gay people, be it very small or very large."

Why would we welcome all sinners except these? That is very wrong. If I am accepted by Jesus and then by the people of his church - me, with all my failings and spots and dark sins I don't talk about - if Jesus can accept me, won't he accept any who come to him?

I believe the gospel says "Yes." So I should say "yes" too.