ARTICLESCFFAITH BY RE\/. STEVEN EAINES JJJJJJJJJJ it  A

Moral Failures of
Repressive Religion

..
AS SOMEONE WHO WAS RAISED AND
ordained as a Southern Baptist I was saddened,
but not shocked, at news of the recent arrest
of Rev. Lonnie Latham, a minister from Tulsa,
Okla., and an executive committee member
of the virulently anti-gay Southern Baptist
Convention. Rev. Latham was reportedly arrested
for propositioning a male
undercover police oﬁcer
in front of a motel
known as a high-trafﬁc
area for gay hustlers.
Unfortunately, Rev.
Latha.m’s story is one
repeated-by those in
the darkest corners
of the closet who
are trapped by the
damaging teachings

of misguided
religious leaders.

The fall of this
religious-right
ﬁgure is part of air
inevitable cycle of
scandal, as the self-
appointed guardians of
“traditional values,” their
moral ships sinking under them, ﬁnd themselves in

   
   
  
  

_the lifeboat with the rest of us sinners. The moral

hypocrisy of many right—wing religious leaders
comes from their fundamental misunderstanding
of religion as the practice of a complicated and
esoteric set of rules designed to restrict human
freedom, rather than a way of living which frees
individuals to lives of greater compassion and
personal growth.

The incidences of national conservative religious
leaders caught in scandal are many, a.nd run the
gamut from the tragic hypocrisy of the closet to

_ personal ethical lapses to outright crimes. Here are

a few recent high-proﬁle examples:

Ralph Reed, _the former executive director of
the Christian Coalition, is embroiled in the Jack
Abramoff lobbying scandal and stands accused of
using ﬁmds Christian conservatives had donated to

‘ﬁght the spread of gambling, to actually promote

gambling on N ative-American reservations.

Monsignor Eugene Clark used his pulpit at
St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City and
his program on the Eternal Word Television
Network to blame gay priests for the Catholic
child sex abuse scandal and once denounced the
United States as “the most immoral cou'nti'y in
the Western Hemisphere.” He resigned in August
2005 after an affair with his married secretary
was exposed.

William Bennett is the standard-bearer of the
right-wing “traditional values” crusade and
chief propagator of one of the most damaging
lies being spread about the gay community: the
“statistic” invented by a discredited psychologist
that the average age of death of gay men is 43. In
2003, it was revealed that Bennett had a gambling
addiction he kept hidden from his family, despite
losing a reported $8 million.

John Paulk is the former chair of Exodus
International who appeared on the cover
of Newsweek in 1998 as an “ex-gay”

When religion is used
to bring repression and
darkness rather than
liberation and light, it
is toxic to both leaders
and followers.

and founder of Focus on the Family’s ex-gay
program Love Won Out. He was discovered and
photographed in September 2000 buying drinks
for patrons in a gay bar in Washington, D.C.
Although Paulk left Focus on the Family in 2003
to pursue “other ministry opportunities,” Love
Won Out continues to hold events across the
country.

It is not my intention to cast stones of
condemnation at these individuals. We all have
times when we need grace and forgiveness for our
ethical failings or inconsistencies, whether from
religious communities or from the community
at large. There is, however, a profound need to
understand that, when religion is used to bring
repression and darkness rather than liberation
and light, it is toxic to both leaders and followers.
It is inevitable that those who pile so much guilt
on the rest of the world will sooner or later be
crushed by it themselves.

It is self—loathing that drives some public
ﬁgufes with careers espousing “moral values”
into lives of deception as they sneak into dive
bars, cheap motels or gambling casinos for a
night's escape from a life of repression. It is the
same fear and shame that causes them to lash out
atllesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGB'I‘)
people. The life-altering message that I and so
many other LGBT people of faith have found is

I that freedom comes not from lies and denial, but

by recognizing our mutual connection to all our
neighbors with honesty and humility in the face
of the Creator. V

and a member of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force National Religious Leadership Roundtable.

5 Based in Washington, D.C., Rev. Steven Baines is an elder in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

He serves as chaplain of Gay, Lesbian and Affirming Disciples.

  

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