I am often kept up by an idea or a day dream; a day dream at night. I am encouraged whenever an idea keeps me up all night. It makes me hopeful that I could be content in a life of intellectual pursuits. I am easily distracted by all the temptations college has to offer.

In my mind I am debating a Christian fundamentalist over what the Bible teaches  about homosexuality. This is an odd thing to keep a college student up – no? This issue has bothered me ever since a friend of mine was kicked out of my church for being gay. (That and I just watched “Milk” for a second time – great movie.) I was furious that my friend was kicked out. He had been a  member of that church ever since he was a baby, how dare they kick him out? When asked, the leaders of  my church were ambivalent. They just replied,  “This is what the Bible teaches. Read Leviticus. It is not up to us.”

Could this be true? When I rejected the deacons decision to kick out my friend was I really rejecting the Bible?

No, I don’t think so. Christians do not need to “tolerate” homosexuals. Christians can embrace them because homosexuality is NOT a sin. Well then what is all this business in Leviticus?

Right, so – in the Christian Bible God is not always the one speaking. Many passages in the Bible need to be contextualized culturally and historically. In Leviticus many laws are given, including the oft-quoted scripture forbidding homosexuality. However, until recently I never knew that in Leviticus it also gives laws forbidding the eating of rabbits and pigs (Leviticus 11:6-8) The book of Leviticus also forbids mating two different kinds of cattle, sowing your field with two different kinds of  seed, wearing clothing made of mixed fibers (Lev. 19:19), and forbidding the cutting of your sideburns and your beard. (Lev. 19:27) And for good measure in Lev.19:37 it reads “Remember all my laws and rules, and obey them. I am the Lord.” It never says in Leviticus ~ “I really meant it when I was talking  about the gays – but you know, if you feel like eating pig or cutting the sides of your beard, that’s not a big deal. I am the Lord.”

Eating pig, wearing mixed fibers, cutting one’s beard, and or cutting one sideburns hardly strikes one as unethical or immoral. In fact, I think most of us are guilty of all of the above. Yet, for some, homosexuality has become a case study in immorality. This is a mistake.  [ I realize some people, like Orthodox Jews -more or less- do follow all the rules laid out in the Old Testament. I respect this noble preservation of their faith and culture. Because you know – I have never seen Orthodox Jews protesting funerals or gay pride parades.]

For some reason, I think we have just “Otherized” gay people. Of course, this is nothing new. I am inspired by what Jesus taught us about the Other.

In the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 10 verse 25 through 37 is the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the parable Jesus tells of a traveler who was ambushed by bandits and left bleeding on the side of the road. He was passed and ignored by many of his common countryman. Then a Samaritan came by and took care of him. The Samaritan treated this stranger like his own brother. In the time of Jesus, to his audience, the Samaritan was the Other. The Samaritans were their feared and hated enemy. Who is your Samaritan? Who is your Other? When you are left bleeding on the side of the road, who will come comfort you? Your good Samaritan could be a Jew, a Muslim, an atheist, a pagan, or a homosexual. What makes a good neighbor? I think you know what counts.

– David Ellis

Interfaith Scholar 2009-2010

Published in the January 2010 Issue of the Interfaith Review