C. Jay Engel on Gays as Faculty Members in Christian Colleges

C. Jay Engel at The Reformed Libertarian has written an article on gays serving as faculty members in Christian colleges and the left-wing reaction to this. I recommend that everyone share it through Google+, Facebook, Twitter, email, and through any means possible, for it shows the importance of this issue in Christian circles.

Says Engel:

Brian McClaren linked to an article this morning written by a homosexual faculty member at an (undisclosed) “Christian” college.  The homosexual issue is one that has been garnering more attention recently, especially in progressive Christian circles.  Now, I realize that the issue has been around for nearly the entire previous century and has increased rapidly since the turn of the twenty-first century, but it has certainly not died off.  In fact, I see it arise every single day on one blog or another.  Which of course means that it is another opportunity for Christians who recognize the sin of homosexuality to stay strong and be prepared to defend the Biblical understanding of sex.  Challenges are healthy.

The author, who writes anonymously for fear of losing his job, provides us with a small list of “ironies and bright spots for gays in the Christian College World.”  I do want to tread this fragile issue quite carefully.  For while we should never compromise the eternal truth of the Bible, neither should we use it in an unloving way.  For those of us who do not struggle with the sin of homosexuality, we recognize that this sin is not thought of as worse in the eyes of God than our own sins.  If God can have mercy on those of us who struggle with non-homosexual sins, surely he can have mercy on those who do.  We all have different sin struggles and we worship a God who is powerful to overcome anything.

That said, it is also interesting to note that so many Christians who consider themselves gay and who also do not see it as a sin, treat the issue as if they are crusaders on behalf of another civil rights revolution.  For instance, the opening to the post is this: “As a gay professor at a Christian college where it’s not safe to be out….”  This can be taken in to ways.  First, it can be seen as a situation where the Christian college recognizes the sin of homosexuality, realizes that it compromises God’s plan for sex, and therefore has taken up a policy of heterosexuals only.  The other way of understanding this is that the situation is one in which there is a tyranny of legalists at the top of a hierarchy ready to impose their will on the modern day witch: the homosexual.  The tone of many “gay Christians in hiding” is the latter.  They, by all appearances, are the victims in a theocratic scheme.

The source of this tone lies in the fact that there is a fundamental disagreement about whether homosexuality is a sin.  Those who do not see it as a sin, and indeed practice this lifestyle, are inclined to victimize themselves by assuming that traditional Christians are out to get them.  The “not safe to be out” gives off an air of a “hunted man” with a fake identity.  An interesting framework indeed.  However these closeted gays do feel though, is not the theme of this post.

Read the rest here.