5.2. Religious Perspectives of Gay Christians
5.2.1. Infallible Bible, Fallible Biblical Hermeneutics
The role of the Bible and biblical hermeneutics in gay identities and sexualities discourses continues to be contentious. This study drew on insights from participants on how they relate with the Bible and contemporary biblical hermeneutics. In spite of the contestations surrounding the use of the Bible and its application in issues of gay identities and sexualities, it remains an integral sacred text in shaping worldviews of participants. Not only did they engage with the use of the Bible in their respective churches of affiliation but they also interpreted given texts according to their lived realities, while some opted to treat the Bible as a text that cannot be questioned. The following are some of the views of the study participants:
Diva:3 The liturgy in the churches…they use the Bible to fight LGBTI...they use the Bible as a weapon to fight us…but I think, as Christians, we should be a people of love,…a people who are accepting … a people who are very down to
3 Diva is a pseudonym of a study participant who self-identified as a transgender woman.
earth…(be)cause we are all the same in God‟s eyes and no one is perfect…and most of these pastors, priests or whatever you call them…they will be preaching about homosexual issues…saying these people are demonic, these people are evil, they shouldn‟t be allowed in our churches…which makes most members of our community not comfortable to go for church or for mass and what not…so I think, them using the Bible as a weapon to fight us is really wrong…it shouldn‟t be a tool to fight against us…the same Bible was used in the slave trade…it was used against us as black people and now it is being used against the LGBTI community.
Following Diva‘s contribution, it could be suggested that the Bible remains an authority used by some expressions of Christianity that condemn gay identities and sexualities. For this particular Christian expression which Diva refers to, the Bible is a tool for fighting gay identities and sexualities. Diva challenges biblical hermeneutics that aim at vilifying LGBTI members by emphasizing the sameness of all human beings in spite of their different identities and sexualities. She further pointed out how acceptance and love regardless of identities and sexualities needs to be fundamental in Christian life unlike using the Bible in the promotion of given identities and sexualities over others. She cites some clergy as spearheading biblical hermeneutics which do not promote life, but instead propagate hate against members of the LGBTI community. Diva highlights how the Bible was ideologically used to promote the slavery and colonialism against ―black‖ Africans and now is being used against the LGBTI community. Another study participant added that:
Paul:4 Let me try and quote from the Bible on the Sodom and Gomorrah thing…mainly when you hear someone talk about that…the first thing that is going to click into your mind is homosexuality in Sodom and Gomorrah but in reality when you read that passage…there were so many other sins…but people pick on homosexuality and then they condemn people saying you are not supposed to be doing this.
Paul cites the Sodom and Gomorrah account in Genesis 19:1-29 as the text mostly used in anti-homosexuality theological discourses. The story has been used extensively from a heteronormative perspective to consolidate anti-homosexual teachings within traditional Christianity. A heteronormative reading of Genesis 19:1-29 was challenged by participants
4 Paul is a pseudonym of a study participant who self-identified as a gay Christian man.
who suggested an alternative reading of the text that takes into account their experiences, unlike the traditional dominant theological positions taken on gay identities and sexualities.
The participants offered a counter narrative of the dominant reading of the Sodom and Gomorrah text with Taonga and Foster offering how they individually approach the Bible:
Taonga:5 Contemporary Christianity does not help me at all…I have to rely on my own interpretation of the Bible.
Foster:6 I have also come across some articles…they were compiled by a number of clergy…talking about the same passage…(be)cause I think we all know that‟s where most of the discrimination comes from when it comes to the Bible …they‟ve come to a conclusion to say…the Sodom and Gomorrah didn‟t even talk about homosexuality at all…it was mainly about greed, drunkenness…all these vices…but how homosexuality came in , they don‟t really understand…but I think they are still working on making people interpret that passage in a different way or just translate some of the words…(be)cause the Bible is a book that has been translated over a period of time…so language gets lost in the process.
Some participants owned the Bible and re-interpreted the Genesis 19:1-29 text according to how they experience life, not adopting traditional and contemporary Christian biblical hermeneutics which they regard as fallible, especially on issues of gay identities and sexualities. Foster brought to the group‘s attention how the Sodom and Gomorrah text needs to be interpreted in empowering ways for members of the LGBTI community. Based on her personal research, she deconstructed the Sodom and Gomorrah story, noting that it is not about gay sexualities but about greed and drunkenness. She also highlighted how the Bible has been translated over time and some words having lost their original meaning. These responses express the liberty that some participants have to engage in their own experience- based biblical hermeneutics which is at variance with the dominant traditional and contemporary Christian trajectories which they regard as fallible hermeneutics.
However, some participants held the Bible as an infallible text that should not be read with suspicion or questioned. They instead opted to contradict dominant discourses on gay sexualities. The following two participants reflected this in their responses:
5 Taonga is a pseudonym of a study participant who self-identified as a gay Christian man.
6 Foster is a pseudonym of a study participant who self-identified as a lesbian.
Chipobabz:7 I contradict with the church and not the Bible…because the Bible is simple and straightforward to my side…why sibakamba kuti olemala sitimufuna but why bakamba che pali homosexual…church na bibible visiyana. (Loose trans:
I contradict with what the church says and not the Bible…because the Bible is simple and straightforward for me….why don‟t they (in reference to the church) say that they do not want lame people but why do they only talk about homosexuality? What the church and the Bible say differ).
Rihana:8 Church imatipuzinsa vonse vamene tifunika kuchita but we follow our feelings, since naise we are following our interests…mwamene tilili, mwamene tinabadwila…Bible ikamba ati thou shall not judge. (Loose trans: The church teaches us everything about what we should do but we follow our feelings, since we are also following our interests…this is the way we are, this is the way we were born…the Bible says that we should not judge).
These responses indicated how the Bible is regarded as an infallible text which should not be questioned. Instead, they chose to disagree with the biblical interpretations offered by the churches they belong to. Where the biblical text and dominant biblical hermeneutics are at variance with their identities, sexualities and feelings, some participants choose to follow their desires and feelings. Implicitly, their gay identities override their Christian identity.
They do not concur with biblical interpretations which disagree with their identities and sexualities, opting to use Luke 6:37 or Matthew 7:1 which encourage non-judgemental attitudes. Gunda in his study on the Bible and homosexuality in Zimbabwe argues that:
the Bible has been invoked mostly as the final authority on the subject of homosexuality, and two contending modes of reading have emerged: on the one hand, the majority of Christians have insisted on using the ―explicit texts‖ (namely, Gen.19:1-29; Lev.18:22; 20:13; 1 Cor.6:9-10; Rom.1:18-32, and 1 Tim.1:10), while, homosexual persons have emphasized the central message of the Christian faith represented in the empathy and love demonstrated by Jesus towards those on the fringes of society (2010:20).
7 Chipobabz is a pseudonym of a study participant who self-identified as a gay Christian woman.
8 Rihana is a pseudonym of a study participant who self-identified as a gay Christian woman.
The Bible in the Zambian Christian context, just like in the Zimbabwean context, remains influential in informing discussions on gay identities and sexualities. In spite of the dominant theological position being that homosexuality is biblically disapproved, gay participants offered other theological/biblical hermeneutics, with love taking centre stage in their position.
These responses are vivid examples of biblical hermeneutics in relation to gay identities and sexualities. In the article ―The Bible on Homosexuality: Exploring its Meaning and Authority‖, Locke (2010) links the Sodom and Gomorrah narrative to the rape of the male visitors and the failure to exercise hospitality for the sojourners, and not homosexuality.
Locke (2010:125) observes how ―the Bible is silent on matters of orientation, [although] it does seem to adopt a negative attitude [to] male same-sex encounters‖, and how the Bible‘s prohibitions are selectively applied by some fundamentalist Christian groups. Meanwhile, biblical scholar Robert Gagnon (2001), in his book The Bible and Homosexual Practice:
Texts and Hermeneutics, challenges interpreting texts like the Sodom and Gomorrah in terms of hospitality and rape. Instead, he uses the Genesis creation accounts to argue that the Bible presents the anatomical, sexual, and procreative complementarity of male and female as clear and convincing proofs of God‘s will for sexual unions, thus, portraying gay unions as an affront to God‘s creation plan.
Every biblical hermeneutics is largely influenced by ideology, and issues of gay identities and sexualities are approached from ideological positions. Although the worldviews of the churches, traditional Christianity and articulations of the study participants may sometimes be at variance, participants interpreted the text in line with their experiences. However, the dilemma remains on how to balance personal perceptions and being faithful to the biblical text. Additionally, the place of church leaders within Christianity and their influence in shaping views of participants about their identities and sexualities cannot be ignored. In the article ―Homosexuality and the Bible‖, Greenspahn points out that:
whatever one‘s position, it is important that the biblical evidence not be taken lightly nor its teachings rejected out of hand. Since the authority of religious leaders derives ultimately from the bible, those who discard it run the risk of undermining their own credibility as well (2002:38).
Within this study, the position of clergy as biblical authority is subverted by some participants who bring along their experiences as they engage the Bible. Greenspahn adds that ―homosexual relationships need not be understood as violating biblical teachings.
Homosexuality is not the real issue in the stories of Sodom, Gibeah, or Noah‘s son and may not even be a factor there‖ (2002:44). Contestation of the relationship between homosexuality and the Bible has been one source of tension within Christianity and is also approached variedly among participants, denoting how the Bible is an ideologically read text, in spite of similar experiences of marginalization of participants.
Another sub-theme captured during the focus group discussions and in-depth individual interviews is that participants either felt a sense of belonging or not belonging within the Zambian Christian context.