By condoning the oppression of gay persons, both before and during the nascent stages of the epidemic, many churches became complicit in the plague that is sweeping throughout much of the underdeveloped world. Ironically, even now, when many churches - even very conservative ones - are engaged in various sorts of AIDS ministries, they continue to carry partial responsibility for the ravaging that is taking place in communities around the world.
When we use the language of the faith to designate something or someone as "dirty" or defiled or being less than human, it does not take much time for our designations and our "sin-talk" to become a factor in the destruction of those people or things. While reading this piece I thought of the way the U.S. threatens to withhold money to countries on the African continent if there is use of condoms rather than abstinence as a way of preventing pregnancy. Preventing pregnancy by way of condoms becomes demonized because it allow for "sinful" behavior - sex outside the bounds of marriage. And yet, what happens is that this kind of "sin-talk" allows for even greater wrongs within those communities...the spread of HIV/AIDS...more young pregnancies...more cases of women being abused and mistreated by men. How long will we continue to swing the bats of our fears around without thinking of the ways we destroy lives even though we think we are simply playing our own little games.
Connection: When we throw stones, something gets broken and too often, we do not think about how our language becomes like stones in a glass house. Glass can be replaces...but lives ruined by the sin-talk cannot be so easily healed and can never be replaced.
When we speak, O God, guide our choice of words...guide our hearts...guide our minds...be our guide and our companion so that we will walk gently and humbly along the way of your Beloved. Amen.
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