Sex Talk in God's House?By Angela Bronner

 

Sex Talk in God's House?By Angela Bronner

Sex and sexuality permeate the fabric of our modern world. Not only is it constant rotation on MTV and BET, but we talk about it everywhere - chat rooms, lunchrooms, boardrooms, in cozy corners with our girlfriends, even barbershop chairs with our boys. Should black churches join the bandwagon? Click here for more on this interesting topic.

Are God's People Sexual Beings?

The Black Church and Sexuality

Part Two of a Three Part Series on The Black Church

By Angela Bronner, AOL Black Voices

Sexuality Hits the Church Home

Altrendo Images, Getty Images

• The Black Church, Part One: 'Gospel of Prosperity'
• Read Kirk Franklin's Testimony

Sex and sexuality permeate the fabric of our modern world -- not only is it constant rotation on MTV and BET, but we talk about it everywhere -- chat rooms, lunchrooms, boardrooms, in cozy corners with our girlfriends, even barbershop chairs with our boys.

Come Sunday morning, though, there is a deafening silence around sex, for a few hours at least. Whether deemed inappropriate or simply not relevant, the question must be asked, if Jesus the Christ, the most significant figure in Christianity, was conceived through an immaculate conception, then how and where does sex fit into church?

Asking may be blasphemous to some, but to others, long overdue, especially given how sex affects us. The black church historically has been a political, social and economic center for the black community, yet sex and sexuality have remained taboo within its confines.

In recent years, however, there has been a shift. We now stand at an interesting historical moment where sexual scandals (sometimes inside the church itself), the gay rights movement, a barrage of media coverage of "the DL" (Down Low) and the skyrocketing rates of HIV and AIDS in the black community, have all intersected and forced many churches to not only focus on the spiritual bodies of believers but the flesh as well.

"I think that the last five years, sexuality the discourse has become more normal within the black church context," notes Rev. Eboni K. Marshall, youth minister at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. "In terms of the rising AIDS rates in our community, homosexuality, and teenage pregnancy, we are discussing it more and trying to make the Gospel relevant to issues which are rampant in our community."

Marshall, a minister in her mid-20s, may represent a new way of thinking in the black church, though she shies away from terms such as revolutionary. With the blessing of long-time Abyssinian pastor Rev. Calvin O. Butts, Rev. Marshall last year introduced a program on sex and sexuality for teens in the congregation covering everything from emotions surrounding sex to relationships, teenage pregnancy, contraception, abstinence and "a lot of discussion around choices."

 

"In light of my willingness and the pastor's willingness to broach the issue, the young people are comfortable speaking to me," Rev. Marshall says. Not only did the course open the youth of her church up to her, but she says that all the feedback was positive. "And they know that Jesus was not going to strike anyone down for talking about sex," she chuckles.

 

Yet, for all the positive aspects some see in discussion of sex and sexuality in the church, there are as many stories of sexual scandal within its hallowed walls. Apparently, sex combined with the power of the pulpit can be a lethal combination.

 

In the last three years, the Boston archdiocese of the Catholic Church alone has paid out over $150 million dollars in legal settlements and costs related to sex abuse by its clergy. In terms of the black church specifically, one of the most prominent cases occurred in 1997, when the Rev. Henry J. Lyons, head of the National Baptist Convention USA, clumsily fell from grace after his wife set fire to the $700,000 home he bought with his mistress. After being convicted of racketeering and grand theft, Lyons spent almost five years in prison.

Are God's People Sexual Beings?

The Black Church and Sexuality

Page 2 of 2

Angela Bronner, AOL Black Voices

McClurkin: Converted Heterosexual

Sony Pictures, Everett Collection

Gospel great Donnie McClurkin says he's cured of "the curse of homosexuality."
"I am delivered and I know God can deliver others, too," the Grammy-winning crooner said of his past dealings in same-sex relationships.

• The Black Church Part One: 'The Prosperity Gospel'
• Talk About Sexuality and Church

Poet and author Haki Madhubuti, founder of Third World Press and seminal participant in the Black Arts movement, recounts in his recently released memoir 'Yellow Black' his mother's life as a sex worker for clergymen (and even a rabbi) throughout the Midwest during his childhood.

"I began to see how men of power and influence in the black community not only misuse that, but the canonical text of the Bible," Madhubuti says. "It was a very negative experience and really colored my whole view of Christianity. There were so many contradictions among its leaders."

The Chicago-based publisher, who says he never really returned to the church, does admit that he respects its place in the community. But he calls the black church to task for not taking on the issues of the day around sexuality:

"We need to be in the forefront in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The church should be there instead of condemning homosexuality," he says. "Homosexuality is not discussed at all. It is basically ignored but has always been a mainstay."

Author E. Lynn Harris, whose most recent book 'I Say A Little Prayer' deals with homosexuality in church through its main character, Chauncey Greer, agrees that sexuality of any type is not really discussed in the church.

"I remember growing up in the church. It's not like they're just banning gays, it's not like they're flaunting heterosexuality either," he says.

'Prayer' Time

• "If the gay people who were really true to themselves decided not to go for just one day even, these people would see how many brothers and sisters they're really shutting out," says author E. Lynn Harris on discrimination in the black church.

• More on E. Lynn Harris

Check out BV Books

Harris says he wants the dialogue to begin to open up around sexuality and homosexuality specifically. He feels that some anti-gay sermons are not only hurtful to people but may encourage dishonest behavior.

"It was always a sermon, if you're gay, you're going to hell. And sometimes the sermons were vicious. And I'd see a lot of gay men would be up there waving their hands and waving their handkerchiefs at the ministers, encouraging them, and then I'd see later that evening at Tracks [a gay club in DC]," said Harris.

"They're taking action doing marches and using words like sissy and faggot in the church and from the pulpit to show us how much you're not wanted there," he says. "Just two Sundays ago a black minister asked all the real men of the church to stand up and I don't mean no sissies and faggots. How hurtful is that? I'm a man. I believe in Christ. What does that make me?"

In recent years many high profile people in the black community have denounced homosexuality and feel that church is the place to castigate its scourge, not discuss it as a legitimate "lifestyle." Grammy-winning Gospel vocalist Donnie McClurkin, who has written about his struggle with gay relationships in his book 'Eternal Victor, Eternal Victim,' and whose 2004 documentary, 'From Darkness To Light' also explores the subject, and says that he vows to battle "the curse of homosexuality."

McClurkin, who said that his sexual orientation was caused by molestation when he was a child, says that homosexuality can be overcome by faith. "Love is pulling you one way and lust is pulling you another and your relationship with Jesus is tearing you," McClurkin has said. Like many evangelical Christians, McClurkin is of the "hate the sin, not the sinner" school of thought.

"If that's the case, we're applying that to everybody in the church because all of us are sinners," says Harris. "They make it seem like being gay is such a despicable sin, there's no way to recover. I could go more nobler than the pope and Mother Teresa put together in my service to mankind, but this one thing is going to keep me out of heaven."

"I think that homosexuality is still an issue toward which the black church still struggles with in terms of how we talk about it," concedes Rev. Marshall. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It's not about hating sin, but acknowledging sin and all of us including pastors, lay people, deacons -- we are all in this together."

"Just in recent times, we have come to find that our body and spiritual selves are irrevocably connected," she continues. "We're not just saving our souls but our bodies. It's about making choices and protecting ourselves."