Voices for a New Tomorrow: Religion and Spirituality Working Group <body BGCOLOR="#ffffff" background="../rep/tn/bg/rbovl.gif" TEXT="#5a00b5" LINK="#004891" VLINK="#4f6c60"> <table height=100 width=125 align=left> <tr><td></td></tr></table> <table align=center> <tr><td><font face="bimini,arial" size=5> <center>Voices for a New Tomorrow:<br> Religion/Spirituality Working Group<p> <img src="../rep/tn/bar/rbovlbar.gif" height=50 width=609> </center><p> <font face=arial color="#000000" size=3> <center><font size=4>Resources for GLBT Spirituality</font></center> <p> <p> Introduction to "A Letter to Louise"<br> <font size=2>by Rev. Shelly Strauss Rollison</font><p> "Welcome to why the church has died<br> In the heart of the exile<br> In the kingdom of hate<br> Who hold the lands and keeps the commands<br> And marries itself to the state.<p> Modern scribes write in Jesus Christ<br> Everyone is free.<br> The doors open wide to all straight men and women<br> But they are not open to me."<br> <font size=2>Philosophy of Loss, ŠEmily Saliers, from the Indigo Girls "Come On Now Social" CD</font><p> Those words so elopquently express the sadness and frustration that many GLBTs feel with respect to modern Christianity. There is no denying that Christianity is the biggest religion in the United States. There is also no denying that some of the most heinous crimes against GBLTs have been committed in the name of Christainity. There is also no denying that some of the staunchest advocates for institutionalized discrimination against gays are leaders of Christian churches. While there is still great division with the Christian Church regarding the issue of GLBT membership/participation, there is a growing push to recognize the inherent worth of every GLBT individual and to affirm their "status" as a child of God. One of the most moving and in-depth resources I have come across with respect to this issue is "A Letter to Louise."<P> In January 2002, Bruce W. Lowe put "A Letter to Louise" online in an effort to clarify the Biblical perspective on being gay, gay relationships and gay marriage. The impetus for the letter was a comment made by Louise to Bruce Lowe regarding her brother's relationship to God. Both Louise and her brother believed that he would go to hell because he is gay. Realizing he didn't really know as much about the subject as he felt he should, Bruce Lowe invested many hours reading and studying more than two dozen books by eminent sociologists, theologians and psychologists. Then he sat down and wrote "A Letter to Louise". In addition to being a wonderful treatise affirming gay Christians as beloved children of God, the bibliography provides a great source for further reading and study.<p> Some quotes from "A Letter to Louise":<p> "If I can say God made me as I am, a heterosexual, then homosexuals can say God made them as they are. If God made them that way, that way is good. If I am created in the image of God, homosexuals are created in the image of God. And if God has a purpose for every life, the lives of homosexuals have a God-given purpose. Then refusing to accept and affirm them in the same way we affirm others would be trying to thwart the purposes of God. Can we draw any other conclusion?"<p> "Several passages in the Bible speak of same-gender sex. In every instance, the Bible is talking about heterosexuals who, filled with lust, have become sex perverts. The Bible says nothing about innate homosexuality as we know it today or about people who are homosexuals."<p> "The burden imposed on homosexuals by society is a great evil. We should stand in revulsion against, and do all we can to oppose, the prejudice, the hatreds, and the condemnation of a society that make the homosexual's life so difficult."<p> "Our churches need to change, for the churches ought to be havens for gays and lesbians from the insufferable burdens they bear constantly."<p> For more information on "A Letter to Louise", please visit <a href="http://www.GodMadeMeGay.com/Letter.htm">God Made Me Gay</a>.<p> <a href="resources.html">Back to Resources page</a><p>