Gay Sensitivity Training -- In Church?

Yes, it's happening. Only, we didn't imagine bishops and stake presidents would be the instigators. It all comes as a sort of backlash on the wake of the Prop 8 victory. It seems as if some Mormons couldn't take the heat and have now organized gay sensitivity training sessions.

In California, during church services, assigned speakers claimed a gay identity and told their sob stories to a captive audience, eliciting weeping and hugging. Handouts with gay-affirming quotes and personal experiences replaced the scriptures. (No, you won't find quotes from The Miracle of Forgiveness here.) Read this emotionalized propaganda from the Salt Lake Tribune, "Gay rights: Oakland LDS Stake tries to heal post-Prop 8 rifts." (We wonder how orthodox members would feel in such a meeting. Or how about a person who was involved in homosexuality and who then wanted out, turned away from it, and repented by the grace of Christ?)

Perhaps these Oakland people never understood the demands of religion in the first place. They seem to have set aside God in favor of personal comfort and convenience. For "gays," it's their unnatural sexual inclinations they put before God. For the others, it's public opinion they put before God. Gays want to be seen as victims, their supporters want to be seen as compassionate, all so they'll be popular with each other. (And it's especially incredible to us that no one seems at all concerned about what horrors might have caused this travesty in the first place, or the welfare of anybody's body or soul.)

Perhaps every one of us is in danger of forgetting, or never knew, the essence of Christianity. Some seem to have adopted a make-shift, Jesus-Lite, pretend religion that is based on human relations and is much easier to take than actual religion.

Evidently in some LDS wards God is out. Homosexuality is in. So what will we see happening in our church meetings next? See a previous post, "Gays in the Church? Let's Think It Through." We are very naive if we think Mormon gays' "rights" will end with group sensitivity training sessions. As they themselves say, "It's a step."

Please note that we are not opposed to those with sexual problems participating in church along with the rest of us sinners. We say: love them, welcome them, encourage them to repent, get help, and overcome this stagnating sin so they can move forward. What's horribly wrong here is the public acceptance and normalization of homosexuality itself. We are doing an unspeakably terrible disservice to these deceived and confused people by not offering truth, repentance, and help. We're also hurting children, youth, and ourselves who are being exposed to this travesty as if it is harmless.

The truly religious strive to change themselves to fit God. What we see here is a bunch of pseudo-religious people striving to change God to fit themselves. Sad.