Terence

Posts Tagged ‘Australia’

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(Australian) Gay Christians hope for church acceptance

In Sexual Orientation on June 29, 2012 at 8:53 am

LIKE four in ten same-sex couples, James Nevein, 49, and David Witte, 50, identify themselves as Christians.

They are part of a statistic that strikes at the heart of the debate around same-sex marriage, and one that many hope will validate them in the eyes of the church.

At the 2011 census, Christianity was the number one religion among gay and lesbian couples – with 40 per cent of couples practising the faith compared to 60 per cent of opposite-sex couples.

 Forty-eight per cent declared no religion, compared to 20 per cent of opposite-sex couples. Buddhism was the second most common among same-sex couples, at 4 per cent compared to 2.6 per cent of opposite-sex couples.

The census data was released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday as part of a report into the lives of people living in gay and lesbian relationships.

Mr Nevein, who is on the board of Freedom2b, a support group for gay people from Christian backgrounds, said it was evidence that he and members of the same-sex Christian community were not in a minority. ”In every church, from the Pentecostal to the Quakers, there are gay and lesbian people there,” he said. ”Churches are going to have to consider this issue.”

He said churches needed to acknowledge their existence in order to prevent same-sex couples from feeling alienated.

”Why would you identify with an organisation that, for most of the last 2000 years has hated you, either openly or silently, unless you had a very deep sense of belonging?

”The church has a lot to answer for, but there is also a lot of hope.”

Read more at The Age

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Sydney Baptist Pastor Slams Anti-gay Marriage Campaign

In Marriage and family on June 19, 2012 at 7:21 am

Of the various churches that will have that statement read out in their pulpits from Baptist churches, Anglicans and Catholic, how many of them will have an opportunity to respond to an alternative perspective?

Pastor Mike Hercock

A Sydney Baptist Church pastor has spoken out against an anti-gay marriage letter that was read to some Christian parishioners on Sunday morning.

The heads of the Catholic, Anglican and Greek Orthodox churches addressed Sydney church goers, reading a letter to parishioners in a coordinated campaign ahead of further parliamentary discussion on the issue this week.

But Pastor Mike Hercock from the Surry Hills Baptist Church says it is simply fear-mongering.

He says Christians should be able to make decisions for themselves.

“Of the various churches that will have that statement read out in their pulpits from Baptist churches, Anglicans and Catholic, how many of them will have an opportunity to respond to an alternative perspective?” he said.

“It will be clergy down. And yet we know that Christians have the ability to make their minds up for themselves.”

–ABC
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High court judge Michael Kirby talks about religion and sexuality

In Sexual Orientation on June 15, 2012 at 2:38 pm

‘I don’t want any old gent in frocks to take my religion from me,’ says gay former Australian high court judge

Retired high court of Australia judge Michael Kirby has spoken about reconciling his homosexuality and his Christianity.

In an interview with Jesuit media channel Eureka Street TV that was broadcast this week, Kirby describes himself as a ‘Protestant Anglican Christian’.

-more at Gay Star News

Watch the video here:

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