Church urged not to eschew sexual minorities

Church experts last week met at Kolkata for a 'theological roundtable on churches' response to human sexuality'.

At the symposium, attended by church leaders, bishops, theological educators, research scholars and lawyers, human sexuality was defined as a "divine gift" which God intends his people to celebrate in "committed, consensual, and monogamous relationships."

"The embodied God who embraced flesh in Jesus Christ is the ground for us to love our bodies and to celebrate life and sexuality without abuse and misuse. So God invites us to experience sexual fulfillment in our committed relationships of justice-love with the commitment to be vulnerable, compassionate, and responsible," they declared.

They noted that "negative attitude towards sexuality and our body-denying spirituality stem from our distorted understanding of God's purpose for us."

Among other subjects discussed was the controversial Delhi High Court verdict which decriminalized consensual sexual acts of adults in private in July this year.

The court upholding the fundamental, constitutional and human rights to privacy and the life of dignity and non-discrimination of all citizens, they said was a positive step.

"We recognize that there are people with different sexual orientations. The very faith affirmation that the whole human community is created in the image of God irrespective of our sexual orientations makes it imperative on us to reject systemic and personal attitudes of homophobia and discrimination against sexual minorities."

Church as 'Just and Inclusive Community', they stressed is called to become a community without walls to reach out to people who are stigmatized and demonized, and be a listening community to understand their pains, desires, and hopes.

They underlined the need for Church to be a "sanctuary to the ostracized who thirst for understanding, friendship, love, compassion and solidarity, and to join in their struggles to live out their God given lives."

The meeting urged Christian communities to sojourn with sexual minorities and their families without prejudice and discrimination, to provide them ministries of love, compassionate care, and justice.

It also called on the Church in India to initiate an in-depth theological study on human sexuality for better discernment of God's purpose. This must involve a deeper engagement with Bible, traditions, and other disciplines such as social theories, psychology, and medical science.