Bishop Carlton Pearson on Homosexuality

Comments on the Senator Larry E. Craig Situation

Bishop Carlton Pearson is an evangelical minister for the United Church Of Christ and has found himself in the center of controversy because of his unconventional doctrine, which doubts the concept of Hell and preaches the gospel of Inclusionism. After he told CNN's Larry King that God loves gays, the traditional evangelical community stepped up its backlash against his so-called (and officially recognized) "heretical" preachings. Here, he tells us why the situation with recently resigned Idaho Senator Larry E. Craig smells of hypocrisy and why the shame and sham of denying homosexuality hurts our culture.

Our virtues are most frequently but vices in disguise. - FRANOIS, DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD (1613-1680)

The situation regarding the Idaho Senator Larry Craig's arrest for disorderly conduct in a Minneapolis airport men's room is another example of political and religious hypocrisy among those who hide or cloak their humanness by publicly denouncing what and who they are when no one can see them.

I have learned by observation that those who speak the loudest about or against any particular so called moral deviation are somehow in denial about issues in their own lives with which they have not dealt or with which they don't know how to deal.

Homosexuals and homosexuality is not going away. The sooner we recognize, acknowledge and accept this increasing reality in our culture, the sooner embarrassing and humiliating situations like those the Senator from Idaho, his family, and constituency are experiencing will cease. Homosexuality in the US

The suggestion, allegation or revelation of a U.S. Senator who is married, a father and grandfather seeking sex in a public restroom shows just how desperate a person who is forced to suppress his personal preferences can become.

Being gay itself does not make the a person any less capable of leading or representing his people or performing any other social service or profession. Having to hide or repress one's sexuality in order to find a meaningful place to serve is the real issue, and I might as well say, crime here.

This was the case with my former college mate and ministerial colleague, Ted Haggard. Is he any less called of God to minister and serve since outted as a homosexual than he was before he was identified as one? The shame and sham of preaching one thing and living another would never have happened to him had he been able to fulfill his ministerial calling while being openly and comfortably gay.

The hurt, shame and confusion in his life and the lives of his family and the thousands who submitted to his leadership and ministry would have, more than likely, been all together avoided if we would look upon and treat the millions of same-gender-loving people with welcoming equality and respect. What you make the issue, you make the idol.

Demeaning, denouncing and demonizing same-gender love and/or people who are so oriented has not proved to enhance our culture in any positive way. The opposite is true. Because of the often religious based and driven paranoia, we have stifled and disfellowshipped some of the most viable, intelligent, generous and benevolent people there are.

I pray for the Senator and hope for him the best. I hope as well that we will finally learn that what we fight we often ignite and that what we resist, often persists. The best thing to do with a so called enemy, is make him a friend. And so it is!