Amish views on homosexuality
Why a Gay Man Serves the Old Order Amish
On the importance of dialogue with—rather than withdrawal from—those whose theological understandings differ from ours.
The question was posed with deadly calm. The poise and care as he looked past the other members of the group and into my eyes alerted me that it had been considered for some time, awaiting the right, doubtless prayerful moment to be spoken aloud.
“Jim, based on some of the things you’ve said, I have to ask. Are you gay?”
I was. Not only same-sex attracted, but out to the huge majority of friends and coworkers.
The man asking so bluntly about my sexual orientation was an Old Order Amish minister, principal a group of Amish men with whom I had built an alliance and worked for some time. His question was a challenge in what had, until then, been a neutral forum. I alternately told myself that I remained discrete to respect the Amish belief that homosexuality is a sin, or struggled with the cowardice of an ultimately untenable secrecy. However, at that moment my motives no longer mattered. I could blatantly lie (an impossible mor
What&#;s It Like To Be Gay And Amish
At 17, he was removed from his home and community. He was sent, by his parents, to an ex-gay religious counselor. He was not allowed to call on his parents and to this daytime, his extended family and community perform not know why he “left.”
This doesn’t come as a complete shock to a lot of LGBTQ people. We have familiarity with discrimination and what it feels fancy to have those close to you, turn away.
Many of us feel favor we lose our personal faith because we’re taught that religion doesn’t approve us.
We grow accustomed to finding modern support systems and a new existence. But there are others where coming out can denote losing everything you thought was your life.
But what if you grew up in a population that never talks about homosexuality? What if they only see it as a problem that doesn’t affect them only others? You might respond that you have heard that happen in other countries, not here in our own.
Would it surprise you to detect out that it happens not that far from Cleveland, OH?
Growing Up Amish
Ohio has the largest Amish population in the Un
The recent controversy in ACNA about the language of homosexuality has been deeply unedifying. It has been aggravated in the last few days by an open, co-signed letter that, while doing the bare minimum, nevertheless was far more affirming than the original pastoral statement to which it replied. In a move I can only describe as scandalous, the principal author&#;s bishop then stepped in and ordered him to accept it down.
I am for the most part uninterested in the internal politics of ACNA. I have friends in that communion, and after all, it is neither my circus nor my monkeys. I am, however, keenly interested in the issue at stake: what kinds of language sexual-minority Christians use, why, and what this says about their broader place within Christianity. Especially as some of these same issues acquire come up repeatedly in the Catholic context as well. That relevance to my own situation moves me to write, when I might otherwise save silence.
When the imaginative statement came out last month (no pun intended), a gay Christian ally of mine wrote, &#;I am starting to deliberate tha
When someone asked what books I had been reading, I mentioned James A. Cates’ Serpent in the Garden: Amish Sexuality in a Changing World.
“Why would anyone want to document about the Amish and sex?” my interlocutor responded.
Turns out, Serpent in the Garden answers this question well. Cates approaches gender and sexuality within the Amish community as a subject to be treated with careful respect. His measured work hinges on the idea that the Amish exist as sexual minorities in their own right, with cultural and spiritual expectations that set them apart from the predominant understandings of sex and gender.
Like anyone else, the Amish “cannot divorce themselves from their sexual desires, nor from the complex demands that sexuality creates.” And, even though the Amish endeavor to remain separate from the influences of mainstream culture, “they cannot help but be notified of the sexuality that plays out around them.” These two premises manual Cates’ exploration of Amish sexuality.
Cates’ study is rooted in significant study and in relationships he has built with Amish familie