Religious Voices Advocating Pluralism and Compromise

Arguing for ANIN’s radical AIDS prevention agenda, Ken South calls on religious conservatives to examine their ethics and theology and compromise so the “life affirming prevention message” of free needles, free condoms and safer sex education can be proclaimed:    

 Let us challenge the faith community and all who profess reverence for life to seek ways to see the AIDS epidemic first as a threat to the public health, the life of the community.  Let us challenge them to find ways to examine their ethics and theology to see if there is room to acknowledge that withholding life saving information from those at risk is in itself immoral.  Let us continue to examine those barriers within our own institutions and agencies which block us from proclaiming a message of wholeness and healing through direct, unambiguous, life-affirming prevention messages.  It is not an option.  Lives depend on it.[i] (emphasis ours) 

South’s inability to understand conservative Christian opposition to his particular brand of “AIDS prevention” stems from his lack of understanding of Biblical Christianity.  South’s theology is as much different from conservative Christian theology as are his views on homosexuality and AIDS prevention.  Committed to “religious pluralism,” South ridicules “the notion that there is only ‘one way’ on the spiritual journey to meaning.”  He further states:

There are numerous paths open these days to those who seek a spiritual journey that can lead to understanding, serenity, an awakening, and a deeper sense of love for themselves and others.  Many people will choose to find their truth through the traditional path of organized religion, increasing numbers of people are finding alternatives from twelve step programs to meditation practices.[ii]

For the Religious Left, commitment to “religious pluralism” has virtually replaced sound doctrine and evangelism.  And, as seen by the theology of ANIN’s Ken South, liberal “proselytizing” has more to do with advocating their political ideology than Biblical spirituality.  Likewise, the BJCPA’s strong commitment to religious pluralism  --  which is a pluralism of the Left only  --  has been the basis for its alignment with far-left organizations of every kind.  According to BJCPA executive director James Dunn, the Baptist Joint Committee “has succeeded in relating to other faith groups not by theological dialogue but by a ‘practiced pluralism.’  ‘Rather than sitting across the table seeking common ground, we stood side by side against common challenges.’” 

Dunn’s statement was in response to Rabbi A. James Rudin, national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee, who “suggested that the American Jewish Committee and the Baptist Joint Committee work together to develop a ‘theology of pluralism’…  Such a theology should not simply acknowledge the fact of religious diversity but also propose that ‘perhaps pluralism might be the will of God.’”[iii]  Rudin’s comments where made in a speech at the BJCPA’s 1996 60^th anniversary conference. 

ANIN Conference: Homosexuality is not sin

Six articles about the ANIN conference, written by the BJCPA’s Kenny Byrd, appeared November 25, 1998 in Associated Baptist Press (ABP), the CBF-funded news service.  According to one of those articles, “liberal and mainline religious groups were most heavily represented at the [ANIN] meeting,” though ANIN executive director Ken South pointed out that “leaders of several other conservative denominations and groups were invited, but most declined to come.”[iv]      

One reason for the lack of interest on the part of religious conservatives was made clear in an Associated Press article appearing in the Washington Times about the ANIN conference:

Lee Grady, editor of Charisma magazine, left the conference early after experiencing what he called a hostile attitude toward evangelical views…  Grady said it was obvious that a lot of the speakers wanted to promote a view that homosexuality was not a sin.[v]

ANIN’s commitment to legitimizing homosexual behavior is well established.  In an ANIN publication entitled “1996 in Review,” the group notes:  “ANIN is also committed to the affirmation of gay and lesbian people.  Three persons on the current board of directors are openly gay.”[vi]  Thus, the following examples of ANIN’s leadership and speakers/participants chosen for its November 1998 AIDS conference shows clearly the BJCPA’s willingness to align itself with “religious voices” advocating the most extreme positions regarding the issue of homosexuality.  It also raises serious questions about the CBF’s recommendation of ANIN as an AIDS ministry resource in its 1994 AIDS resource packet.        

•    Ken South:  South is executive director of ANIN and openly homosexual.  In a full page ad in the Washington Post on July 14, 1998, South writes: “I am a middle-aged gay Christian clergyman who has recently celebrated his 25^th anniversary of ordination in the United Church of Christ.”[vii]

•    Scott Harrison:  Harrison is the Program Director at ANIN and is also homosexual.[viii]  According to the conference program, during the 1980’s Harrison “served as associate minister of two [Southern] Baptist churches.”  More recently, Harrison spent two years at the Human Rights Campaign, the nations largest gay rights organization.  Harrison received his Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary when “moderates” controlled the seminary. 

•    Mary Hunt:  Hunt, a lesbian and feminist theologian, led devotions during the opening sessions on three days of the ANIN conference.  She is co-founder/co-director of Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER).  Ms. Hunt was also one of the speakers at the 1993 Re-Imagining conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota where she declared:  “From generation to generation lesbian women have been part of every movement for social change.  And especially in the vanguard of church related movements.  And so, I honor my lesbian ancestors this afternoon.”  In a presentation entitled “Re-Imagining Sexuality - Family,” Ms. Hunt spoke about how “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people have not fared any better in church circles in recent decades...”  Ms. Hunt goes on to state:  “Imagine sex among friends as the norm, young people learning to make friends rather than to date.  Imagine valuing genital sexual interaction in terms of whether and how it fosters friendship and pleasure.  Imagine, just imagine.  Imagine the many ways friends are together since not all of us have the time or inclination to go to bed together.  … Pleasure is our birthright of which we have been robbed in religious patriarchy.  It is time to claim it anew with our friends.”[ix] (emphasis ours)  Hunt serves with Americans United executive director, Barry Lynn, on the Advisory Committee of Equal Partners in Faith. 

•    Alice Davis:  Davis, a conference participant, is an Elder in the Presbyterian Church USA and “is currently the Associate Director of Project YES, an educational organization, whose goal is to ensure the healthy development of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth.”[x]

•    Rev. Howard Warren Jr.:  Rev. Warren is a Presbyterian clergyman and member of the ANIN board of directors.  According to Rev. Warren:  “I am open with my denomination about both my HIV-status and my gay sexual orientation and continue to challenge the religious and secular world to be inclusive to all God creates.”[xi]

•     Rev. Tom Behrens:  Rev. Behrens, a conference participant, is executive director of The Night Ministry in Chicago, Illinois.  According to an article appearing on the ANIN web site:  “The Night Ministry is engaged in a HIV/AIDS prevention ministry in which it seeks to be available, visible and present on the nightime streets of Chicago.”  The article begins by stating:  “People are generally not used to seeing a person wearing a clerical collar at 1:00 a.m. on a street corner distributing condoms and conversing with prostitutes.”  The article also states:  “In addition to distributing condoms and providing safer sex education, we encourage our parishioners to get tested for HIV.”[xii]

•    Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati:  Bhagavati was the November 8^th keynote conference speaker and founder of The River Fund in Sebastian, Florida.  In the conference program, Bhagavati is described as a “spiritual teacher and caregiver” and the “spiritual director of Kashi Ashram, an interfaith community which combines Eastern and Western spirituality.”[xiii]

•    Rev. Rosetta Dubois Gadson:  Rev. Gadson was ordained in the A.M.E. church (African Methodist Episcopalian) and is secretary of the ANIN board of directors.  She serves on the board of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York City and for three years served as Outreach Coordinator and Program Coordinator for The Balm In Gilead.[xiv]  According to a press release from the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the group’s new executive director, Dr. Joshua Lipsman, led the efforts in Alexandria Virginia “for needle exchange programs and ran for the school board as an openly gay candidate.”[xv] According to an ABP article about the ANIN conference:  “The Balm in Gilead, a New York-based group which mobilizes African-American churches to respond to AIDS, won a $600,000 three-year grant from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) to establish a black-church HIV/AIDS assistance center.  The group is supported by numerous black denominations, including the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., the National Baptist Convention of America and the Progressive National Baptist Convention.”[xvi]  Each of these Baptist groups are member denominations of the BJCPA. 

•    Rev. Dr. Bill Johnson:  According to the conference program, “Rev. Dr. Johnson is a United Church of Christ minister and certified sex educator.”  The program further notes:  “In 1996, Johnson was named minister for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered concerns for the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries.”[xvii]  The UCC officially traces its support for homosexual behavior back to 1969,[xviii] and in November of 1998, UCC president Paul Sherry sent a “pastoral letter” to the more than 6000 UCC churches “in support of the full participation of gay, lesbian and bisexual persons in the membership and ministry of the church, and of equal rights for gay, lesbian and bisexual persons in society."[xix]  (The Alliance of Baptists, one of the “supporting bodies” of the BJCPA, “[a]uthorized a team for formal dialogue with the United Church of Christ” at its March 1999 annual convocation.[xx])       

•    Father Tom Orians S.A.:  According to the ANIN program, Father Orians “is the current chair of the national AIDS project of Dignity/USA, the national organization of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Catholics.”  Father Orians represents Dignity on ANIN’s  Council of National Religious AIDS Networks.[xxi]

•    Sensei Pat Enkyo O’Hara:  Rev. O’Hara, a lesbian, “is a Zen Buddhist Teacher, …manages the Buddhist AIDS Network and guides meditation groups at Gay Men’s Health Crisis.”  She now serves as Vice-Chair of the ANIN Board of Directors.[xxii]

•    Rev. Gary Gunderson:  Rev. Gunderson is Director of The Interfaith Health Program of the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta, which served as host and co-sponsor of the ANIN conference.  An ordained  Baptist minister, Gunderson “chairs the building committee of his own congregation, Oakhurst Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia.”[xxiii]  A 1998 article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted that Oakhurst Baptist Church “has ordained openly gay deacons, named a homosexual to the chairmanship of the deacons’ board, and last year ordained a gay minister.”[xxiv]  For several years, the CBF-funded moderate newspaper, Baptists Today, operated out of Oakhurst Baptist Church.[xxv]  In 1995, Gunderson led a “breakout session” at the CBF General Assembly in Fort Worth, Texas.[xxvi] BJCPA executive director James Dunn serves with Gunderson on the Board of Advisors of a publication called Seeds, which was founded by Gunderson[xxvii] and at one time operated out of Oakhurst Baptist Church[xxviii] and received CBF funding.[xxix]   (See Alliance of Baptists)  

•    Rabbi Marc Blumenthal:  Rabbi Blumenthal is ANIN’s chairman of the board, co-chair of the AIDS Committee of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and vice-chair of the Board of Directors of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles.[xxx]  At the 59^th General Assembly of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, November 1987, a resolution was passed stating: “…the Union of American Hebrew Congregations resolved to support and defend the civil and human rights of homosexuals, and we have welcomed into the UAHC congregations with special outreach to lesbian and gay Jews.  But we must do more.”  The resolution further states that UAHC urge its congregations and affiliates to “Encourage lesbian and gay Jews to share and participate in the worship, leadership, and general congregational life of all synagogues.”[xxxi]

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