They Were Wrong.

The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century changed forever the face of the Christian church. Right now the Presbyterian, Methodist and Episcopalian churches are changing as many congregations move into the light of true Christian love and become welcoming congregations. There is now an Associate of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists. There is an ever-growing Coalition of Welcoming Congregations in the Bay Area and nationally. While these faith leaders and congregations welcome and affirm LGBT families, fundamentalist Christian churches have become nothing more than Alabama’s Governor George Wallace, standing in the schoolhouse door proclaiming “homophobia now, homophobia forever!” They are wrong and there is a long, sad history of churches getting it wrong:

In 1484 Pope Innocent VIII issued his “Summis Desiderantes Affectibus” which launched a monstrous inquisition in Germany in which thousands were killed for witchcraft. He thought he was following God’s word. He was wrong.

In 1521 the Catholic Church declared Martin Luther an outlaw, banned his literature and required his arrest as a heretic. They made it a crime for anyone in Germany to give Luther food or shelter. Their edict permitted anyone to kill Luther without legal consequence. They believed they were right. They were wrong.

Later in his life Martin Luther became strongly anti Semitic, writing that Jewish homes should be destroyed, their synagogues burned, their money confiscated and their freedom curtailed. He assumed he was a good Christian. He was wrong.

In 1536 Anglican priest William Tyndale was was strangled and burnt at the stake by church leaders because he translated the bible into English. They were wrong.

In the 16th century both Roman Catholics and Protestants alike persecuted the Anabaptists, resorting to torture and execution by burning in a vain attempt to curb the growth of the movement. They thought they had the bible on their side. They were wrong.

In 1600 Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for theorizing that the universe was infinite and that our Sun was just one among countless other stars. The Catholic church convicted him of heresy and murdered him. They thought they understood how our universe worked. They were wrong.

In 1633 Galileo was arrested for heresy because he said that the Earth revolved around the sun. The Christian Church at that time used Scripture to defend their belief that the Earth was the center of the universe. They were wrong.

In 1660 Quakers were executed as heretics by Puritans in Boston. The Christian Puritans used Scripture to defend their actions. They were wrong.

In 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts 156 people from twenty four villages were accused of witchcraft before special courts. Nineteen victims were hanged and one crushed to death for refusing to confess to the practice of witchcraft. The Christians who did this used Scripture as their reasoning, quoting Exodus 22:18. They were wrong.

In 1823 Baptist Richard Furman led the first wave of proslavery writing. Furman's "Exposition of the Views of the Baptists, Relative to the Coloured Population of the United States" pointed out the numerous scriptural passages taken to favor slaveholders that would be repeated ad nauseam after 1831. He was wrong.

In 1841 Virginia Baptist minister Thornton Stringfellow wrote the best-selling proslavery tract of the era, and was the most widely distributed antebellum southern writer of any kind. In his Brief Examination of Scripture Testimony on the Institution of Slavery Stringfellow gave the authoritative catalog of scriptural proslavery references that would be emphasized by antebellum southern evangelicals throughout the Civil War. He was wrong.

In 1844 in Philadelphia, Protestants fueled the ‘Bible Riots’ in which houses were torched, two Catholic churches were destroyed and at least 20 people were killed. They thought this was what Jesus would do. They were wrong.

In 1857 George Armstrong, an influential protestant, wrote The Christian Doctrine of Slavery, a book that defended the practice of slavery as acceptable in Christianity. He used portions of the New Testament to justify this position, specifically Paul's Ephesians 6:5-9, which advised “servants to be obedient to masters.” He was wrong.

Prior to 1978 the Mormon church barred black men and women from temple ceremonies that promised access in the afterlife to the highest heaven. They used the Bible to defend their racism. They were wrong.

Right now, in Castro Valley, some churches are using Scripture to defend their belief that gay people are sinners simply by being born with particular immutable characteristics. They are wrong. Please ask them to stop and instead come stand on the right side of history with us.