I am not ashamed

I received a very interesting email the other day:

I am going to be in London over the summer with my girl friend Amy and we are interested in your fellowship. The issue is we are both people in the arts and grew up in conservative churches .. me Roman Catholic, she Protestant fundamentalist and we really got hurt. We found a Unitarian fellowship in America and this was healing for us both. Would we fit with you? We are "out there" in terms of style. I (Chad) wear short skirts and tall boots and Amy goes bra-less and wears very very short dresses. We have been rejected in our home churches and wonder if we would be welcomed dressed as we are in your church. 

Chad Bradford

The message came through the British Unitarian Association's web site contact system. My intention was to contact these folks and find out more about them. There are certainly people who are biologically men and identify as women and I would and do welcome them completely. This didn't sound like that at all though. The story seemed - well - more than a bit odd.

So I poked around just a bit and what do you know! The return email address is canonpearson@yahoo.com. This address belongs to Canon Mark Pearson, the pastor of the Trinity Charismatic Episcopal Church (CEC) in Kingston, NH, USA.

I contacted Canon Pearson. He replied by email that Chad and Amy were staying with him and had borrowed his computer - but that they were good people. All my requests for contact information for "Chad" and "Amy" were fruitless...  "Oh, Chad doesn't have an email address..."

The CEC is a conservative church. It opposes "...theological liberalism, gnosticism,Theosophy, non-traditional sexual ethics, and the ordination of women to the priesthood." Is a picture becoming clear now? Do you think that Canon Pearson with his strict CEC morals would have house-guests like Chad and Amy? I think not. I think that Chad and Amy might be figments of someone's over-active imagination.

What can we learn here?

First, some conservative Christians are so insecure about their position that that they have to bait more inclusive religionists in the hope that they can find some way to portray us in an unflattering light. When you don't have anything to say, it's always helpful to have a good enemy!

Second, some conservative Christians are obsessed with sex. Really - can we not find a better use of our time in a world that is fraught with war, starvation, and oppression than conjuring up images of men in short skirts and high boots? One has to wonder what's really going on in a mind that is focused on images of braless women in "very very short dresses".

Third, some conservative Christians are technologically challenged! Don't we all know how easy it is to get another email address?

In a world that so needs to feel the connection between all people - a world where divisions and misunderstandings are literally killing our brothers and sisters - religion must play a unifying role. We must promote love and understanding in all its forms. We must be a force for acceptance and never the instigators of exclusion. We must recognize the beauty of all human beings in all their wonder and with all their many flaws.

Someone tried to shame us for standing on the side of love. Where does the shame truly belong?