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Opening the way for inclusive faith

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Across the continent, progressive leaders within organised religion are paving the way for the acceptance of LGBTIQ+ people who believe in God. Nickita Maesela speaks to the theologians who are making it happen
Across the continent, progressive leaders within organised religion are paving the way for the acceptance of LGBTIQ+ people who believe in God. Nickita Maesela speaks to the theologians who are making it happen

‘Thus, with crystal clarity, we know that he would not worship a homophobic God, and that if there is homophobia in heaven, he’d rather go to hell.”

This was part of a statement released by the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation after Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award for services to the LGBTIQ+ community at Cape Town Pride, held last month.

Tutu, a leader when it comes to inclusivity within religions, has paved the way for other religious leaders and academics within theology.

Christian councils and LGBTI+ dialogue partners from several countries met in Johannesburg last week under the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa (Foccisa) to discuss what it means to be a believer in God.

'I will love all who will receive it'

A reimagined engagement between religion and LGBTIQ+ groups about homophobia in Africa has been ongoing, reflecting the fact that there are progressive leaders within religions in Africa who are taking on the challenge to remind faith communities that they can be sites of healing for all of humanity.

Speaking about the way the church has traditionally approached LGBTIQ+ issues, Bishop Gilford Matonga, senior pastor of Lilongwe Pentecostal Church in Malawi – and a member of the Malawi Council of Churches – says: “The church has said this: ‘I will love you if you conform to my way of thinking and way of understanding.’ That is not the way of God’s love. God’s love is this: ‘I will love all who will receive it.’”

Says Pierre Buckley, an openly gay minister at Johannesburg Church and the programme manager at the Global Interfaith Network (GIN): “People are coming from a place of being rejected and wounded by the church, where faith was supposed to be a place of healing. This is what we were taught as youngsters. As we grow up, we are suddenly seen as people who are different and are then rejected because we do not conform to what is deemed to be the norm.”

Buckley supports the establishment of an inclusive space within the Christian faith for LGBTIQ+ Africans seeking to consolidate two integral aspects of their identity: spirituality and gender/sexual identity.

Chantel Fortuin, a feminist theologian from Botswana, who is lesbian, grew up going to church and still goes religiously. She says the importance of being visible as a queer woman and disrupting the patriarchal constructs of society are what drove her towards theology: “I am just one person when I go to church. I cannot decide to leave aspects of myself at the door so I can be Christian. Identities are not clothes that you put on when you want to; identity is who you are.”

Adds Buckley: “Judging by what we see, this dialogue on identity needs to highlight the misconceptions that arise about each of us as human beings.”

The GIN has implemented various programmes across the Global South aimed at helping queer communities deal with social rejection. The network provides a safe space for people to convene and create local, regional and international strategies for the decriminalisation of LGBTIQ+ identities.

As church representatives, we need to continue meeting with church leaders to make them understand what they are doing when they continue to be hostile towards LGBTI+ people.
Bishop Gilford Matonga

The GIN is playing a leading role in Africa not only in terms of supporting LGBTIQ+ people, but also by engaging with faith leaders and contexts where religion is used as a justification for discrimination against the LGBTI+ community.

“Our Constitution in Malawi is very different to yours here in South Africa. We do not have the support you do here,” says Buckley.

A 2019 report by The Other Foundation, an African trust dedicated to advancing human rights in southern Africa, with a particular focus on LGBTI+ people, surveyed religious explanations by Malawians for their attitudes towards queer people. According to the report, 10% of Malawians say same-sex relationships are caused by demons and about 7% say these relationships happen because some people are sinners.

“When asked if God loves people who are in same-sex relationships, the majority (52%) said ‘no’, but more than a third said ‘yes’, despite disapproving of such relationships,” according to the report.

Says Matonga: “As church representatives, we need to continue meeting with church leaders to make them understand what they are doing when they continue to be hostile towards LGBTI+ people. They are perpetuating the stigma against queer identity.

“Being violent in our approach as faith leaders is wrong; this needs to change. The church needs to hear people’s stories and extend welcoming arms.”

It is “missing knowledge” that has informed the church’s conventionally harsh response, he says.

“The church is not a moral compass. Our role is to welcome, love and receive everyone and bring healing to all those who are hurting,” adds Matonga.

Frank Lilela is an LGBTIQ+ dialogue partner who works at Lambda, Mozambique’s only LGBTIQ+ organisation, which was founded in 2006. He says the stigma associated with being LGBTIQ+ persists in Mozambique. A 2017 report by The Other Foundation bears this out as it shows a significant lack of information about sexual orientation and gender identity in the education system, at workplaces, at religious institutions and in the healthcare system.

Lambda has been instrumental in creating a dialogue between the community and the local council of churches, explains Lilela.

“Evangelic churches in Mozambique have, as a rule, discrimination against LGBTIQ+ people,” says Lilela.

But there is hope. The dialogues initiated by Lambda, supported by the GIN, have encouraged changing perspectives about queer people.

“To demonstrate the love of Christ we cannot as a church chase out anybody,” adds Lilela.

Matonga says the council in Malawi has been hard at work addressing church leaders to speak out against all forms of violence meted out to any LGBTIQ+ person. Sexuality and gender diversity have become a new site of struggle, and the old theology does not fit.

Openly gay Rabbi Adrian Schell, who leads congregants at Bet David, a synagogue in Johannesburg, says he never questioned his sexuality while growing up. Therefore, on reaching adulthood, he was in a space where he could be himself – and could lead others to be this way.

He was raised by a secular Jewish family who approached religion in a humanistic way. Hence, the traditional understanding of Judaism held no appeal as he grew older.

Schell and his synagogue are part of the progressive community of Jews, of which Schell has been a part in Germany – where he grew up – and South Africa. He moved here to be with his husband just over five years ago.

Schell says the progressive communities within Christianity and Judaism are working together to repudiate the condemnation of LGBTIQ+ people by faith-based organisations: “The progressive community is one where you don’t need to hide who you are.”

Schell relates a recent incident where a South African man committed suicide because his sexual and religious identity were in conflict.

About 10% of South Africa’s Jewish community are part of the progressive community. Bet David’s sister community in Cape Town held a Pride Sabbath service to celebrate last month’s event in Cape Town; it was aimed at bridging the gap between LGBTIQ+ Jews and their heterosexual counterparts.

“As the progressive community, we are welcoming, inclusive and here for you,” says Schell.

Many people regard Schell’s synagogue as a place where they can express their true selves.

“I had a 13-year-old come here. He is transgender and spoke of wanting to celebrate his Barmitzvah – a Jewish coming-of-age ritual for boys – with us. I was happy that he found a synagogue that can do that.”

The synagogue has unisex toilets, which takes inclusive religion that much further. “This is where we open the doors. We hope that the orthodox community can see this and follow in our footsteps,” he says.

  • This series on LGBTIQ+ life in Africa is made possible through a partnership with The Other Foundation. To learn more about its work, visit theotherfoundation.org


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