What about Africa? A Response

By David Braden

Thank you for your post, Heather. I started writing this as a comment to your post, but then it became quite long so I thought that I would just post my response in its own right.

So many comments and statements from General Conference still seem to sear my brain, e.g homosexuals being spawn of the devil and "things" that "we would rather not see, rather not hear, rather not touch" ...

I struggle with how easy it is to stereotype these comments as the lone voice of all Africans - as if a whole continent is of one mind about queer people. Thankfully, we know that there are other voices like that of Archbishop Desmond Tutu who speak out against homophobia and violence - spiritual and physical - against queer people.

Yet as you point out, it's not as if there isn't some level of veracity to a level of homophobia that threatens people's lives. It's one thing for my privileged white male gay ears to be offended by someone calling me "demonic." Yet, it's a wholly different issue to face state-sanctioned imprisonment or death.

I think you are totally right in our need to be in faithful communion with our brothers and sisters in Africa. All too often I have heard some of our own Reconciling friends suggest that "If it weren't for the Africans ..." or "If we just didn't have the Africans ..." then we'd be an inclusive Church. What does that really mean? Are we saying that in order to be a fully inclusive Church we have to exclude an entire continent of brothers and sisters in Christ? I can empathize with the pain that so many people feel that would conjure up such sentiments. Actually “pain” is a word that probably doesn't even begin to describe the degree of harm that I know many people, including myself, feel due to General Conference and the voices of some African delegates and the likes of Eddie Fox.

Yet I worry about what it then means to be in the Reconciling movement. Are we a movement seeking the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people into the Body of Christ that we know as the United Methodist Church at any cost? Is this a reconciling movement just for white queer people? Are we done with our work if American queer people legally are protected in the Church but not anyone else?

I think we are missing an opportunity to experience or re-experience our own conversion and conviction for the love of Christ by not getting to know, entering into relationship with and standing side by side our brothers and sisters in Africa. If my oppression truly is bound up with all others experiencing and living oppression – in whatever form it rears its ugly head, then I am called to stand and be with my oppressed brothers and sisters. What that actually looks like, I don't know either. But I also know that I don't personally think that I can expect anyone - let alone a [stereotypical] brother or sister from Africa - to accept me as fully human and a child of God unless I do so as well. I guess we have a lot of work to do - and that would be an understatement...