wfn.org | Title: Silence Greets Attack On Gay Minister

[UfmccHq@aol.com]

Roanoke Times, August 12, 2001
http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story116403.html

The Back Pew
by Cody Lowe

B B B B B B It was just another Wednesday night Bible study.
B B B B B B Churches all over Western Virginia have them. B Oh, in some places
it's
not, technically speaking, Bible study. B Perhaps it's a gathering for a meal,
a brief sermon, a speaker or simply a time of prayer.
B B B B B B Typically enough, it might end with a supplication for God's
protection
for the rest of the week. B But -- until recently -- it probably would not
have included an appeal that worshippers be allowed to get safely to their
parked cars outside the church.
B B B B B B After all, we're not in Sudan, where Christians are sometimes
kidnapped
into slavery. B Or Saudi Arabia, where simply having one's name on a list of
Christians can lead to jail time. B Or Pakistan, where a Christian can be
killed for defending his religious beliefs.
B B B B B B But, as we all learned a week and a half ago, leaving Bible study
in
downtown Roanoke can be dangerous, too.
B B B B B B The attack at Metropolitan Community Church of the Blue Ridge was
over
in a matter of seconds. B But it left one man with a black eye, another with
bumps and bruises, and two other people -- including the pastor -- with the
emotional wounds that an unprovoked physical attack inflicts.
B B B B B B One has to wonder what the community reaction would have been like
if
the attack had happened at a Baptist church, for instance, and the attackers
had lashed out with the words "f------ Christians," instead of "f------
f-----s."
B B B B B B We can't know what would have happened, but there might have been
some
comment about how such an attack ought to be labeled a "hate crime," because
the attackers singled out people for their religious beliefs. B That would
almost certainly have been the case if the attack had been on a religious
minority -- Jews, Muslims, Hindus.
B B B B B B Sounds of silence
B B B B B B But the attack didn't happen at a "mainstream" congregation. B It
happened in a church made up primarily of gays and lesbians. B Outcasts, not
only in Christianity, but in most of the world's major religions.
B B B B B B So, there was no flood of righteous anger from pulpiteers. B No
call for
a valleywide day of prayer for the victims -- or the attackers, for that
matter, who may actually need prayer more. B No avalanche of e-mail or cards
from churches offering sympathy and support.
B B B B B B Oh, a few did speak up. B Episcopal Bishop Neff Powell and Christ
Episcopal Church Rector Deborah Hentz Hunley both contacted the Rev.
Catherine Houchins at MCC to assure her of their prayers and support. B The
Rev. Joy Sylvester-Johnson, executive director of the Rescue Mission,
attended last Sunday morning's service at MCC.
B B B B B B No doubt, other congregations remembered the church and the
victims in
prayer.
B B B B B B But in the public square, only the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People and the National Conference for Community and
Justice stood up with the congregation to deplore the violence.
B B B B B B The silence from the steeples sounded not so much like cowardice
as
apathy. B "Well, they're different, and we really don't like what they 'do'
anyway. B Maybe this is God's way of prompting them to change their ways.
B After all, nobody was hurt all that badly."
B B B B B B Perhaps the quiet response was understandable. B As Houchins
pointed out
to the 90 or so people at last Sunday's services, the attack did not
constitute a pattern. B At the same time, she declined to call it an "isolated
incident," because gays and lesbians hear the epithets all too often, even
when they are not attacked with fists.
B B B B B B It had never happened at the 15-year-old church before, however,
and
now worship there will never be quite the same.
B B B B B B Houchins insists that the attack doesn't reflect the Roanoke she's
come
to know since returning here three years ago.
B B B B B B But the rest of us have to wonder whether the resounding silence
from
our houses of worship helped encourage three young men to take out their
disgust with homosexuals on four people who'd just spent the evening in
prayer.
B B B B B B And we have to wonder whether that silence sends a signal that the
next
attack -- on Catholics or Muslims or Methodists -- will be met with the same
indifference.
B B B B B B b" Cody Lowe can be reachedat 981-3425 or codyl@roanoke.com.