Saturday, April 4, 1998

Religious leaders divided over football star's comments

By MARGO HUSTON and TOM NEINEN / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A leading national expert on black churches in America says professional football star Reggie White's statements denouncing homosexuality are "very dangerous."

Meanwhile, other religious and community leaders were divided on the wisdom of White's remarks.

Dwight Hopkins, an African-American who teaches black church studies at University of Chicago Divinity School, said, "It's absolutely very dangerous any time a minority group is set aside from the rest of the population."

He said the tragic history of blacks in America was a testament to that danger.

In a one-hour speech at the Wisconsin Assembly last week, White, an ordained minister and star member of the football Green Bay Packers, used a theme of unity in diversity. But he made national news for his characterization of homosexuality as a sin and his stereotyping of some racial and ethnic groups.

White defended his remarks.

Hopkins said people who condemn gays and lesbians usually also condemn blacks. Black churches in America were founded because of discrimination, he said, "so it's disheartening and a gross inconsistency to hear my fellow Christian brother condemn another group of Christians and exclude them from the faith."

White's denunciation of gays represents a significant trend in black churches, but more white churches than black ones are addressing gay issues, he said.

Bonnee Voss, associate director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches, which represents 11 mainstream Protestant denominations in the state, said White "expressed very traditional Biblical interpretations that reinforce stereotypes."

"Many denominations are struggling with issues of ordaining gays and lesbians, but most of those denominations have more compassionate or modified views," Voss said.

But Ayyub Al-Amin, director of the Milwaukee Islamic Da'wa Center, said it is sad that more political and Christian leaders did not support White's comments about homosexual acts.

"I agree with what he said, that it is a sin," Al-Alim said. "In Islam, all these things are forbidden ... . When (people) come to me and tell me they have these tendencies, what I tell them is they should refrain from these acts and repent."

In the Koran and Bible, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by God because of homosexual behavior, he said.

Les Dobbins, an ordained minister and director of missions for the Madison, Wis.-based Central Baptist Association, part of the Southern Baptist Convention, agreed that homosexual activity is a sin, and that people can choose whether to commit it. He emphasized that no Southern Baptist can speak for the entire denomination or its individual churches.

"No one could read the Bible and say ... that the Bible says the lifestyle of homosexuality is OK," Dobbins said. "The Bible does condemn it, but it does not condemn the people."

The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, gained nationwide attention last summer when it passed a resolution asking members to boycott Walt Disney Co. because of its "gay-friendly" policies and "anti-Christian, anti-family" direction. White referred to homosexuality as one of the biggest sins. Dobbins said he would not refer to homosexual activity as being a bigger sin than lying, cheating, stealing or adultery.

"There's no such thing as biggest or littlest sins in the Bible," Dobbins said. "Sin is a wrong relationship with God. When a person has a wrong relationship with God, they are living in sin. It doesn't matter what they are doing, if what they're doing causes them to have a wrong relationship with God."

Ken Little, president of the Milwaukee Urban League, said the controversy over White's remarks showed "the problem when you start stereotyping."

"It diverts the attention from the real issue," he said.

Same-sex marriages and ordination of sexually active homosexuals are two of the hottest issues that have fueled a struggle between liberals and conservatives in the Episcopal Church. Bishop William Wantland of Eau Claire, Wis., a leading conservative, agreed with White's view.

"My observation would be that what Reggie White said is precisely what Scripture says," Wantland said. "He was very careful not to condemn or attack people, just practice ... . Any sexual activity outside of marriage is not permitted, whether fornication, adultery or sodomy. They are sins according to Holy Scripture, and according to the vast majority of states of this union, they are crimes."

Doug Nelson, executive director of the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, said he loves the Packers but was profoundly disappointed "in how Reggie communicated his message.

"The AIDS community is a "very multicultural environment," Nelson said, "and one of the things we have learned over all the years is that it's very, very important to respect and value cultural differences."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)