Irresponsible church leaders who encourage a literal and 'juvenile' interpretation of the Bible are partly to blame for heightened mental illness and physical harm among LGBT people, according to a leading UK evangelical Christian.
The Rev Canon Steve Chalke – leader of Global Christian charity and south London church Oasis – argues in a hard-hitting video that the Bible has wrongly been used throughout history to undermine women's rights, create an unnecessary confrontation with scientists and oppress LGBT people.
In the video released today, Chalke challenges Christians to rethink their handling of scripture with urgency, recognising the damage that misinterpreting it can cause.
In the latest instalment in his controversial 'Chalke Talk' series, Chalke says: 'My call is to all responsible church leaders and Christians to re-evaluate their attitude to the Bible and therefore to LGBT people; to work to welcome and celebrate them for who they are, to recognise their relationships and to sanctify their faithful, monogamous marriages.'
Chalke adds: 'From Florence Nightingale to Martin Luther King, many of history's most revered social reformers have been influenced by the Bible. However, we have to face the fact that parts of Scripture have been used by others to justify some of the most inhumane, brutal and repressive episodes in human history. To sanction crusades and inquisitions. To approve witch-hunts across Europe and North America which saw tens of thousands of innocent women slaughtered in the name of God. To portray African people as cursed by God and therefore to justify the enslavement of millions. To legitimise apartheid and antisemitism.
'And still, the Bible is used by some to condone the death penalty, to keep women subservient to men, to incite Islamophobia, to insist on a "young earth" – anti-scientific – six-day understanding of creation and to abuse the environment. All these have been "faith-based initiatives" and all born out of the same over literalistic misreading of scripture.'
Referring to research released by the Oasis Foundation last year, Chalke claims that the pervasive impact of the church's traditional view of sexuality has reinforced and perpetuated a global culture in which LGBT people are less than fully accepted or included and instead are often rejected.
Over the coming two years Chalke, who serves as the senior minister of Oasis Church in Waterloo, central London, will be posting 95 'revolutionary' questions about the way the church operates.
