Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 00:53:55 -0400 From: Interfaith Working Group Subject: IWG "Dear Lee" letter October 13, 1999 Dear Lee P. O. Box 2366 McCall, ID 83611 Dear Lee Thompson: While we appreciated your saying that people are not abominations and that "no one should use scripture to attack others," we were concerned about two other comments in your column about sexual orientation. Removing gender discrimination from civil marriage law does not open up civil marriage to "various combinations of other people, genders, objects, or animals." The Romans passage you cited is no more clearly anti-gay than any other passage in the Bible; the section in which that passage is contained is about God punishing a specific group of people engaged in idol worship by causing them to have, and act on, attractions that were not natural for them; whether this is a general comment on same-gender attraction and sexual behavior is a matter of some debate. In general, your column was civil and thoughtful, but we would have appreciated seeing some mention of the fact that opinions about sexual orientation and gender identity vary widely among Christian individuals and religious institutions as well as people and organizations in other faiths. Sincerely, Barbara Lamond Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators The above letter was sent on IWG letterhead listing 17 congregations and religious organizations and 63 clergy from 16 religious traditions. Visit our web site to find out how you can help: http://www.iwgonline.org/wecandoit/ -- Interfaith Working Group http://www.iwgonline.org/ iwg@iwgonline.org voice: 215-235-3050 fax: 215-232-0829