For two weeks I’ve been reading the blazing rhetoric in The Mountaineer from those opposed to the upcoming Hearts on Fire conference at Lake Junaluska Assembly Grounds. The condemnations have been loud and clear, and perhaps it should not have surprised any of us.

Society’s attitudes toward homosexuality are, at this moment, a contentious flashpoint in America’s cultural wars. In the past we have had the same level of disagreement about women’s place in society, race, and even heterosexual sex (remember the controversy about birth control pills?). We are divided, and as is often the case when this happens, people turn to the Bible to justify their own beliefs. And when people start using religion to justify superiority or righteousness over another group, the opportunity for things to get out of hand goes up exponentially.

The “Hearts on Fire” conference is all about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people trying to find a place in the world of Christianity. The conference is sponsored by the Reconciling Ministries Network, “a national grassroots organization that exists to enable full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of the United Methodist Church, both in policy and practice,” according to its mission statement.

That all sounds pretty tame, or at least harmless. These are simply people who want to be accepted as good Christians, people who want to be accepted by their church capable of salvation. The Methodist Church considers homosexuality incompatible with Christian teaching, but it also believes all people are “individuals of sacred worth.” With that in mind, several bishops in the church are going to attend this conference.

Others, however, are not so inclined to offer these folks the opportunity to be a part of their religion. Local Baptists, many Methodists, and a splinter group of the Ku Klux Klan have spoken out against the group. Some have taken out large newspaper advertisements with selected quotes from the Bible to try to convince people once and for all that homosexuality is a sin.

Confusions masked as anger

My wife and I are raising two daughters, and I worry about leading them through their teen years in this society. A simple trip through the grocery store is a lesson in how our culture sends out a battery of confusing messages. Women’s magazine covers scream about the latest sexual tricks women should learn to “please their man.” Beside those headlines are the big breasted, thin-armed models striking sultry poses, or even the same actresses we have watched in family movies. In teen magazines and around town, the norm is for 15-year-olds to wear what can only be described as suggestive clothing.

It’s not just teen girls facing these challenges. Try encouraging any adolescent to stay away from sex while Viagra and Cialis commercials showing couples in the early stages of foreplay jump out from the TV screen or the Internet.

The issue of gay marriage has ignited a firestorm on the national political scene among heterosexuals. The political climate, thanks to many of our leaders and to the proliferations of the openly-opinionated electronic media, offers no choice except complete polarization on these tough issues. Instead of a noncondemning-yet-strongwilled approach, the norm these days is to divide up and fight.

These examples merely reveal how our society, perhaps more than ever, is full of contradictions when it comes to sexuality. Given all that is going on around this issue, a whole lot of people feel a strong desire to profess their own heterosexuality and “normal-ness.” In doing so, they are more than happy to attack those who hold different beliefs.

Who will win, who will lose

In our military, they refer to it as collateral damage. This innocuous, almost clinical phrase can sometimes describe death and carnage of the worst kind. Collateral damage is the unintended results of military activity: the house next to the bomb’s intended target, the family inadvertently walking behind the jeep that was being targeted by snipers.

I can’t help but wonder what the fallout will be from Lake Junaluska’s decision to host this conference. There’s no doubt in my mind that the Methodist leaders who made this decision made the right choice. I’ve gained a lot of respect for Jimmy Carr over the years, and this decision only heightened that respect.

Carr is the executive director of the Lake Junaluska Conference Center, which is under the direction of the Southeastern Jurisdictional Adminstrative Council of the United Methodist Church. He and others at Junaluska have been weathering this firestorm with as much calm and respect for those on both sides of this issue as possible. Carr has released a two-page statement, which included these words: “Lake Junaluska .... serves over a hundred thousand persons a year with its facilities and grounds providing a place of Christian hospitality for spiritual enrichment, study and reflection. Our hope is that persons who use Lake Junaluska leave more committed followers of Jesus Christ.”

How’s that for a reasoned, welcoming philosophy. We can only hope that Lake Junaluska will not suffer any long-term fallout from this decision. For decades it has been a jewel of Haywood County, and its influence in this county’s social fabric can’t be overlooked. Many former clergymen and clergywomen enrich our volunteer organizations, help at our schools, and generally make Western North Carolina a better place to live.

Coming so soon after the East Waynesville Baptist Church debacle, there’s fear of economic repercussions from all this publicity. Will people begin viewing this place as a backwoods bastion of not conservatism but intolerance? Will tourism and the second-home appeal of Haywood County be negatively affected? The chance is very real, but we can only hope that we aren’t judged by those coming from outside.

The worst thing that could happen this weekend is for the KKK to be involved in some kind of violent protest. We can take hope in the fact that our law enforcement officials have been pro-active and have set up a security plan that should keep protestors in a safe place.

Judge not

I think those protesting this gathering are woefully misguided. In my perfect world someone’s sexual preference would have absolutely no bearing on whether that person is good or Godly. The two are not remotely connected.

More importantly, though, I respect the right of those who believe differently to protest. As much as I may think that it’s in poor taste and immoral in its own right, they have to be allowed to show up. Let them have their say, so long as they do it peacefully.

(Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com.)