Thanks, James, it’s about time Christians stand up
The opinions expressed in Carl Trueman’s op-ed (March 14) were, sadly, exactly what I as a person of faith, have come to expect in this polarized nation. Focusing narrowly on issues of sexuality and “transgenderism” in particular Coleman tries to claim that James Talarico’s progressive Christian faith emerged directly and only from cultural and political progressive causes.
Coleman contributes nothing to the important theological conversations happening in the United States which is sad and dare I claim “sinful”, given his credentials. From my earliest years in Sunday School through my years in seminary through now 45 years in Christian ministry, of course my understanding of the God Jesus revealed has changed and grown. Of course I have discarded some beliefs as new scholarship has emerged.
Of course I have participated in the de-construction of institutional Christianity as it’s patriarchal and self-serving biases have caused great damage to many rather than inclusive welcome to all God’s children. It seems apparent that Talarico’s public leadership is grounded in a simple conviction: every person has inherent dignity, and government must protect that dignity.
To refute Trueman, this means safeguarding LGBTQ+ rights, defending pluralism, and ensuring that no one’s civil liberties depend on someone else’s theology. Protecting LGBTQ+ neighbors is not capitulation to “modernity”; it is obedience to the command to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Trueman’s worldview — and theological grounding — depends on a kind of cultural panic wherein people somehow believe that society is collapsing because people are naming their identities as full and beautiful children of a loving God. Fear cannot be the foundation of Christian ethics. (How many times is Jesus quoted as saying fear not?) Jesus consistently moved toward those whom society feared — lepers, foreigners, women, the marginalized — and insisted that love, not anxiety, defines the realm of God.