UUA Statement Condemning the Nashville Statement
By Michael J. Crumpler
The UUA condemns the recently published Nashville Statement in the strongest terms. The Nashville Statement is not only historically and theologically flawed, but spiritually damaging and culturally oppressive to all people, namely those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer.
- The UUA condemns the Nashville Statement’s assumption that God’s design is limited to an evangelical Christian paradigm. This is not only out of step with Unitarian Universalist Beliefs and Principles, but diminishes the orthodoxy of mainline liberal Christian traditions, Judaism, Islam and other religious world views that have sustained peoples and civilizations throughout history.
- The UUA condemns the Nashville Statement’s emphasis on God’s alleged design of the male and female binary. This limited perspective diminishes the inherent oppression of the heteronormative gender binary and overlooks the history of oppression and violence suffered by women and gender non-binary persons. The need to affirm and reaffirm the notion of a divine and sovereign intention for binary privilege is reckless and dangerous for those living beyond the margins of gender normativity.
- The UUA condemns the Nashville Statement’s narrow interpretation of the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Christian church as primarily concerned with a literal, fundamental critique of secularism regarding sexuality and gender, without mention of racism, classism, capitalism, militarism, environmentalism, and the international refugee crisis. Prioritizing biblical sexuality and gender as a distinct and separate countercultural critique of Western systemic social ills undermines the teachings of Jesus and the biblical imperative to love our neighbors as ourselves.
- The UUA condemns the Nashville Statement’s supremacy of the Christian God as Creator and Lord of all. While such a conviction is appropriate for one’s personal life of faith and practice, it is limiting and arrogant in the eyes of many who have derived faith and meaning through many other authoritative sources, creeds, traditions, and expressions beyond Christendom. Furthermore, by privileging the Christian God as Creator and Lord of all serves to endorse and affirm the violences committed at the hands of those who claim manifest destiny and divine right as a means of exacting imperialism and slavery against indigenous and black cultures.
- The UUA condemns the Nashville Statement’s proclamation that Jesus’ plan for an abundant life limits human sexuality to the covenantal, sexual, procreative union of one man and one woman, as husband and wife. Not only does such an ill-fated virtue exile youth, single, elderly, celibate, and differently-abled persons, it also diminished the full and faithful lives of sexually fulfilling expressions, experiences, and families that contribute beautifully and bountifully to a healthy, prosperous, and global society.
In keeping with our Beliefs and Principles, the UUA lovingly affirms our faith and reliance on the following sources:
- Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
- Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
Through these sources of faith and inspiration, the UUA hopes to promote and uphold our belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every person, namely lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and all other forms of queer identity and non-binary expression.
As Unitarian Universalists, we unite together with any and all faiths who seek justice, equity, and compassion in human relations, without regard to marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identity and expression.
We call all Christians and people of many and all faiths to affirm our Unitarian Universalist values of justice, compassion, and love and condemn the Nashville Statement as irresponsible, divisive, and mean during a time when the need for peace and unity has never been greater.