By Mark Tooley, Director, Institute for Religion & Democracy
Editor’s note: The author personally attended the event described in the following article.
February 1996 – A homosexuality symposium at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., with keynote speaker Episcopal Church in the USA Bishop John Spong, featured ridicule of the Christmas Nativity story, speculation about Jesus as a “drag queen,” praise for homosexual marriage and a declaration that the Ten Commandments are “immoral.” Foundry’s regular Sunday worshipers include President and Mrs. Clinton.
The day-long “celebration” at Foundry Church was organized by PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). Called “Sharing Our Rainbow of Light,” the November 10 symposium’s speakers at times surprised even their mostly homosexual audience of several hundred persons with their denial of traditional religious beliefs.
“If a star led the Wise men to the baby Jesus, then why couldn’t King Herod find Him?” Bishop Spong asked a laughing audience, seated in the historic sanctuary where presidents from Lincoln to Clinton have worshiped. The controversial Episcopal leader of Newark, New Jersey, dismissed the Jewish prophecies traditionally seen as foretelling the coming of Christ. “I don’t think Isaiah, Jeremiah or the Psalmist anticipated the life of Jesus of Nazareth,” said Spong. “People can’t predict future events. It’s a magical view of the Bible.”
An audience member protested. “I am gay, Jewish Christian, convicted by the biblical prophecies and in my heart.” He asked the bishop, “Don’t the Hebrew scriptures point in the direction of Jesus?”
Spong responded, “Jews might be safer if we took evangelical Christianity away. Converting Jews to Christianity is not on the radar screen.”
“Every image of God is mythological,” Spong affirmed. He said the resurrection and virgin birth of Jesus did not literally happen, but were just “interpreted” that way. Likewise, the disciple Judas and Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph, were fictional characters whom the early church created. Spong called the Ten Commandments “immoral” because they “define women as property.” He criticized Pope John Paul II for refusing to ordain women into the priesthood. “Jesus never appointed any Polish males either,” Spong noted.
Repeating a suggestion from one of his books, Spong opined that St. Paul was homosexual. “Our primary understanding of God’s grace came from a self-hating, gay man,” he said. The bishop called legitimizing homosexuality with the church “a total justice issue exactly like the civil rights movement.”
Noting that he has 15 “out of the closet” priests in his own New Jersey diocese, Spong recalled with pride that the first woman he ordained in 1977 later declared her lesbianism. “I have given my all to this life and death struggle within the Episcopal Church,” he declared. “I will sacrifice my career if I must.”
Observing that the Bible is often a “weapon to inflict prejudice,” Spong concluded that when “fundamentalists try to smother the world, then you have to cry for air.” He lamented that Colin Powell would not run for president, as he “ is the only man in the GOP with the authority and power to resist the Religious Right.”
After Spong’s speech, one Foundry Church member said, “I love his ideas about prejudice, but when it comes to the Scriptures, he lost me.”
Foundry pastor J. Philip Wogaman was more effusive. “Bishop Spong’s remarks this morning were so stimulating,” noting that he shares concerns about a “literalistic” view of the Bible.
“I’m not sure what to do with Bishop Spong’s thoughts on St. Paul being gay,” Wogaman said. “But I am much touched by the relationships of gay couples in this church.” He agreed that King David may have been bisexual. And he urged “convenantal unions” for homosexual couples.
Asked about the possibility of depicting Christ as a “drag queen,” Wogaman responded, “I don’t condemn it. I just don’t know. I’ll have to think about it some more.” He pledged that Foundry Church would be “welcoming to the homosexual community.”
The symposium was concluded at Foundry with an ecumenical worship service involving numerous clergy, including a Washington Catholic priest who announced he has recently “come out publicly.” The clergy processional was led by flags showing the homosexual rainbow emblem. A banner behind the altar carried the rainbow surrounded by skulls, symbolizing “truth, justice, reconciliation and peace.”
During the service, male couples held each other and kissed in the pews. One worship leader identified herself as a “lesbian Unitarian.” A priest asked God “to help us to be true to ourselves.” The Reverend Kwabena Rainey Cheeks of the Inner Light Unity Fellowship, a New Age group, prayed to “ancestors, lights, angels, saints and spirits of Buddha, Mohammed and Jesus.”
United Methodist minister Harry Kieley declared, “Jesus is speaking as a gay man to the church today. The United Methodist Church has been supporting the persecution of human beings.” 
