Still space in the deserts

When church evangelizers come to my door I take time to talk to them. I interrupt their spiel and ask them how their church treats gay people. I want them to know why I'm not interested in their church. One came this morning just as I finished my time on the exercise bike. I didn't get her denomination, but it is only the more conservative churches that do this sort of thing. Before she could hand me her brochure I asked. Her reply was that gay people were welcome. And when you have a gay couple sitting in your pews? We teach them what the Bible says. What does it say? She surprised me. She didn't turn to a clobber passage, she turned to words of welcome. But then there was a bit of a slip. She said something about gay people not fitting into God's plan because they don't reproduce. Ah! I said with 7 billion people in the world it was hardly necessary for gay people to reproduce. Oh, she said, there's still plenty of room for more people. We haven't filled the deserts yet. I tried to say we are to take care of the earth, not overrun it, but I couldn't think fast enough to say the words. She replied God said right there in Genesis to be fruitful and multiply. At that point I declared all that to be quite ridiculous and gently closed the door.



This evening I saw the movie The Overnighters at the Detroit Film Theater. The town of Williston, North Dakota is at the center of the oil fracking boom. Thousands of workers, many looking for a second chance, are drawn there. But the town isn't building new housing fast enough. The movie is a documentary of one of the pastors who opens his church to allow the men to sleep on the floor or to sleep in their cars in the parking lot. He is shown as a very compassionate man, helping the newcomers any way he can. Many church members are upset at the ongoing intrusion. After a teacher is murdered townspeople are distrustful of the newcomers and those who harbor them. A couple of the men turn against him, though the situation is not well explained. The church fills up so he invites a man to stay in his house and the guy turns out to be a registered sex offender because of an indiscretion in his youth. The town paper latches onto the story. The city council wants to shut him down over fire code violations.

(Spoiler alert!) If all that wasn't enough... about the time he is shut down he finds he must admit that he has always "suffered from same-sex attractions" – I hate the way it was phrased, but in this case it was likely the way the pastor saw it. His marriage crumbles and he feels he has let down his four kids. He resigns as pastor and doesn't have much luck finding work in the oil fields.