EDITORS' CORNER
OPINION: Same school that had students confess their sins to plants, hosted ‘anti-Israeli’ scholars
“Queer identity” is central to Union Theological seminary – so much so that “nearly half the students in the seminary’s most recent entering class identify as LGBTQ,” Inside Higher Ed reported.
The liberal school in New York, has made a name for itself by not focusing so much on theology but rather on a hodgepodge of liberal beliefs and even pantheistic practices.
In 2019, a professor hosted an event where students were to confess their sins to plants, appropriating the Catholic sacrament of Confession.
Earlier this year, two scholars, described as “anti-Israeli” by the Washington Free Beacon, fled Harvard and found refuge at the seminary.
It’s no wonder then that same-sex attracted and gender-confused students have found their own place at the seminary, according to a glowing profile by Inside Higher Ed.
The publication profiled people like Tyrone Davis, “a Black, queer child of immigrants” who “immersed himself in the theater community and eventually reconnected with his faith through Unitarian Universalism, a progressive, nondenominational tradition inclusive of LGBTQ+ people.”
Based on his own experiences, Davis hopes to one day help others like him “explore how religion and sexuality intersect in their lives and heal from religious trauma.”
Davis has plenty of role models at the school, as many of the teachers and staff are also not heterosexual.
“Many administrators and faculty members are openly queer and/or vocal advocates for LGBTQ+ rights,” Inside Higher Ed reported. [Dean Su Yon Pak] said her own experiences as a queer Asian American theologian shape how she supports students navigating spirituality and belonging.”
Pak explained: “Our radical welcome to queer people is not a new thing. It is in our belief and our core value that inclusivity and radical welcome are actually at the heart of the Christian gospel.”
“Inclusivity” does not extend to more traditional Christian beliefs, though.
“Pak argued that far-right conservative theology has become increasingly politicized and said progressive faith leaders have a responsibility to offer alternative perspectives,” the news outlet reported.
This is of course the irony of “inclusivity” and all are welcome approaches to theology. It is not really about getting together a wide range of views to get to the truth, but rather trying to push out traditional Christian theology for a bland one that itself puts politics over religion.
I’m willing to bet that the seminary would not be as open to a Catholic priest talking about the moral problems of abortion or a Lutheran minister preaching on the sanctity of marriage as they are about welcoming atheist and Buddhist beliefs.
It is no surprise then that half of the “seminary” students starting this year are LGBT, bordering on elite college levels – Union Theological is not really a divinity school, but just another liberal college in New York City, with a veneer of theology over it.
