This week I have the great pleasure of heading to Atlanta to represent NSRC’s Faith and Sexual Literacy Initiative for the 2009 Annual Fellowship Conference and Convocation. The Fellowship was founded in the year 2000 by NSRC Board Member, Rev. Dr. Yvette Flunder (Senior Pastor of City of Refuge in San Francisco and Presiding Bishop over The Fellowship) and can be described as follows:
“The Fellowship is a trans-denominational fellowship of primarily African American Christian leaders and laity representing churches and faith-based organizations from all parts of the country ranging from ultra-conservative backgrounds to more liberal, independent churches; from upstart, developing to very large, established; from economically challenged to very affluent. The overriding purpose of The Fellowship is to support religious leaders and laity in moving towards a theology of radical inclusivity which, by its very nature, requires an equally radical social ministry reaching to the furthest margins of society to serve all in need without prejudice or discrimination.”
In other words, radical inclusivity seeks to heal the very deep wounds caused by religious oppression:
“At its simplest level, the Fellowship offers a place of hospitality: marginalized people experience hospitality where they have neither to defend nor to deny their place or their humanness. Hospitality means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of any enemy. The intention of hospitality is not to force people to change, but to offer them space where change can take place; It is not meant to convert men and women over to any one “side,” but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines to engage in heartfelt, meaningful dialogue.”
Many people who live at these margins are forced to do so based on fear and lack of awareness around sexuality related issues such as same gender loving people and their allies, sex workers, people living with HIV/AIDS, transgender people, and anyone who does not fit into the narrowly scripted sexual roles that many religions require. Recently incarcerated people, disenfranchised people, people in recovery and others also feel the deep sting of being forced to the margins by their faith communities. That sting impacts their physical, emotional, and sexual health – depriving them of being the whole beings God intended them to be. The Fellowship exists not only to include these people but to celebrate their God-given diverse gifts which can and do bring about flourishing and safe religious communities where noone is excluded.
Enter healthy sexuality….NSRC promotes lifelong sexuality education that is relevant and useful to diverse communities, a relatively new and most definitely radical approach to sexuality education that seeks to paint people as the whole beings they already are…not just the biological parts or diseases that much of sex education narrowly focuses on. The Fellowship too aims for this holistic vision of people:
“The Fellowship endeavors to create a community that fosters balanced psychological, spiritual, and physical health. We will seek to partner with agencies and social institutions to provide holistic ministry to persons in need of basic health, educational, and psychosocial services.”
In representing NSRC at this conference, I intend to do a lot of listening and asking questions—and I will ofcourse also speak up and provide resources, networks, and research if and when appropriate. But mainly, I go to listen so as to hear because we will never be able to establish effective lifelong sexuality education in this country until we address the nuances of these kinds of diverse, anti-oppressive, religiously based resource and training needs. A one-size fits all approach to interventions involving sexuality and religion will never work. And so…what are the most critically needed sexuality resources and trainings that faith leaders need to best provide radical inclusivity and healthy sexuality within their work?....To reach and to celebrate even those at the furthest margins of society? What is working and not working right now? What partnerships need to take place to strengthen our interventions? Who will fund this? And many, many more questions such as these….so that answers can begin to gel.
I will be attending the following sessions in particular: “Relationships Throughout The Lifecycle”, “Sexuality Issues in Ministry”, “Standing on the Front Lines: Facing Our Realities”, “Single, Sexual, Faithful?” and a Transgender Training workshop. Our colleague Harry Knox, Religion and Faith Director for the Human Rights Campaign will be leading a noon time social hour on Friday. Friday is also The Fellowship HIV testing day. There will be morning word and evening worship—dancing, singing, and much celebrating, even morning workout time together! On Saturday evening the Transgender Mass Choir will be featured at the evening worship and conscecration just before Bishop Flunder speaks. …Incredibly appropriate considering the ground breaking work she has done all of these years with transgender people throughout the nation.
Right, I can hear you now…..REALLY? Yes, really. It makes it a lot harder to condemn religion as "the problem" when religion itself is so absolutely proving to be one of the primary solutions to our sexual health and rights crises. To ignore religion and faith impedes our work as sexuality educators and researchers and we need to begin to own what the lack of that focus has meant to our field over the past decades and then move forward… As our friend Reverend Deborah Haffner coined it, "religiophobia",....and it gets us nowhere fast....
And as if all of that isn’t enough for one incredible week in Atlanta uniting healthy sexuality and radical inclusivity, I’m also looking forward to meeting up with our partners from Morehouse School of Medicine’s Center of Excellence in Sexual Health and Center on Sexuality and Religion. It was after all, former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, M.D.’s Call to Action on Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior that served as a wake up call to the nation for all levels of society, including religion institutions, to respond to the sexual health crisis facing this country. The Fellowship and NSRC and many other incredible organizations are heeding that particular call.
As Dr. Satcher says, “doing nothing is not an option”.
I look forward to reporting post-conference and invite you to attend the conference if you are able to (registration is still open but not for long)— it may be one of the most healing experiences of your life, as a sexuality researcher, educator or other professional or even simply as a person who has been oppressed by religion because of sexuality and/or other issues.
Access to hope, healing, and wholeness is present, available and absolutely priceless.
