Serene Jones on Appeal of Religious Leaders for "Right" to Discriminate Against Gay Folks: "It's Simply Theologically Indefensible"

Serene Jones, president of Union Theological Seminary, speaks for me as she responds to the appeal of various faith leaders, including key Catholic ones, for a special religious "right" to discriminate against LGBT human beings in federal programs:

I was therefore devastated when I learned yesterday that a group of prominent faith leaders—my brothers and sisters in Christ—had asked that the President include a religious exemption in his forthcoming executive order. In other words, they asked that people of faith be given special permission to discriminate.

I was saddened, I was embarrassed, I was appalled. The faith that fought for justice for so many is now being used to justify injustice. The faith community that taught me to never throw stones was asking that Christians have a special permission to throw stones if they wanted. It’s simply theologically indefensible.

To cite Welton Gaddy: Religion should never be legitimated as a license to discriminate. Period. Full stop. End of story.

And the ability of Catholic centrists to find ways to defend those seeking the religious "right" to discriminate against LGBT human beings grows more astonishing, indefensible, and downright sickening every day, as more and more American citizens begin to repudiate such discrimination and religious communities that practice and defend it.

The photo of Serene Jones is from her faculty webpage at Union Theological Seminary.