Happy, Clappy, and out of the closet, Evangelicals?
Much of this theological change has begun in the United States, where evangelists like as Tony Campolo, his wife Peggy and the up-and-coming urban preacher Jay Dekker have gone back to the scriptures to argue for a theological embrace of homosexuality. Less liberal but equally radical preachers such as Brian McClaren have decried “fundasexuality” – a term McClaren coined to illustrate the way evangelicals seem to be obsessed with sexuality to the point where they often treat homosexuals with little of the compassion that Christ reserved for the oppressed, the marginalised and – crucially – those he disagreed with.
In a recent book that has caused little shockwaves to ripple through evangelical communities Dekker, a straight, divorced and heavily tattooed preacher whose congregation meet in a New York bar, says homosexuality – in loving, committed and monogamous relationships – cannot be sinful.