Guilfordlan, April 9, 1982
One cook's opinion
Take it or leave it but damnit, stop taking both
By Laura Street
This article is written in response
to an article on the Veggie Plan at
Guilford, appearing in the last
issue of the paper. As one of the
vegetarian cooks, I am left
confused and frustrated, by the
article, by the response to the
Veggie Plan here and by the
lack of appreciation and-or un
derstanding of food in general at
the cafeteria. In fact I am fairly
dismayed and disheartened, so
much so that I hardly know where
to begin.
One of the major problems of
the Veggie program is the total
lack of organization and honesty
in who is vegetarian and who eats
Alternate lifestyles
Homosexuality and the churches
By Mark Gurley
It is a truism to say that most
Christian churches take a
negative stance on the issue of
homosexuality. For gays who
wish to worship in a traditional
Christian setting without sacrific
ing sexual love and intimacy, the
conflict between their faith and
enforced celibacy can create
disruptive tensions in their lives.
For this article, The Guilfordian
interviewed the ministers of
several Greensboro churches
asking for their comments on the
issue of homosexuality. Before
these comments are presented,
two important facts should be
noted. Firstly, the ministers
remarks express their personal
opinions, and do not necessarily
represent the views of their con
gregations. Secondly, due to con
siderations of space and length,
The Guilfordian did not interview
any synagogues, or any Catholic
churches (author's note: the
Catholic Church hierarchy of
ficially condemns the sexual ex
pression of homosexuality).
Rev. Wheeler, pastor of the
Muirs Chapel Road First Church
of God, offered his opinion of
homosexuality with no hesita
tion: "I believe that practicing
homosexuality is absolutely sin
ful. It's incredible and bizarre
that we would even debate
homosexuality as an issue. It
does not need to be debated in my
opinion. It is an abomination".
Rev. Wheeler said that the
Guilfodian's attempt to even ex
amine the issue was dangerous.
He drew an analogy between past
church discussions about
divorce, and society's current
discussion about gay rights. Con-
meal when it happens to look
good. Personally, it doesn't
bother me that people cheat, I
take it as a compliment,
however, the reason for creating
such a system was to serve only a
limited number of people on a
regular basis. Russell and
myself are alotted two hours a
day to cook two meals, each for 50
people. It is not much time,
certainly not enough time for us
to be making extra because we
know the dish will be popular.
At the beginning of the
semester we had a meeting to
give out Veggie stickers, to which
5 people showd up. It is obviously
absurd for us to assume that we
are only to cook for 5 people. How
can we solve these problems?
For one thing we could use the
cooperation of the students which
cluding that the debate about
divorce led to an increased
divorce rate among church
members, Rev. Wheeler likewise
concluded that debate about gay
rights is causing more gays to be
open about admitting, and ex
pressing, their homosexuality.
"They're coming out of the walls
now", he said. "If we condone
this kind of behavior, it's the end
for us." Rev. Wheeler stressed,
however, that he and his church
love homosexuals as people even
though they abhor their sin. "We
love homosexuals just like we
love thieves", he said.
The pastor emphasized that he
was absolutely opposed to all
laws which would prohibit
discrimination against gays in
housing and employment. "I
would fight any type of legislation
which would condone or approve
of sinfulness and out and out im
morality", he said. Rev. Wheeler
also commented on the American
Psychiatric Association's deci
sion in 1974 to remove the
homosexual orientation from the
category of mental illness. He
said that "the stamp that
psychiatrists put on homosexuali
ty doesn't matter to me. When
God and man speak on the same
subject, I listen to God." Further
more, Rev. Wheeler asserted that
liberal moral theologians who at
tempt to condone homosexuality
are as sinful as the homosexuals
themselves.
Rev. Flemming, the pastor of
the Clifton Road Baptist Church,
conveyed what he believes is the
biblical view of homosexuality.
Quoting freely from Romans
1:21-32, he said that gays are the
way they are because, they
"...worshipped and served the
creature more than the
I can see is useless to expect
considering past response.
Secondly we can simply continue
to cook for the number of people
that respond to the next meeting
and leave the system to work by
itself. This alternative means
that no one can expect more than
a grunt from the kitchen
managers when they get com
plaints.
This leads me to a second
major problem with the food
program at Guilford; that is one
general apathy, a common term
used to describe Guilford
students attitudes. I have
found and I'm sure anyone who
has worked in the cafeteria can
attest to the same nasty fact, that
more food is wasted here than
practically any place I've seen,
Creator..." (Rom. 1:25).
Although the pastor mentioned
that gays burn with "vile affec
tions", he pointed out that God
loves all people. "God can forgive
the sin of homosexuality", he
concluded.
The minister of Friendly
Avenue Baptist Church, Rev.
Leroy Parker, stated that he
could not be in favor of homosex
uality, and said that he would op
pose any legislation protecting
the civil rights of homosexuals.
"There seems to be a lot of them
around these days", he said, "but
homosexuality is not the biblical
way of life".
Rev. Charles Shannon, the
minister of the West Market
United Methodist Church, briefly
offered his view on openly gay
lifestyles: "I cannot endorse the
lifestyle of homosexuals any
more than I could endorse the
lifestyle of an alcoholic. I do not
believe it is consistent with New
Testament principles".
Rev. John Broome, rector of
the Holy Trinity Episcopal
Church, asserted that
"homosexuals certainly have
human rights, and the church
should be considerate of those
rights." He said that some people
in the Episcopal Church would
say that the gay lifestyle is sinful
and unacceptable,while others
would say that it is acceptable
and legitimate. Rev. Broome
stressed that the Episcopal
Church is charaterized by diver
sity. "Moral Majority types are
trying to dictate the proper
parameters of faith much too
narrowly", he said. "We allow
people freedom enough to
disagree over certain questions
of lifestyle."
Joe Flora, a Presbyterian
students and kitchen staff alike.
Students, in fact are the greatest
offenders. Come 12:15 people act
as if they've never seen food
before, which is highly unlikely
considering the enormous
quantities of food available to us
everyday. The only food they
seem to run out of is french fries,
which aren't good for anyone
anyway. Aside from the
shamefulness of the facts, I have
seen little to no attention paid to
changing this, though all that is
required is letting your likes and
dislikes be known (and this is not
by yelling rudely at us). Judy is
almost always wandering around
during meals and is open to
comments. It is especially im
portant that the Veggies give us
their suggestions since neither
Russell nor myself have ever
cooked on such a large scale
before and are equally prone to
minister at U.N.C.-G., took a
more positive stance toward the
issue of gay students and
religion. "I think it's time for the
church to help people understand
that gay students are saved, and
respond to the gospel just like
everyone else does", he said.
Moreover, Flora pointed out that
"the sexuality of gay students
can be expressed in a responsible
Christian manner, just like the
sexuality of heterosexuals". With
regard to the Bible, Flora sug
gested that the influence of
culture and history on scripture
should be taken into account. He
also mentioned that Christians
should at least be aware of recent
biblical scholarship which
challenges traditional interpreta
tions of some supposedly anti-gay
passages.
"Attitudes toward gay people
in today's society are not based
on scripture or church tradition,
but rather on developments in
culture which have influenced the
church. I think that it is a case of
cultural attitudes determining
the church's response rather than
the witness of the church shaping
society's response", he said.
Jenette Stokes, another
Presbyterian campus minister at
U.N.C.-G., also commented on
the issue of gays and religion.
"There is an enormous need for
greater sensitivity within the
religious community toward gay
people, and it is no longer accep
table for churches to have the at
titude that they will only accept
gay people if gays change, or
don't express their sexuality.
Some denominations are moving
in the direction of accepting gay
people as people of God, but they
are not moving in that direction
fast enough. It's incumbent upon
page 3
making good mistakes as bad
ones.
Unfortunately, there is very
little we can do to organize the
Veggie program at the end of the
semester. In an effort to make
the first step Thursday, April 6
will be "get you sticker day". At
any of the 3 meals stickers will be
available at the counter.
Thereafter you will be asked to
show your sticker in order to be
served.
Despite my frustration, being
vented rather hotly in this article,
the cooks need suggestions,
complaints, even compliments. I
refuse to plea with people to
make things work, however, I get
paid mininum wage to code your
meals not safeguard them or
hound dishonest people. If you
want it available to more people
then make it happen.
people in the religious communi
ty who are supportive of gays to
speak out and voice their sup
port", she said.
Rev. June Norris is a minister
who works with gay people on a
daily basis. As a pastor in the
Universal Fellowship of the
Metropolitan Community Chur
ches - a church made up primari
ly of gay Christians, but which in
cludes a lot of non-gay members
as well - Rev. Norris ministers
mainly to gays who have been ex
communicated or expelled from
their own denominations. In addi
tion, she participates in an
outreach effort aimed at the en
tire gay community. Founded in
1968 by Troy M. Perry, the MCC
now has 180 churches spanning
nine different countries. Just
recently, a committee of the Na
tional Council of Churches
unanimously decided in a
preliminary vote that MCC was
eligible as a Christian Church
(i.e. It met the particular doc
trinal requirements) to join that
organization.
Rev. Norris said that the
Metropolitan Community Church
soon plans to establish a Study
Group in the Greensboro-High
Point-Winston-Salem area. The
MCC maintains three types of
meetings, each of whose status is
determined by size. The Study
Group is the smallest, followed
by the Mission, which is followed
by a chartered Church. Raleigh,
for example, has a Mission, and
Charlotte, a Church. Some Chur
ches in California have hundreds
of members. Rev. Norris stress
ed that MCC is especially sen
sitive to the needs of the gay com
munity, and encouraged gays
and non-gays to attend its ser
vices for worship and fellowship.