Joel osteen and gays
By Becky Garrison
When Oprah Winfrey questioned megachurch pastor and best-selling author Joel Osteen on the topic of “homosexuality,” he stated that “homosexuality is a sin.” To Osteen’s credit, he didn’t go as far as purpose-driven megachurch pastor Rick Warren by equating homosexuality with incest or repeat the Family Study Council’s incorrect assertion that homosexuality breeds pedophilia. Apparently in Osteen’s happy-happy-joy-joy worldview, homosexuality doesn’t represent a bigger sin than declare lying or anger. Also, he believes that gays who seek forgiveness can enter heaven.
Fallen megachurch pastor Ted Haggard adopts a slightly more merciful stance. Even though he doesn’t call homosexuality a sin, Haggard still upholds the view that marriage should be between a bloke and a woman. Hipster best-selling author and former pastor Rob Bell skirts the question altogether, noting that only those with gay friends are positioned to judge homosexuality. In tackling this topic, Haggard and Bell adopt the position found in linear evangelical circles where one might profess to be affirming toward LGBT people but they draw the line at being radically welcoming when it comes to
HRC to Joel Osteen: Use Your Pulpit for Excellent, Not Hate
Washington - The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest civil rights group dedicated to queer woman , gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality, today called on Joel Osteen, pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, TX and well-known evangelical preacher with a syndicated television tracking of over 7 million viewers, to immediate apologize for his remarks on national television that "the Scripture shows that [homosexuality] is a sin." Osteen made the remarks on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight. The full show will air tonight. Observe his remarks here.
"It's a real shame that someone of Joel Osteen's prominence and life experiences would repeat this tired and deadly statement. It furthers ignorance and discrimination by some Americans and adds a burden to those already struggling to accept their sexual orientation or gender identity," said HRC President Joe Solmonese. "One would desire Mr. Osteen would use his pulpit, with an audience of over 7 million people, to tell all human beings that they are loved just the way they are. Instead he chose to forward a dangerous and irresponsible message."
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The Osteen Moment — Your Own Moment Will Come Soon Enough
Joel Osteen didn’t get where he is today by staking out controversial positions on biblical and moral issues. America’s prophet of Your Best Being Now built his reputation and his international following on an updated version of prosperity theology, laced with ample doses of pop psychology. The ever-smiling and effervescent pastor of America’s largest congregation has done his best to avoid association with doctrinal matters. More to the aim — he has done his top to avoid talking about sin.
Osteen would rather offer platitudes about attitudes. “God wants you to be a winner, not a whiner,” he asserts. Talking in any detail about sin would be to insert negativity into his relentlessly upbeat message.
But now, Osteen finds himself in the midst of controversy. Last night, Joel and Victoria Osteen appeared together on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight and, boxed in by Morgan, Joel Osteen reluctantly confessed that he believes homosexuality to be a sin.
“Yes, I’ve always believed, Piers, the Scripture shows that homosexuality it’s a sin,” he said. He ad
Joel Osteen, the televangelist who presides over the nation’s largest congregation at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, appeared on CNN’s morning show Starting Point this morning to discuss his latest publication and ended up in a lengthy conversation about his views on the LGBT community.
Host Soledad O’Brien and panelist Richard Socarides pushed Osteen on his convictions on homosexuality, and whether his message of lifting people up can coexist with his church’s view of homosexuality as a sin:
O’BRIEN: You make it remove that you think that homosexuality is a sin…
OSTEEN: When I read the scripture, that’s what I believe; that the scripture condemns it or says it’s a sin. But it also says that you know, lying is, and that being prideful is…
O’BRIEN: Right, so then you shouldn’t lie. But for people who are gay, you’re saying so then you shouldn’t be gay?
OSTEEN: Well, I think that’s the big debate. The scripture says you’ve got to perform out your own salvation…
SOCARIDES: Perform you think you can pick to be gay or not gay? You think you opt to be straight?
OSTEEN: I comprehend I