God does not condemn homosexuality or other alternative lifestyles, a panel of four local religious leaders said at PRIDE’s “Homosexuality and Religion” panel discussion Tuesday in Smythe Lecture Hall.

Dianne Oliver, associate professor of religion, chaplain Brian Erickson, Unitarian Universalist minister Carolyn Brown and United Church of Christ pastor Karen Lipinczyk began discussing their denominations’ beliefs concerning gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues.

Oliver, an ordained Baptist minister, said her religion believes in congregational autonomy, in which each congregation decides its own beliefs. But she said the church has made an exception for one matter.

“The only thing they have ever taken a stand on nationally is the gay and lesbian issue,” she said, “and they have taken a negative view.”

Some congregations are open and affirming, Oliver said, but most are not.

Erickson, an ordained elder in the Methodist Church, said there has been a struggle within his church on how best to approach the GLBT issue. He said the church’s official statement on the issue is muddled, but gays and lesbians are welcomed as members of Methodist congregations.

Ultimately, the churches official stance on such issues is decided by the Methodist General Conference—which meets every four years.

“I can’t speak for the Methodist Church…” he said. “The only group that can speak for the Methodist Church is the Methodist General Conference.”

Brown said the Unitarian Universalist Church’s gay history goes back to 1967. Unitarian Universalist ministers today perform gay and lesbian commitment ceremonies, and the office of gay affairs was established in 1973. Brown said both she and her church are committed to supporting GLBT rights and lifestyles.

“My prayer is that we can continue this work and offer a home for anyone looking for a welcoming home to explore spirituality,” she said.

The United Church of Christ also practices congregational autonomy, Lipinczyk said, and the church is supportive of gay and lesbian rights. She said the church ordained its first openly gay minister in 1973, following years of struggle.

“For all of us the world has changed,” Lipinczyk said. “While at one point slavery was an accepted Christian practice, now we would never accept it.”

Oliver took on the first question regarding the passages in the Bible that discuss homosexuality. Out of 66 books, she said, there are only 7 passages that refer to homosexuality.

“Most people would say [the Bible] is opposed to [homosexuality],” Oliver said. “But if you asked them to name the passages, most couldn’t.”

And all these passages, Erickson said, refer to homosexual acts, not homosexual relationships as we know them today.

Brown agreed, and said the people of that period had no conception of a homosexual as our society would define him or her.

“They didn’t even have a clue of what a homosexual was in the time that those books were written,” she said.

The panel also discussed the physical distinctions between heterosexual and homosexual premarital sex.

Lipinczyk said she approaches conversations about homosexual sex and heterosexual sex identically. Erickson said the major problem with the issue of sex is that the church has neglected to address it in any way.

Addressing homosexual sex in particular, he said the church has failed to see past the image of homosexual men as radically promiscuous and in danger of corrupting straight men.

“The church has failed to say anything to committed homosexual partners looking to create a monogamous relationship,” Erickson said.

The panel was in agreement when it came to a question regarding God’s love for homosexuals. Brown said God made everyone exactly the way he or she is meant to be.

“I believe fully…God makes homosexuals,” she said. “God loves homosexuals. Jesus loves homosexuals. I love homosexuals. It’s not for us to say…any of these things we call abominations God made.”

But Oliver said she does not believe in relativism. People cannot do whatever they want, because some actions are wrong—just not homosexuality.

“There are good and healthy ways to do things and poor ways,” she said. “What we need to do is find out what that looks like.”

Erickson said though being a homosexual is not a choice, being a good homosexual is.

Ultimately, Lipinczyk said, God is about love, not sexual orientation.

“Jesus doesn’t care a wit about all the stuff we spend so much time arguing about,” she said. “Jesus wants us to learn to live and love.”