The invitation of this book is for my readers who are Christian to consider the dimension of harm in the ongoing debates on affirming or not affirming sexual and gender minority Christians within church communities. Much has been said and much is written on biblical interpretation and Christian traditions of teaching. There are also many arguments on the issue of justice and equality that have been made for and against the affirmation of sexual and gender minorities. Here I bring evidence of the history of harm and the infliction of harm on sexual and gender minority Christians.
In South Africa, my country of origin, I lived through the apartheid era and experienced first-hand how "biblical teaching" can be used in pious ways to exploit, discriminate, and kill people. Presently and in the past, similar things happen to sexual and gender minority Christians. When we discover that we do harm we must stop.
- Charles Fensham