PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2013-09-22 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • Did a Salvation Army Official Say That Homosexuals Deserve to Die? (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • In mid-June 2012, gay pop star Darren Hayes made comments critical of the Salvation Army's stance regarding homosexuality, referencing that organization's position statement on the subject: Hayes called for a boycott of the Salvation Army, tweeting that it was Important for gay people to know the true position of the Salvation Army when considering who to donate to. In response to the attention focused on the Salvation Army by Hayes' comments, a few days later LGBT journalists Serena Ryan and Pete Dillon interviewed Major Andrew Craibe, a Salvation Army Media Relations Director based in Australia, for the radio program Salt and Pepper on Melbourne radio station Joy FM. During that interview, Serena Ryan asked Major Craibe about the Salvation Army's Handbook of Doctrine, which includes reference to a Biblical passage that the Salt and Pepper hosts maintained was condemnatory of homosexuals and called for them to be punished by death. An excerpt from that interview which was widely circulated on the Internet prompted a great deal of controversy for seemingly showing that Major Craibe agreed with the concept that Salvation Army doctrine called for homosexuals to be put to death: (Many transcripts of this interview slightly altered its wording to make it read as though Major Craibe and his interviewers were specifically talking about gay parents rather than gays in general.) We note here that this controversy is based on a good deal of interpretation rather than literal explanation. The Salvation Army's Handbook of Doctrine does not specifically condemn homosexuals and call for them to be put to death; rather, the Handbook of Doctrine includes some passages that cite a portion of the Bible (Romans 1:18-32) which some sources interpret as including those concepts. But interpretations of the referenced portion of Romans vary widely, with various theologians and writers arguing that it condemns anything from homosexuality to child sexual abuse to all non-procreative sex. Nonetheless, the backlash from the Salt and Pepper interview with Major Craibe prompted the Salvation Army to issue a response to questions raised about [the] interview which offered an apology for the miscommunication and included the following answers about the Salvation Army's stance on the subject of homosexuality: This item is often circulated online in tandem with an image showing Salvation Army bell ringers posing with a sign reading 'Gays Not Allowed.' (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url