OneEastern fully supports and applauds the Rev. Dr. Tony Campolo, and we thank God for today’s statement.

Today, the Rev. Dr. Tony Campolo released a statement calling for the full inclusion of sexual minorities in the Church.

“It has taken countless hours of prayer, study, conversation, and emotional turmoil to bring me to the place where I am finally ready to call for the full acceptance of Christian gay couples into the Church.”

In regards to marriage, Campolo argues, “God intends married partners to help actualize in each other the ‘fruits of the spirit.'”

Further, Campolo compared the Church’s current stance on sexuality to other issues the Church has wrestled with stating:

“I am old enough to remember when we in the Church made strong biblical cases for keeping women out of teaching roles in the Church, and when divorced and remarried people often were excluded from fellowship altogether on the basis of scripture. Not long before that, some Christians even made biblical cases supporting slavery. Many of those people were sincere believers, but most of us now agree that they were wrong. I am afraid we are making the same kind of mistake again, which is why I am speaking out.

Campolo’s full statement can be read here.

A few weeks ago, we posted “An Open Letter to Dr. Tony Campolo” asking him to stand with us and to support an anti-discrimination policy at Eastern University for sexual minorities. Below is Dr. Campolo’s reply. Please stand with us! Our original letter currently has 187 co-signors! To add your name as a co-signor, please send an email to info@oneeastern.com with your name and relationship to Eastern University (i.e. “Joe Smith, Class of 2013” or “Jane Smith, Parent of 2013 Graduate” or “Jamie Smith, Professor of History”). Also feel free to leave comments below!

April 26, 2013

I am responding to the open letter addressed to me from OneEastern, a group of Eastern University alumni, regarding the hopes and fears of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) people who attend Eastern University, or will be attending the university in the future.

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We have been in dialogue with Dr. Tony Campolo regarding our open letter seeking his support for a more inclusive anti-discrimination policy at Eastern University. Dr. Campolo is planning to respond to the letter and has asked for first-person accounts of discrimination based on sexual orientation or perceived gender identity occurring at Eastern University. The accounts have to be first-person, we do ask for the accounts to identify any staff or faculty that took part in discrimination, or harassment (in any year, in class or out of class), but you will remain anonymous (if you would like your name to be attached to your story, please let us know). Please help us gather the stories by sharing this request with your friends and classmates.  All stories can be sent info@oneeastern.com.  Please note: the purpose is not to convince Dr. Campolo that there is discrimination, rather, it is to support his forthcoming response and our call for a more inclusive anti-discrimination policy.