Duke University Press Log

Gay Marriage: Continue the Fight for Equal Rights, Says Creech

Congratulations to the thousands of gay couples getting married in New York this week! We loved this series of beautiful portraits of the couples in the New York Times. But it's important to remember that gay couples in most states are still not allowed to marry, and that clergy continue to be condemned when they perform same-sex marriages. Jimmy Creech was an early crusader for the rights of same-sex couples and lost his credentials in the Methodist Church over the issue. He recounts this story in his recent book Adam's Gift. In this interview with Gay.com, he explains that the Bible does not condem homosexuality. People had no understanding of sexual orientation at the time the Bible was written, he says, and the book condemns specific acts that might apply to heterosexuals as well. Creech is optimistic about the future of gay marriage, saying, "mainline Christian communities will fully embrace the LGBT community with equal standing and participation in the near future. Christian communities actually have come a long way toward this goal in a relatively short time." Creech adds that we all have a responsibility to fight bigotry: "those of us who are straight must challenge anti-gay bigotry and malice whenever we encounter it and challenge elected officials who perpetuate persecution. An unjust world belongs to all of us, and all of us have an obligation to end the injustice."

Upcoming Author Events in the Triangle

On Friday, July 8th from noon-1:30pm (free, no ticket required, BYO lunch) stop by Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC for "Lunch with the Author: Jimmy Creech, former United Methodist minister discusses his memoir Adam’s Gift."  

Note: Attendees are encouraged to bring their own lunch or call Foster's Market next door and they'll make up a boxed lunch for you. Call in advance or the day of event: 919-967-4383.

 

On Saturday, July 16th at 2pm (open to the public) stop by Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, NC. Author Jimmy Creech will lead a discussion (book club format) of his book, Adam's Gift: A Memoir of a Pastor's Calling to Defy the Church's Persecution of Lesbians and Gays. How often do you have the author (and subject) of a book lead your club meeting?

 

On Sunday, July 17th from 3-4:30pm stop by the Durham County Library in Durham, NC for "Meet the Author: Karla Holloway." Dr. Karla FC Holloway, James B. Duke professor of English at Duke University, will read from her book, Private Bodies, Public Text: Race, Gender and a Cultural Bioethics. A book signing will follow the reading.

 

Gay Marriage Stays in the News

As New York state legislators are debating legalizing same-sex marriage in their state, the issue makes news in other venues, too. The New York Times reported this weekend that President Obama's views on the issue are "evolving." He plans to host a Gay Pride reception at the White House later this month and has been raising money in the gay community. But Jimmy Creech, author of Adam's Gift and a former Methodist minister who lost his credentials for performing same-sex marriages, recalls meeting with Obama's staff when he was a senator. Creech expected Obama to be sympathetic to gay marriage. "But he said the conversation turned frosty when same-sex marriage came up. 'We talked about this as an expression of bigotry, using religion to justify discrimination,' Mr. Creech said. 'They did not like that; the word 'bigotry' was inflammatory to them."

Just as President Obama's views are evolving, the Associated Press reports that "a growing number of pastors in the United Methodist Church say they're no longer willing to obey a church rule that prohibits them from officiating at same-sex marriages, despite the potential threat of being disciplined or dismissed from the church." Jimmy Creech plans to attend the trial of Reverend Amy DeLong in Wisconsin this week. She faces the loss of her credentials for admitting to being in a lesbian relationship herself and for marrying a lesbian couple. While the outcome of the trial is far from certain, clearly the Methodist church has come a long way since Creech's own trial. The AP reports that "hundreds of pastors from states including Illinois, Minnesota and New York have signed statements in recent weeks asserting their willingness to defy the rule."

And in one last sign of changing times, ministers of various denominations in Omaha, Nebraska, where Jimmy Creech was pastor when he was tried by the United Methodist Church in 1999, unveiled a proclamation callling for an end to religious and civil discrimination based on sexual orientation. KETV reports, "Rev. Eric Elnes, pastor of Countryside Community Church, said the proclamation was created because, 'we were just fed up with the popular notion that the Christian point of view is anti-gay.'" Creech will be preaching in Omaha in October.

In his book, Creech describes the struggle against discriminiation in the church and in society as ongoing. He is ever hopeful that progress is being made. "What gives hope its power is the confidence that whatever the present situation is, it is not final. Injstice and evil are temporary, not eternal. The future is always open to change and new realities (p. 336)." Clearly change has come since Creech's 1999 trial, thanks in no small part to activists like him.

Presbyterians Allow Gay Ordination

Yesterday, after 33 years of debate, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted to allow openly gay and lesbian people to become ordained as ministers. They join several other mainline Protestant churches, including the United Church of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Episcopal Church, in allowing the ordination of gay people. Jimmy Creech, a former Methodist minister, and author of Adam's Gift, is pleased by the decision, saying, "Yesterday’s vote by the Minnesota Presbytery of Presbyterian Church, USA is major step forward for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender person in mainline Protestant churches.  I’m especially happy that three of the five presbyteries in North Carolina voted for inclusion, with only one voting against.  The fifth presbytery, which has voted for inclusion in past years, will vote this weekend.  The movement to end the church’s persecution of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people is progressing!" Creech's ordination credentials were revoked by The United Methodist Church after he performed same-gender commitment ceremonies. His book is a memoir about how he came to suport the right of gay people to marry and what happened when he fought the church. The Methodist Church continues to forbid gay and lesbian people from becoming ordained and from marrying. They will vote again on the issue at their General Conference next year, but as for the outcome of the vote, Creech says simply, "I anticipate no change." Read Adam's Gift to learn about the history of the fight for gay and lesbian recognition and rights within faith communities. It is an eye-opening and inspiring read.

Book Launch Party for Jimmy Creech

On Sunday, April 17, Le Roy King and Elliot Engel hosted a lovely garden party to launch Jimmy Creech's new book, Adam's Gift: A Memoir of a Pastor’s Calling to Defy the Church’s Persecution of Lesbians and Gays. Many thanks to them and to all who attended to celebrate Jimmy!

 

Jimmy Creech and his wife, Chris Weedy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hosts LeRoy King and Elliot Engel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Duke University Press Associate Editor Miriam Angress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Former Executive Editor Reynolds Smith (in beige jacket), who retired from Duke Press in 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Duke Press Sales Manager Michael McCullough (seated) sells books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Cake!

Jimmy Creech Shares from His Memoir, Adam's Gift

Take a look at our newest author interview video! Jimmy Creech, author of Adam's Gift: A Memoir of a Pastor's Calling to Defy the Church's Persecution of Lesbians and Gays (2011), shares a little about his forthcoming book, his experiences, and what he hopes others will learn from reading Adam's Gift.

 

Adam's Gift is the inspiring first-person account of a minister whose ordination credentials were revoked by The United Methodist Church after he performed same-gender commitment ceremonies.

Edward Wright-Rios Wins Murdo J. MacLeod Book Prize

Congratulations to Edward Wright-Rios, author of Revolutions in Mexican Catholicism: Reform and Revelation in Oaxaca, 1887-1934, for winning the Murdo J. MacLeod Book Prize from the Latin American and Caribbean Studies (LACS) Section of the Southern Historical Association. LACS awards the Murdo J. MacLeod Book Prize every year. Named for the distinguished scholar and mentor of many Latin Americanists, this prize is awarded to the best book published on any aspect of Latin American, Caribbean, or Borderlands or Atlantic World history during the previous year by a LACS-SHA member. Revolutions in Mexican Catholicism is an investigation into how Catholicism was lived and experienced in the Archdiocese of Oaxaca during Mexico’s turbulent late 1800s and early 1900s.

75th Anniversary of Duke Chapel

This weekend marks the 75th anniversary of Duke Chapel. There will be a number of commemorative events, including a concert, worship service, and a celebration featuring many speakers, including Will Willimon, former dean of the chapel and editor of Sermons from Duke Chapel: Voices from “A Great Towering Church.” The book contains fifty-eight of the most notable sermons preached in the soaring Gothic space. Contributors include Paul Tillich, William Sloane Coffin, Barbara Brown Taylor, Fleming Rutledge, Peter J. Gomes, and Billy Graham. Head over to the Chapel for the celebrations and then back home to your armchair to contemplate the many great sermons that have been preached there over the years.

Jackson's The Palm at the End of the Mind Reviewed in TLS

Michael Jackson's latest book, The Palm at the End of the Mind: Relatedness, Religiosity, and the Real, is reviewed in an essay on the philosophy of religion in the December 11 issue of the Times Literary Supplement. Reviewer Jonathan Benthall writes, "Michael Jackson’s sixty-one short essays, based on his experiences in disparate geographical settings, are designed to speak to each reader individually like a sophisticated musical composition, rather than advancing a linear argument." He continues, "Jackson’s case that ‘history, religion, spirituality, culture are shop-worn terms,’ and should be replaced by ‘the image of life at the edge of language, a shoreline on which the sea washes ceaselessly,’ is given substance by his own literary skill. And it is possible to glimpse here the makings of a shared ‘religious’ sensibility that may be fitfully emerging to unite different peoples and traditions, in ways influenced by, but not entirely decreed by, the gods of the marketplace."

Jakobsen and Pellegrini on KPFA's Against the Grain

Janet R. Jakobsen and Ann Pellegrini, editors of Secularisms, were interviewed on KPFA (Pacifica) Radio in Berkeley, CA. The interview aired on Monday, March 23rd at noon, Pacific Time, on 94.1 FM in the Bay Area. The broadcast is available worldwide here, and archives of the show can be found at againstthegrain.org.