No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice is an organization of Phoenix, Arizona-based Mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic clergy committed to raising awareness within the general public and within their own denominations to the existence of a tolerant and supportive Christian view regarding LGBT rights. No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice's express purpose is to offer an alternative to the Christian Right's views and policies regarding LGBT people.
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Core values
No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice believes that it is consistent with the teachings of Jesus Christ to treat LGBT people equally and that the prevalent message of Christian opposition to LGBT rights is a distortion of the gospel. Such being the case, the organization promotes legal equality for LGBT people, opposes harmful anti-gay political and religious rhetoric and violence, and works towards the acceptance of LGBT people in society. The organization also affirms LGBT Christians who maintain their faith in religious environments that are hostile to them on the basis of their sexual orientation.
The Phoenix Declaration
The Phoenix Declaration was a document prepared by a task group of NLS:CFJ clergy in late 2002 and released in conjunction with a keynote address by Bishop John Shelby Spong in January 2003. Collecting signatures online, over 160 Arizona clergy signed on in solidarity.
As Christian clergy we believe it is time to share our perspective concerning Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual and Transgendered (GLBT) persons. We celebrate the end of the debate. The verdict is in. Homosexuality is not a sickness, not a choice, and not a sin. We affirm that GLBT persons are distinctive, holy, and precious gifts to all who struggle to become the family of God.
And so we call for an end to all religious and civil discrimination against any person based on sexual orientation. All laws must protect the freedoms, rights, and equal legal standing of all persons. We will continue to work for and promote the dignity of GLBT persons and their inclusion in our socio-political, cultural and economic life.Almost immediately, an opposition group posted the counter-statement, "Courage, Clarity, and Charity: A Phoenix Declaration," aimed at defending "the integrity of God's word" and opposed to "those people and groups who are attempting to subvert the Bible's clear teaching on sexual ethics, particularly homosexuality."
Roman Catholic signers
In April 2004, Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of the Phoenix Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church privately ordered nine Catholic priests who signed The Phoenix Declaration to remove their names from the document under obedience to him. After having removed their names, the original Catholic signers of The Phoenix Declaration continued to speak out against Bishop Olmsted's position. Bishop Olmsted first suspended and then granted the early retirement of one signer, Fr. John Cunningham and excommunicated at least two others among the original Roman Catholic signers of the Declaration, Fr. Chris Carpenter and Fr. Vernon Meyer Only two of the original nine Catholic signers remain in active ministry within the Roman Catholic Church.
History
No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice grew out of a gathering of Mainline Protestant clergy in Phoenix, Arizona in the late 1990s. A common frustration among the ecumenical group was media portrayals of the so-called "definitive" Christian opinion that were the group felt were only narrow conservative theological views. No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice (NLS:CFJ) came together in an effort to provide an alternative voice to those views.
The group's initial actions were newspaper and Op/Ed pieces calling Christians to rethink the traditional treatment of homosexual people. NLS:CFJ's first direct actions revolved around participation in Phoenix's annual Gay Pride Parade, in which members of the group marched for many years.
In 2002, a task group begin drafting what was to become The Phoenix Declaration, a statement which they said would affirm the dignity and rights of homosexual people in churches and in the wider community. The declaration was first published in January 2003.
As the Southern Baptist Convention chose Phoenix as the site of its June 2003 meeting, NLS:CFJ took the opportunity to picket the meeting in a joint action with SoulForce and Gay Southern Baptists with training in non-violent action provided by Mel White. During the action, Rev. Scott Ritchey told the crowd:
"In the United States alone, over 7,000 hate crimes have been reported in the past few years as a result of the victim's sexual orientation, with many of these crimes resulting in death. A gay teenager is four times more likely to commit suicide. Our sisters and brothers face job loss, eviction, harassment, pain and exclusion, based solely on who they love. We will not be silent."
In 2006, NLS:CFJ helped coordinate opposition to Arizona Proposition 107, calling on Arizona voters to reject the Protect Marriage Arizona proposition funded and promoted by James Dobson's Focus on the Family and the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP). Proposition 107 sought to amend the state constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and barred governments from recognizing any similar relationship for unmarried couples, including providing benefits to employees' domestic partners. Proposition 107 was defeated by the voters of Arizona.
In February 2007, NLS:CFJ held a vigil in front of Phoenix's Bethany Bible Church to protest James Dobson's Love One Out conference. 2007 also saw NLS:CFJ receiving a humanitarian award from the Human Rights Campaign for its work advocating on behalf of the rights of homosexual people.
Other events have featured keynote speakers including former United Methodist pastor Jimmy Creech (defrocked for performing a same-sex marriage), homosexual activist Bishop John Shelby Spong, Baptist LGBT advocate Peggy Campolo, and a special Gay Pride Worship featuring James Forbes, then pastor at New York's Riverside Church. In 2007, NLS:CFJ received a grant from the Gill Foundation to further its work to promote full inclusion of homosexual people.
The organization and its individual members have continued to speak out, write, preach, and act on behalf of homosexual people in the state of Arizona and beyond. In October 2010, the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Phoenix Diocese, Thomas J. Olmsted, planned a legislative training event promoting the Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience, a document in support of "the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty".