The Department of Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology in the College of Human Sciences explored the theological impact of reframing religious discourses on Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex people.

Hosting theologians, church representatives as well as Samuel Shapiro and Tebogo Klaas from The Other Foundation, the premise was that religious leaders often appeal to sacred texts and teachings from their traditions to justify discriminatory and vilifying beliefs about LGBTQI people. This leads to the perception that LGBTQI people are “unnatural”, “sinful”, “unAfrican”, and “disordered”. As a result, LGBTQI persons are excluded from access to religious resources such as salvation, spirituality, community and pastoral care.

Post-doctoral fellow and researcher in the department, Dr Nontando Hadebe, said these dominant discourses on LGBTQI left no room for dialogue and inclusion. She said when LGBTQI people are violated or brutally murdered as is the case of lesbians; many religious leaders including theologians remain silent and do not publicly condemn these actions as violations against the core values of religions, namely sacredness of life and dignity and inherent value of all persons.

Tebogo said the current state of exclusion towards the LGBTQI group is due to the fact that religious leaders are unable to separate their personal fears from their social responsibility as community leaders. His assertion, he said, was substantiated by a survey conducted by The Other Foundation. Citing an example, Tebogo spoke of two recent cases, the first being of a woman that was murdered by her boyfriend, which made public news, and the second being the murder of a lesbian that happened around the same time but was never afforded any attention. His point was that in regard to the two cases, religious leaders or organisations were very quiet and blind to the immorality of these cases, however more attention was given to the other case and none to the lesbian case.

The seminar looked at a new framework of dialogue using the language of human dignity, social inclusion, human rights and non-harm. This was explored together with its impact for theological discourses on LGBTQI issues, and it was proposed that perhaps there should be a sort of preparation for theologians to incorporate a way together with organisations like The Other Foundation to understand LGBTQI and accept that it is not what traditional religious studies make of it, “it is absolutely natural”.

Additionally, Dr Hadebe suggested that it will be also helpful to inculcate decoloniality when looking for a turn in theology to be more accommodative and non-discriminatory.

Pictured are Samuel Shapiro (The Other Foundation), Dr Nontando Hadebe (Department of Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology) and Tebogo Klaas (The Other Foundation).

* By Katlego Pilane (CHS communications and marketing)

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