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Daily Religious News Feature from RNS |
May 5, 2006
Invitation
to Indigo Girls Singer to Methodist Event Draws Fire
By Nate
Herpich
© 2006
Religion News Service
The
choice of lesbian singer Emily Saliers of the music duo Indigo Girls has as a
keynote speaker at the United Methodist Women's Assembly in Anaheim, Calif.,
has created controversy.
Saliers will speak Saturday
(May 6) at the conference along with her father, the Rev. Don E. Saliers of
Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. They will address an
estimated 8,000 women on their new co-written book titled "A Song to Sing,
A Life to Live."
Saliers' sexual orientation
has been the topic of controversy for some conservatives, but event organizers
instead have cited her "spiritual and theological understandings and (her)
commitment to justice for women and children" as reasons for the
invitation.
The Indigo Girls have
devoted much of their 14 records spanning 18 years to themes of social justice
and environmental awareness. The elder Saliers is the author of a dozen books
and is president of the North American Academy of Liturgy and the Society for
the Study of Christian Spirituality.
Some groups, however, have
criticized the church for giving a prominent speaking slot to a lesbian, noting
that the Methodists' constitution says the church cannot "condone the
practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with
Christian teaching."
"...Even if Ms. Saliers does not openly advocate
for the acceptance of homosexual practice in the Assembly presentations, her
public recognition as a lesbian icon puts the Women's Division in the place of
endorsing the lesbian lifestyle and of offending the women of the church,"
said Faye Short, president of RENEW, a conservative women's organization.
The Indigo Girls won a
Grammy award for "Best Contemporary Folk Recording" in 1989. Singer
Amy Ray is the other half of the duo.