Enric Vilà: "The Bible cannot be a weapon against homosexual people"
Post published on the Portal Religión Digital (Spain) on April 22, 2024, freely translated by the volunteers of the Gionata project
"In today's world, if you are homosexual you are considered strange, and the same applies if you are a Christian."It is with this provocation that the theologian and activist Enric Vilà has opened the presentation of his first book Cristians Rars, held in the conference room of Christianism y Justicia in Barcelona, in front of a hundred people.
Next to him, on stage, also authoritative voices such as the priest and theologian Andrés Torres Queuruga, the anthropologist and biologist Ramon M. Nogués, the Jesuit philosopher Xavier Alegre and the journalist Lucía Montobbio, who moderated the meeting.
The book of Vilà - which plays in the title with the rare word, a term that in Catalan recalls the queer identities - proposes an analysis of the four "Key sources"Which have marked the development of LGBT and Queer theologies.
The path starts from the inclusive reinterpretation of the Bible, focuses on the unconditional love of Jesus and on the evangelical story of the healing of the servant of the centurion, often interpreted as a story of love and trust between two men.
Vilà then explores the experiences of ecclesial recognition of LGBTQ+people, arguing - with biblical, theological, ethical and personal bases - the need for an opening of the Church towards the marriage between people of the same sex. "Trusted Supplicans can help us take steps forward ", he said, referring to the Dicastery document for the doctrine of the faith published last December, which opens to the possibility of blessings for unmarried couples. "It is a positive text", He said,"Because, despite generating some discomfort, widens the field and stimulates us to confront more topics and less prejudices".
Among the strongest moments of the evening, the words with which Vilà denounced the violent use of the Scriptures: "The Bible, along the story, was used as a weapon to hit the homosexual collective. But Jesus never said anything about homosexuality, he never condemned. Indeed, the Word of God must be understood as a voice that inspires, not that excludes".
Torres Queuruga also launched a decisive reflection: "The Church has yet to mature if it really wants to welcome homosexual marriage. But thanks to work like this we can imagine a possible change".
A book, Cristians Rars (Claret, 2024), which more than an essay is a call: to read the Bible with new eyes, to let yourself be questioned by the faith, and not to accept that the Gospel is used to exclude. As Vilà pointed out: "The more we will be able to argue the one in which we believe, the more we can really meet, in the truth of our lives".
* Enric Vilà I Lanao is a Catalan theologian and activist, born in Barcelona in 1965. It is known for his commitment to promoting an inclusive theology that embraces the experiences of LGTBIQ+ people within the Catholic Church. In 2024 he published the book Christians rarS: Senders to sudden les experiències lgtbiq+, in which it analyzes four key sources of LGTBI and Queer theologies: the Bible, the ecclesial tradition, the magisterium on marriage and the experience of LGTBIQ+people. Vilà is a member of the Associanció Cristiana de Lesbias, Gais, Trassexuals I Bisexuals de Catalunya (ACGIL) and actively participates in the European Forum of the Christian LGTBI+groups, contributing to the dialogue between faith and sexual diversity.
Original text: La biblia no puede ser a weapon arrojadiza en contra de las personas homosexuales
