This is my final issue as Editor-in-Chief of Closing Remarks. I have helped put together three such issues—each with an incredibly different flavor—and am very proud of the product we put out.
In a similar vein, this issue of Closing Remarks comes to you with a flavor all its own. Phil Burns’ “Taking a Second Look at Christian Homosexuality” is, perhaps, the first article we’ve published on topic about which there is widespread disagreement. For Christians, the issue of homosexuality and gay marriage, regardless of which side you fall on, proves to be powerful. Its mere discussion is responsible for tearing apart congregations and even entire denominations.
But that is why we created Closing Remarks. It is our dream that the pages of this magazine become a place for Christians and non-Christians alike to debate Christian things. The nature of God and the likelihood of His existence, how to read the Bible, and the role of the church in modern society are all fair game.
We live in a world where secularization has made organized religion and belief in the necessity of God obsolete for large portions of society. The church lives among this reality, and as a result is working to find its niche. Some evangelical churches are liberalizing as a result. They work to discover where they stand on issues of environmentalism, homosexuality, and spirituality. The Catholic Church has undergone a similar debate. In 1962 it began the Second Vatican Council in an attempt to match dogma with the modern human experience all the while attempting to maintain an air of orthodoxy.
It is to say that questions about the Christian Church’s place in society are nothing new. And, naturally, part of reorganizing necessitates healthy debate. Hundreds of years ago the church debated how many angels could dance on the head of a pin or whether harmonic music was too sensual to play in church. Today, the church debates the nature of sexuality, the role of gender, environmentalism, the relevancy of the church itself and many other complex issues. I predict that these issues won’t go away. To that end, I say goodbye to all of you. I hope that your four years at Brown are as fulfilling for you as mine have been for me. It is my prayer that each of you continually and earnestly seek truth. And I hope that Closing Remarks becomes a place that helps in that search.