Faith in America, a group that seeks to end religious bigotry toward the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, wrapped up its first stop on a five-city tour for its “Call to Courage” campaign on Thursday.

Religious movements such as this question using biblical scriptures as justification for what is moral or immoral have caused some tension within the religious community.

Undoubtedly, some religious groups take differing stances on issues such as the role of the LGBT community within the church as they consider the meaning of scriptures in the Bible.

William Herbrechtsmeier, professor of religious studies at Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif., has thoroughly studied how biblical scriptures can be grasped in the modern world. He first distinguished the difference between the words “homosexual” and “homoerotic,” and clarified that by understanding the difference, one can understand writings from biblical times are separate from modern-day interpretations.

Herbrechtsmeier said “homosexual” today means being in a coequal relationship, being passionate and in love, while “homoerotic” today means having sexual desire and excessive sexual excitement, which isn’t necessarily classified as being gay.

Knowing this, he said, gay or lesbian couples were nonexistent in biblical times. However, men did have sexual relations with other men in a homoerotic fashion. A lot of times, this was looked upon as abuse, because an older man was generally forcing a younger man to lay down with him. In many respects, Herbrechtsmeier said, this relationship can be compared to what we think of taking place in prisons today.

Herbrechtsmeier said the apostle Paul, who contributed greatly to the writing of the New Testament, was observing the Greco-Roman world and seeing these homoerotic relations. Greeks of the time were generally accepting of homoerotic relations. Not a Greek man himself, Paul was not aware that homoeroticism was accepted by this culture.

When writing the scriptures, his interpretation of this observance was not one of love but rather one of abuse and frustration and his writings reflect that.

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he wrote “and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error.” (Romans 1:27)

Paul also wrote in the letter “though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them.” (Romans 1:32)

Herbrechtsmeier believes, however, if you are to deem that sexual relationships with someone of your own sex are immoral, other issues in the Bible deserve attention as well.

Tim Borseth, co-pastor of The Rock and Stonebrook Community Church, 3611 Eisenhower Ave., believes issues such as premarital sex and pornography are also immoral and deemed wrong in the Bible. These issues have been frequently talked about in the group, he said.

Borseth said The Rock is accepting of all “sinners” and is working to better the lives of everyone by praising God and following Christ. In this organization, homosexuality is viewed as a struggle with desires and temptations of a homosexual lifestyle.

Borseth believes The Rock can work with LGBT members of the community to show them the way of the Bible and not the way of the world.

Anton Boose, a member of The Rock and senior in aerospace engineering, feels the same.

“Members of the gay community have a lot of struggles to overcome in their faith,” he said.

Matthew Fender, public relations chairman of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Ally Alliance and senior in Spanish, feared nonacceptance by friends from home and college before coming out.

“By using a certain context to condemn an entire group of people, you are going into dangerous territory,” he said.

Fender said everyone has their own beliefs and is accepting of that. He is happy the Iowa Civil Rights Act passed, to protect and create equal opportunity for the LGBT community.

Nathan Bell, vice president of LGBTAA and sophomore in communication studies, said staying open minded to everyone’s ideas is key to great communication and understanding. As a member of the LGBT community, he does want people to understand his position.

“Being gay is a part of you, not all of you,” he said.

Bell said he believes all sides of the issue have a place in our modern world.

“If people stay open minded,” he said, “we can all get along.”

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