Another religious institution is ripping itself apart in a conflict about whether to affirm LGBTQ Christians as full participants, and this time, it’s a conservative evangelical college.
Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego fired its dean of theology, according to Religion News Service, because he supported an adjunct professor who was fired because of her beliefs about homosexuality. The Church of the Nazarene has made its position clear that same-sex sexual activity is a sin, and the university has publicly defended its right to block LGBTQ job candidates.
The staffing changes were first reported by the Loma LGBTQIA+ Alumni & Allies Coalition in a stinging news release.
Mark Maddix
All parties agree that Mark Maddix, dean for the School of Theology and Christian Ministry, was fired March 15 by the university’s chief academic officer, Kerry Fulcher. Explanations for why he was fired differ.
“With no previous disciplinary actions or concerns, Dr. Mark Maddix was fired due to what the provost claims as ‘insubordination’ for his support of former adjunct professor and minister Melissa Tucker,” said alumna Lauren Cazares, who founded Loma LGBTQIA+ Alumni & Allies Coalition.
However, Lora Fleming, the university’s communications director, said Maddix’s departure “was not based on anything related to the LGBTQIA+ community.”
Maddix’s attorney, Josh Gruenberg, told RNS he will prove the university’s statement is a lie.
Melissa Tucker
All this prompted former professor Melissa Tucker to tell her story publicly. Tucker said on her website she is a lifelong Nazarene, but she gave up her associate pastor role and, in 2021, relinquished her Nazarene ordination credentials because of her conviction that she should fully accept and embrace LGBTQ Christians.
“My firm belief, informed by my faith, is that God’s love is truly for all people. I am thoroughly affirming of the LGBTQIA+ community. I love the story and mission of Jesus Christ and equally grieve at how religion is used to harm and control people,” Tucker wrote on her website.
The case has two interesting twists that contribute to the broader discourse about LGBTQ people in the church. First, Point Loma is part of a conservative evangelical denomination that is only in the last few years grappling with internal conflict about LGBTQ members, a conflict that has split other, more progressive groups.
And second, Tucker says she upheld her contractual obligations to align her teaching with the university’s views by not sharing her own beliefs in the classroom. She was not let go because of her teaching or her actions, she said, but rather because of her personal views, an issue of intellectual freedom in higher education.
Several Protestant denominations have split over how to interact with LGBTQ Christians, starting with the more liberal and liturgical groups, Episcopalians and Methodists, and moving to mainline Baptists and others. As conservative evangelical groups participate in the debate about whether to fully accept LGBTQ members, the conversation takes on new contours. How are Christians to prioritize biblical instructions that may seem contradictory about shunning homosexuality and loving people?
A Pew Research Center study conducted in 2007 and 2014 found a correlation between how religious people feel about God and Scripture and how they feel about homosexuality. Those religious people who believe Scripture should be taken literally are more likely than those who do not take Scripture literally to say homosexuality should be discouraged. And the study found a correlation between those who are absolutely certain God exists and those who say homosexuality should be discouraged.
These characteristics describe evangelicals Protestants, a group the study found mostly felt homosexuality should be discouraged.
But 2014 was a long time ago. The following year, same-sex marriage was legalized in the United States, forcing many congregations that had been comfortable with a don’t-ask-don’t-tell approach to LGBTQ members to make a clear decision whether to affirm their marriages. The Episcopal Church quickly affirmed same-sex marriage, triggering years of conflict with conservative congregations, many of which chose to realign with a new Anglican group. United Methodists soon followed, with 1,800 churches, or 6% of the denomination, choosing this year to exit the denomination even though the church’s official policy still forbids sanctioning same-sex marriages.
This summer, the Evangelical Covenant Church will vote on whether to expel churches that affirm LGBTQ members, continuing a debate about how to handle congregations that differ on homosexuality. The group already has expelled some pastors who officiated LGBTQ weddings.
The idea that all pastors within a denomination must align on LGBTQ affirmation had prompted Melissa Tucker, the Point Loma professor, to leave the Nazarene church.
In an essay published by the Times of San Diego, Tucker wrote: “In 2021, I relinquished my ordination credentials to be able to live more fully in a sense of personal and professional integrity and to accept a pastoral position at Normal Heights United Methodist Church, an open and affirming church. This was the right — and painful — decision for me.”
But she intended to continue adjunct teaching at her alma mater, Point Loma. Although her own beliefs differed from Nazarene doctrine, she said she didn’t share her own views in her teaching, out of respect for the institution.
Still, she was fired.
Elizabeth Souder is an editor in Dallas.
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