Oasis is proud to support
Believe OutLoud,
a national campaign to "churches
live out this Christian principle by becoming fully inclusive of all
people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."
One of
Believe OutLoud's projects is a
national map showing welcoming and accepting churches of many denominations.
All of our Oasis parishes at the time of the start of this project are included
as Believe OutLoud churches. Another of the program's efforts is
the production of videos like this:
Believe Out Loud is a
project of Intersections International, a New York-based global initiative
dedicated to promoting justice, reconciliation and peace across lines of faith,
culture, ideology, race, class, national borders and other boundaries that
divide humanity. Founded in 2007, Intersections is a multi-faith, multi-cultural
initiative of the Collegiate Churches of New York, the oldest corporation in
North America, dating back to 1628.
Using arts immersion, social marketing, intentional dialogue and other
innovative methods, Intersections’ work includes projects that promote pluralism
in emerging democracies, eradicate ignorance regarding Islam, nurture global
peacemakers, dismantle systemic discrimination against the LGBT community and
initiate conversation among disparate groups to develop new ways of problem
solving for some of society’s most intractable issues. Intersections’ work lies
in three programmatic areas: amplifying marginalized voices, interfaith dialogue
and cooperation and addressing the consequences of conflict.
Born out of more than two years of collaborative research, planning and
development, Believe Out Loud combines traditional community organizing
strategies with new technologies and advanced social marketing principles as a
means of accelerating the existing Christian movement toward LGBT inclusion.
Believe Out Loud is guided by a Strategic Development Team with representatives
from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
(GLAAD), the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, Progressive Christians Uniting,
the Arcus Foundation, the Walter and Evelyn Haas, Jr. Fund, and the LGBT
advocacy groups within the seven largest mainline denominations: American
Baptist Churches USA, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, The Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.),
United Church of Christ and The United Methodist Church.
The project is managed by the Rev. Robert Chase, Founding Director of
Intersections and former Director of Communications for the 1.2 million member
United Church of Christ, and Sung Park, a seasoned LGBT community organizer and
recent recipient of a 21st Century Fellowship through the Rockwood Leadership
Institute. Key consultants included the Rev. Michael Livingston, past President
of the National Council of Churches and the Rev. John Janka, former Director of
Consulting at the Alban Institute and faculty member at Wesley Theological
Seminary. Dr. Robert P. Jones of Public Religion Research heads up research for
this effort and San Francisco-based Underground Ads leads all creative
development.
