The Gay Samaritan?

Stanely Hauerwas impresses me more and more as I read bit and pieces of his writing. Often I'm not sure if I'm laughing more from what seems to be an utterly ridiculous statement, or being challenged more to rethink some of my paradigms in light of Hauerwas brilliant wit. Usually it's a combination of both. Hauerwas' title for an article "Why Gays (as a Group) Are Morally Superior to Christians (as a Group)" is one of those bits of his writing that at first made me roll my eyes chuckle and wonder what Dr. Hauerwas is possibly up to. The focus of the article from what I grasp is that military service is immoral and contrary to the Christian vocation to be the light of the world, and that by being excluded gays are more righteous that Christians who participate in the military. There's of course an absurdity about this claim, gays don't choose to be excluded from service and, if I understand the basic point of the article from the summaries I've read, this absurdity invites Hauerwas' punch line question, why aren't Christians then doing more to be excluded from service in the military. Shouldn't Christians by their very nature as radically radical (see my last post) be excluded from service in the military?

What struck me the most about this title was the way that it preyed upon tightly held assumptions, at least tightly held within most of the moderate wing and almost all of the right wing of the church to deliver a rhetorical kick to the teeth. The shear absurdity of suggesting that gays (as a group might mind you) might be more righteous than Christians (as a group) who support or are involved in the military is likely to bring a number from far right to their feet with lynch ropes in hand and cries of blasphemy. After thinking about this for a bit though I'm convinced that Hauerwas isn't as ingenious as I first thought when I got his punch line, rather he is merely imitating one of his teachers. Think about how absurd it must have been for Jesus to suggest that a Samaritan might be more righteous then the priest and Levite who kept torah. (Or did they?)