By now, the LGBT blogosphere and activist world has thoroughly debated the appearance of ex-gay Donnie McClurkin at Senator Barack Obama’s “Embrace the Change” gospel concert in Columbia, S.C. (just one example here).
They have brought to light his past statements against LGBT people’s integrity, dignity and worth. They have fully explored the circumstances leading up to McClurkin’s appearance and what actually took place during the concert. There is no need for me to repeat it all.
But, I do have concerns. In fact, my concerns are more than “concerns.”
I was able to speak to the Senator’s Columbia press spokesman before the concert took place. I was told, “McClurkin is there to sing and offer praise, not to talk about politics.”
Knowing now that McClurkin did much more than just sing and offer praise, I am upset. I am angry.
I am disappointed that a person I once immensely respected has now helped to give credibility to a message and an ideological viewpoint that should never be given credibility.
Below is my letter to the Obama campaign. I slept on what I thought I wanted to say last night, hoping that I could come to other feelings, but my thoughts haven’t changed. I also debated whether I would post this letter at all, or only excerpts, or in its entirety. I decided to just post the full letter. Obama isn’t the only one I want to hear my words:
Although it makes me feel somewhat more at ease knowing that Donnie McClurkin had been given a clear understanding of his role at the concert prior to the event, I still feel as though a huge mistake has been made.
You will notice that the email I sent out earlier (as well as this email) came from my personal email address, not my address at Q-Notes. I am writing this and speaking to you now in my personal voice and want to be totally honest and up-front: I am deeply upset that Mr. McClurkin was allowed to address political issues when he was invited only to sing. I am deeply upset that Senator Obama has offered credibility to McClurkin’s message.
I had come to the conclusion that since the LGBT community always asks for tolerance, I should offer the same to Mr. McClurkin. I could let him sing and not be upset about that. After all, he’s just singing and nothing more, right? I’m a Christian who can appreciate the songs and praises of another believer, right? That is what I told myself, at least.
While Mr. McClurkin’s views are certainly tame when compared to other ex-gay leaders’ and activists’ teachings, I am still hurt that he would abuse the platform he was given during the concert, a platform that was offered for him to sing and to offer praise only.
A part of me says that there was no way Mr. McClurkin could have been controlled once a microphone was in his hand. However, another part of me says that if he had indeed been told very plainly the parameters of what he could and couldn’t do on stage, then cutting his microphone should have been neither a difficult decision by those running the event, nor should it have come as a surprise to Mr. McClurkin.
I am a person who was deeply hurt (and continues to hurt daily) from being raised in a church and religious setting that taught gay and lesbian people should be put to death (”Put all the queers on a ship, pluck a hole into the side of it and send it out to sea,” my preacher would say).
I cannot support any person – whether that be a Presidential candidate or a city council candidate – who helps to give even the slightest hint of credibility to an idealogical viewpoint that is very closely linked to the real and ever-present spiritual violence I was exposed to as a youth. I was a gay adolescent attempting to come to terms with myself, my God, my church, family, community and society. People like Donnie McClurkin never made it easier.
I understand that the Senator wants to reach out to as many people as possible. I do understand that. I’m not totally inept when it comes to politics and I know (perhaps not as much as the Senator) how the game is played: Reach out to the most people without compromising one’s own values, get the most votes and win an election.
Unfortunately, Sen. Obama will have to make a decision. Does he sacrifice the votes of black evangelicals who will be turned off by his support of LGBT people and their right to exist (literally, their right to exist)? Does he try to play both angles reaching out to LGBT people and telling them they do have the right to exist while at the same time reaching out to a group who think that I should be invisible, “converted,” guilty of a crime or, at worst, put to death?
I know: it sounds extreme. But I’ve lived my entire life in the South and I’ve been “out of the closet” since I was 14. Putting gays to death? Think no one could believe that? Think again.
Allowing Donnie McClurkin to abuse the opportunity he’d been given measures up to offering the credibility Donne McClurkin and other anti-gay leaders need in order to continue ruining the lives of LGBT people.
Ask the Senator how he feels about any of the 13, 14 or 15 year old LGBT boys and girls at his concert who heard Donnie McClurkin say they are not worthy. McClurkin may not have used those words, but as a person who’s been in that situation myself, I’ll guarantee Sen. Obama that what those youth heard was a message of exclusion and hate.
Matt Comer
I am fully aware that some may take the following analogy as an offense. I apologize in advance. I believe, however, that the situation with Senator Obama and McClurkin is no different.
Imagine for a moment that we are all living in 1840. Imagine that a Presidential candidate has repeatedly said that he will support the abolitionist movement, that he believes abolition of slavery is 100% the right thing to do. Now, imagine the same Presidential candidate invites a religious leader from the other side of the debate to one of his events. Imagine that the candidate lends credibility to an ideological viewpoint from which he has not only already distanced himself publicly, but also a viewpoint that those in the abolitionist movement find repugnant.
The candidate says it is necessary for “dialogue.”
That wouldn’t have flown then, if it had happened. Or, at least, looking back we know that it shouldn’t have flown.
Although the current situation isn’t as extreme as slavery vs. abolition, it is, nonetheless, a situation of a candidate who has promised to support equality and the offering of integrity and dignity to every person, but who now lends credibility to a movement that preaches the exact opposite. That doesn’t fly. That hurts.
Unless something happens to amend this situation very quickly, I’m afraid Obama will have lost the support and respect I once held for him. Although it is true I always supported Edwards, I also supported Obama. An Obama-Edwards ticket would have been my dream ticket. Now, I’m not so sure.
Obama should fully, publicly condemn the words and actions of McClurkin. He should apologize for allowing his campaign to become, even if for a short time, a vehicle for hate and exclusion. I don’t want to see another written statement or another prepared thought coming from some hired political press spokesman. Obama should appear publicly and apologize himself. No script, no prepared language. I think I’m owed at least that much.
If Obama truly supports equality, then he shouldn’t be afraid to condemn those voices that call for the opposite of equality.
It really is simple. Here’s to hoping Obama gets the message.
I admit that this is, indeed, a very long post, but I encourage you to read the whole thing. This is my report of the forum “Can you be Gay & Christian” and includes my thoughts and interpretations of the various statements and messages put forth there. I will also go on record publicly saying that I am ashamed that no gay or gay-friendly clergy found it wise enough to present the other side of this very important debate. To think that I was the only person there to speak against the messages taught is scary – especially considering that I hadn’t the time, the knowledge or the language to help any of the possible teens, young people or adults struggling with accepting themselves in their relationship with Christ and having to grow up in an environment that tells them they will never be quite good enough unless they change.
Synopsis
On Thursday, September 20, 2007, I was able to attend the “Can you be Gay & Christian” forum hosted by the Coalition of Conscience at the FIRE Church in Concord, NC. I posted about the forum first last month and then on Thursday (there is some good discussion on Thursday’s post).
The original intent of the forum, according to Coalition of Conscience director Dr. Michael Brown, was to have an open and honest dialogue between the Coalition of Conscience and members of the Charlotte-area gay & gay-friendly clergy.
Brown said he had invited members of the clergy from thirteen area churches – including the New Life Metropolitan Community Church, MCC of Charlotte, Myers Park Baptist Church, St. Martin’ & St. Peter’s Episcopal Churches, Holy Covenant UCC and Jay Bakker’s Revolution Church. Brown also said up to 500 personal invitations to the event were handed out at the Pride Charlotte festival at the end of August. He also noted that this was his third or fourth attempt at organizing a public discussion on issues of sexuality & Christianity with members of the Charlotte-area LGBT community.
Unfortunately, none of the invited gay or gay-friendly clergy or many (if any) of the LGBT community members showed up to the event. In fact, I did not meet even a single other openly gay (and self-affirming) person at the event other than my friend Shawn (who was nice enough to come with me to the event).
In a pre-event interview with Brown, he explained the purpose of the event.
“We want to open a door of grace to the gay & lesbian community. We are convinced from the Scriptures that Jesus is against homosexual practice. We are equally convinced that Jesus died for homosexual and heterosexual alike,” Brown said, “We know there is a lot of misunderstanding. We know that a lot of gays and lesbians have been driven out of churches as if homosexuality was the worst of all sins…. Just by saying, ‘Let’s talk about it,’ hopefully we can break a wall down there.”
At the beginning of the forum, however, Brown made his point very clear: One cannot be gay & Christian, or rather, one cannot be a self-affirming gay person and Christian:
“If you mean, can I be a devoted follower of Jesus while struggling with unwanted sexual desires, while saying I know these are wrong, I resist them, I don’t give into them, I do not practice homosexuality, I’m celibate and I’m abstaining from these things and my goal is to be pure in front of the Lord, but I’m still struggling with these things… Can you be gay and follow Jesus? In that sense, yes. And that’s the same as a heterosexual struggling with lust, desire, temptation outside of wedlock. However, if you mean can I practice homosexuality? Can I engage in romantic and same-sex relationships and does God endorse those things and can I be a follower of Jesus at the same time? The answer is absolutely, categorically no. The Scripture leaves no room to question that.”
Brown then went on to address the “Clobber Passages,” those passages of the Bible most often used to condemn homosexuality. Of course, Brown used his own interpretation of Creation, Leviticus, Romans and I Corinthians, without mentioning that many Biblical scholars throughout the entire world disagree with his interpretation (which is why it was so unfortunate that no gay or gay-friendly clergy showed up to make a presentation).
While Brown’s language was, indeed, couched in what one could certainly call “compassionate” language, it nonetheless left no room whatsoever for a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person to be both a devout follower of Christ and self-affirming. The language used, not only by Dr. Brown but by the other panelists as well, I found to be based entirely upon a common premise found in anti-gay theology: God does not love gay or lesbian people just as they are (I’ll expand upon this thought later, in my “Points I took concern with” section in this post – near the bottom).
Another member of the panel during the forum was Stephen Bennett, the leader of an ex-gay ministry. Bennett calls himself a “former homosexual” and gave his testimony during the forum. Relating his childhood of growing up with an alcoholic father, never fitting in at school, desiring the attention and approval of both his father and his fellow schoolmates, Bennett eventually made the case that a part of his “homosexual sin” was directly tied the love he never felt from his father.
At the end of his story, Bennett said that he was “looking for the love of his father in the arms of other men.”
During his very emotional testimony, Bennett related his “introduction to the Wonderful World of Homosexuality,” after he was dumped by the college school mate with whom he had his first gay relationship. Bennett related how he met with past school mates who were also gay.
“They introduced me to the gay bar scene and for the next eleven years my life was on a downward spiral as I got deeply involved in the homosexual lifestyle,” Bennett related.
He told of his heavy use of drugs and alcohol, promiscuity and one-night stands and his always unrequited searches for “Mr. Right.”
Finally, Bennett settled down into a happy relationship with another man, a relationship that lasted three years. According to Bennett, however, his happy life would turn to torment when an old friend visited him and spoke to him about the Bible and how she said it condemned homosexuality.
“Then she opened to Romans chapter one,” Bennett said, “And then she read to me the three things, ‘Stephen if you continue in this life’ – and I lost many friends to AIDS, I’ve buried numerous boyfriends in the ground who’ve died from AIDS and lost many dear friends. She said three things may happen. Number one, God may give you over to your sin. Number two, God may allow you to believe the lie and number three, he’ll make you a reprobate in his sight, meaning never have the chance to come back to the Lord… But that scared me so much, just like the Ethiopian eunuch I said, ‘What must I do to be saved?’
“Within two days I was out of my partner’s bed and in about two weeks or so on my way with my walk with Jesus Christ.”
Frank Turek, an apologist and professor at the FIRE School of Ministry was last to give his presentation, which consisted of “non-religious arguments” against the “validation” of same-sex relationships. For the most part, Turek’s presentation focused solely on marriage rights for same-sex couples and why the government shouldn’t endorse them.
Among Turek’s claims was that the “traditional family” is our “National Immune System” and that without traditional marriage, our nation and world society would be nothing. He also claimed that marriage for same-sex couples is about nothing more than recognition and acceptance, what he called “normalization and validation.”
Using taken-out-of-context quotes from gay leaders such as Andrew Sullivan and Michelangelo Signorile, Turek attempted to back up his claim that all gays wanted was to radically change the institution of marriage to the point where it meant nothing.
At the end of his presentation, Turek asked “Two Final Questions,” directly opposed to each other and based on what I think may be among some of the most twisted and illogical premises I’ve ever seen.
His first question was “What would be the effect on society if everyone lived faithfully in traditional marriage?”
He asked responses from the audience, with some answers: No STDs, no adultery, no abortion, no welfare, less crime, poverty would go down.
His second question was “What would be the effect on society if everyone lived faithfully in Same-Sex marriage?”
His response was that, “It would be the end of society. It would be over.”
While no one can really say that Turek’s answers to these two questions are entirely false, we can say that the two questions are entirely and utterly unrealistic and absolutely impossible. Gay folks aren’t asking for all people to be forced into same-sex relationships… we are asking that we be allowed to enter into relationships recognized by our government. Heterosexual people will always remain the overwhelming majority of people on earth and I don’t think we have to worry about a decline in our population just because of the allowance of marriage equality.
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Video & Audio
I wish I had more time to write on what I saw and heard at the Forum. I wish I could actually put the entire video up, but unfortunately I cannot. I am currently working on a high lights video and, below, are two videos with my personal testimony I gave to the audience and the response to my testimony.
Gay & Christian: Matt Comer’s Testimony
Gay & Christian: Response to Matt Comer’s Testimony
Perhaps the most distressing part of the forum came when my claims about extremist anti-gay views (such as those of my child-hood church) being an extension of the message being taught at the forum were confirmed by a member of the audience.
A Christian audience member first says that he agrees with me in that gay & lesbian people should not be killed, but then goes on to advocate the use of capital punishment against gay & lesbian people. His claims are similar to those I related in my personal testimony from my experiences in my childhood church. Dr. Brown, Mr. Bennett and Mr. Turek respond vigorously against the claims, although the Christian audience member’s words support my claims that it is only a small step from condemning so-called “homosexual behavior” and actively pushing for more violent and extreme responses against gay & lesbian people themselves.
The audio below contains the full exchange.
You can download the audio to your computer with this link (right click & save file as or save target as)
Highlights of the Forum
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Some Forum Points that Concerned Me
There were numerous things said or insinuated within the forum that concerned me or with which I have to take issue.
From each of the panelists – Dr. Brown, Mr. Bennett and Mr. Turek – I had to take a step back and, in some ways, bite my tongue during the forum as I heard things that were either patently false, illogical or straight-up (excuse the pun) prejudiced and exclusionary.
Point One: God’s Love of Gay & Lesbian People & Comparisons between Homosexuality & Other Sins
Throughout the entire forum, numerous comparisons and linkages were made between homosexuality and sins such as pedophilia, incest, bestiality, adultery, alcoholism, lust and others. Sometimes the linkages were made in the form of a “slippery slope” argument (InterstateQ.com reader Jarred takes on the “slippery slope” defense against LGBT people in his blog).
There is one major difference between my sexual orientation and sins such as those I listed above. In each instance of adultery, incest, bestiality, adultery, alcoholism or pedophilia, a person (or more than one person is hurt). In my loving, life-long, committed relationship with another human being (who may happen to be a man), no one is hurt just as no one is hurt when there is a loving, committed, life-long relationship between a man and a woman.
Going further: In adultery, the one cheating on his or her partner is hurting that partner because he or she has actively betrayed their love, commitment & trust; also, the one cheating on his or her partner has also committed a sin in the eyes of God, as he or she has broken the promise made to God – and the partner – during the blessing of the relationship being broken.
In pedophilia, a child is not emotionally or mentally (not to mention, physically) able enough to make a decision on matters of sexual activity. In this instance, an adult betrays the trust, love and innocence of a child by taking advantage of the power he or she has over that child. The abuse of that child leaves life-long emotional, spiritual, psychological and, often times, physical scars and harm on the child.
In bestiality, one seeks only to fulfill a selfish, self-gratifying personal, sexual purpose. The animal is unable to return any love or commitment to the person. The animal is not human and the person engaging in such sexual perversity is not able to enter with the animal into any life-long, committed, mutual relationship, a place where the emotionally, mentally, spiritually and physically intimate relationship of sex firmly belongs. The person hurts him or herself by denying themselves the fulfillment of human love and mutual devotion and commitment.
In alcoholism, the alcoholic not only hurts himself through the act of a continual poisoning of his or her body (the “temple of the Lord”), but the alcoholic also harms those around him or her. The alcoholic’s loved ones, friends, other family, community, employer and co-workers are all affected by the alcoholic’s continued drunkenness and inability to adequately care for himself, family, community or career.
In the act of incest, the two family members engaging in such activity help to contribute to the breakdown of the family unit. As put by InterstateQ.com reader Casey:
Briefly, one of the best arguments against permitting adult incest is the destabilizing effect that having family members as potential sexual conquests would have on the trusting intimacy of the family setting. For example, if adult incest was legal, how could I as a daughter trust that my Dad was just being protective when he encouraged me to “wait until it’s right”… as opposed to just trying to save me for himself? Things like that truly would destabilize the family unit in a way that is much more logical than the claims that having two mommies confuses kids. Thus, there is a very clear line and an entirely separate rationale for keeping incest illegal – it isn’t about sexual liberty, it’s about genuine family stability. Not to mention the concerning genetic aspects.
In short, incest breaks down the family unit by destabilizing the trust and mutual, non-sexual, familial love found within the family. This breakdown harms every individual in the family unit and contributes to the breakdown of society, as I think all people – gay or straight – agree that families (of all shapes and sorts) are the foundational building blocks of our society.
In lust, a person objectifies another person in an air of personal, sexual, self-gratification. Notice the word “objectifies.” While lusting, a person turns another human being – another beautiful creation of our God – into an object with one use: sexual gratification. Instead of seeing another person as a full member of God’s creation and a human with full dignity, the lusting person will see another as an object to a means.
In each of these instances, and more, the sin is a sin because it harms either the person committing the sin or the other people around the person committing the sin, or, in some cases, all the people (and more) involved. In life-long, committed, monogamous relationships between two people (either same-sex or opposite-sex), no harm is done to any person.
In terms of God’s love for gay & lesbian people, I cannot believe that my God would condemn me only for the love I feel and experience with another human being (male or female). I do not believe that my God would eternally separate me from His presence because I lived a life of love inside a life-long, committed, monogamous relationship with a man, experiencing the same and intense love and mutual devotion, care and support that is felt by straight people.
Also, I do not agree with Brown’s assertion that one cannot be gay & Christian. I feel as though any person who is a believer in Christ is indeed saved. This is called Free Grace. And while one is yet a sinner, one is saved by Grace. While I still find myself lying, cheating or stealing, I can still be assured that God has saved me. So, if “homosexual behavior” is a sin, Free Grace would still stand and a person would still be saved if they believe fully that Christ is their personal Saviour. When God makes a promise of salvation, he does not break that promise. For a person to live his whole life following & loving Jesus, what kind of promise-breaking God would send that person to hell simply because he or she felt love?
Point Two: The Linkage Between Bennett’s “Gay Bar Scene” Life with the “Homosexual Lifestyle.”
During his testimony, Stephen Bennett makes two statements which seem to conflate the lives of all gay & lesbian people with an unseemly and dangerous lifestyle of drugs, drinking & promiscuity.
He says he was introduced to the “Wonderful World of Homosexuality,” thereby insinuating that there is one and only one type of gay or lesbian person and that there is one and only one type of a so-called “homosexual lifestyle.”
Later, Bennett expands what he means by a “World of Homosexuality.” He says: “They introduced me to the gay bar scene and for the next eleven years my life was on a downward spiral as I got deeply involved in the homosexual lifestyle.” He tells of his troubles with drinking, heavy drug use, the selling of illegal drugs and promiscuity.
What makes his statement so wrong and so detrimental is his conflation/linkage/comparison of “the gay bar scene” with “the homosexual lifestyle.”
Gay & lesbian people – just like straight people – are varied, diverse and different. All people – gay or straight – live very different lifestyles. While Bennett (along with other ex-gay activists) so easily conflates “the gay bar scene” with a so-called “homosexual lifestyle,” I have never seen any one try to conflate any lifestyle of a straight person involved in a straight bar scene with the entire spectrum of different lifestyles experienced by straight people.
Gay or straight, people live varied lifestyles. Some people live quietly as students or scholarly people who sit at home and read all the time. Some people are athletes. Some people are career politicians. Some people are home-makers, house-wives and house-husbands. Some people spend all their time working in a law or financial career. Some people do nothing with their lives and sleep all the time and, yes, some people – both gay and straight – are involved in a life-killing, harmful and dangerous bar scene filled with illegal drug use, heavy drinking and promiscuity. Although some people may be involved in some sort of action, we cannot say that all are that way because some just happen to be.
Point Three: The Health of Gay & Lesbian People
Throughout the entire forum numerous mentions were made of AIDS. Although no panelist directly connected HIV/AIDS to gay & lesbian people, there were many times, especially in Bennett’s testimony, where AIDS was mentioned.
In Frank Turek’s presentation, it was noted that “some studies” supposedly showed that gay & lesbian people lived up to 30 or more years shorter than the average person. This is one of those patently false statements, as it is assuredly based on the debunked, non-scientific studies of Paul Cameron, a person repudiated by almost every major medical and psychological association for his unprofessional behavior and his non-scientific “studies.” More info on Cameron’s “Obituary Study” here.
Point Four: Bennett’s Testimony
Stephen Bennett’s testimony was emotional and moving. As I told him immediately following the close of the forum, I respect his testimony and life story and do not condemn him for it. I told him that I take issue with how many of the ex-gay organizations portray these important issues but that I do not harbor any malice against people who describe themselves as “former homosexuals.”
During his testimony, however, Bennett stated that this was only “my testimony, but there are many others who have gone through what I’ve gone through” and that many others have successfully changed from gay to straight.
That may be true, and if so, I can’t do anything about it. I do take issue and concern over the apparent forcefulness of the ex-gay industry’s attempts to say that all gay and lesbian people can and should change.
Just as Bennett claims that this was only his testimony but that there are many others that have experienced what he has, there are also many, many people on the other side of this debate – people like me and especially “ex-gay survivor” Peterson Toscano – who have experienced the opposite. There are gay & lesbian people, many of them, who have tried and tried and tried to change in order to fit into the church and who have never been successful. There are people who have gone through ex-gay therapies or other means to changing who have never been able to change from gay to straight. I’d dare say that for the majority of gay & lesbian people, change is not possible.
So then, the church gives gay & lesbian people two options: Change or forever live your life with the absence of a healthy, mutual, life-long, committed & monogamous relationship by remaining celibate (something Paul says that only a few are really called to do and that one must enter into voluntarily, not forcibly).
Point Five: God’s Word is the same now, then and forever
As a Baptist I firmly believe that, yes, God’s Word is the same now, then and forever. I believe that Scripture is unchangeable. But unlike my fellow Christian brothers and sisters of FIRE Church, Coalition of Conscience and other more conservative Christian strains, I do believe that the Bible is something human beings continuously come to understand in different and better ways as time progresses and as God reveals more truth to us.
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew people saw God and the spiritual world around them in a much different way than we now see it. In fact, Judaism does not even teach that there is a hell, or a place of eternal separation from God.
At one time in history, Christians believed that slavery was condoned by God and, in fact, if one were to read the Scriptures one could certainly find passages supporting that premise. The good news is that we – as God’s Children and under His Divine knowledge – have moved forward through new revelations of what He intends for humanity. We now know – no matter what the Scripture says – that slavery is not condoned by God.
At one time in history, people believed that Scripture condoned the treatment of women as nothing more than the personal property of her husband. Just as with the issue of slavery one can certainly find Scriptural passages to support this claim. However, like slavery, human kind has grown past this erroneous interpretation of God’s plan for humanity. We (well, at least I hope that the majority of us) now know and fully believe that women are equal to men and are not their personal property.
The Bible has also been used by Christians to condemn Jews, inter-racial couples, children, the disabled, the mentally ill and many, many more throughout history – including gay & lesbian people.
Now, humans are finding that the Bible does not necessarily condemn gay & lesbian people. Humans – through Divine knowledge – are coming to see that the love between a man and a man or a woman and a woman is no different than the love between a man and a woman. If there is one Scriptural and Gospel message that we can all agree upon, it is certainly the call to love others and to be loved by others. True, deep, compassionate, mutual and equal love between two humans who commit to live their lives together is never wrong and more and more Christians are coming to this conclusion.
The panelists were right: The Bible does not change… but, unfortunately, they do not understand the concept that our human understanding of what Scripture says and what God intends for us does indeed change as we grow in new spiritual revelations from God and as we bring more people into God’s loving arms and fold.
Point Six: “Un-natural Love” and “Counterfeit Relationships”
During the forum, Bennett claimed that the love and relationships of gay & lesbian people are “un-natural” and “counterfeit.” At the end of the forum he even told me that if I were to only take one and just one thing away from what he said, then I should remember that I “will never find Mr. Right.”
I’ve covered a lot of these points in Point Five above, but I feel it is extremely important to say that love is love. The love of a man and a man or a woman and a woman is no different than the love found between a man and a woman. Love is not harmful, dangerous, fake, “counterfeit,” or “un-natural.” Love is just that: love. No human should be able to tell another human that their committed, life-long, mutual and monogamous relationships and love is not valid. To do so is to place yourself in a position of judgment over another human being’s ability to love and be loved – something for which God clearly designed every human being.
Point Seven: Turek’s Claim that the Marriage Movement seeks only to bring “Normalization & Validation”
In his presentation, Frank Turek claims that gay & lesbian people do not truly desire marriage for marriage itself. Using taken-out-of-context quotes from gay leaders, Turek says that gay & lesbian people only seek the acceptance and recognition (something he calls “Normalization and Validation”) of their so-called “lifestyles.”
He quotes Andrew Sullivan who said that marriage is really the only reform that matters because it will provide many of the legal protections LGBT people are fighting for in other pieces of legislation. This quote is not meant to say that gay & lesbian people only want marriage because we seek to force an agenda on anyone, but rather fighting for marriage is more worthy a use of our time as a community because in the end we will gain many things: The right to marry the one we love and have that relationship consecrated by law – something we should all enjoy – and that we will also gain many other legal rights all citizens should have gay or straight.
He also quotes Michelangelo Signorile who uses quite radical language in saying that gays should fight for marriage and then destroy an “archaic institution.” Unfortunately, Turek must not realize that Signorile’s views are far, far, far from mainstream and that the majority of LGBT people probably do not even know who Signorile is.
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I have done my best to present the forum “Can you be Gay & Christian” in the most accurate way possible. As I promised Dr. Michael Brown, I have attempted to represent the words of each panelist as fairly as possible. I have used quotes where possible and attempted to interpret the words and statements of each panelist as fairly as possible. With that said, however, it is only common sense for everyone reading this to realize that my particular interpretation of these words and statements will be far from the interpretation arrived at by any of the panelists and likely, by many of the audience members who may agree with the panelists. As a member of the minority group to which these words and statements are directed, one should be wise enough to expect that I may find something offensive or take issue with something that the majority group would not find.
If any clarifications need to be addressed, I’ll be open to that, but I will stand by my assertions in regard to my equality not only in the eyes of God and the Church, but also the law.
Alan Chamber’s blog from today discussing his time on the Mike and Juliet Show caught my eye this morning. I knew the show was coming up thanks to friend, advocate, and ex-gay survivor Peterson Tuscano who also appeared on the show. I was able to track down a video of the show thanks to Ex-Gay Watch and I understand how Alan walked away from the show hurt by Dr. Macari and her emphatic statements about ex-gay programs. I, personally, would much rather have a conversation with Chambers than throw soundbites (however valid they may be) around; but such is the nature of talk show television I guess.
Alan seems very happy with his wife and she with him. That is so great! In today’s society, too many LGBT (or Same-Sex Attracted identified) people never find such joy. I imagine that his joy comes not only from his wife and family but also from God. I’m thankful to hear his faith was not dashed by his orientation.
I know that not everyone is so lucky. I know that by Exodus’ own admission, the percentage of participants who experience change is small and that “change” does not mean “straight” but usually “not in a gay relationship” or “content to be celibate.” And I know that unfortunately too many people walk away from their faith when they never realize the change that they are promised.
In both his blog entry and his television appearance, Mr. Chambers makes reference to his former, empty gay life. Unfortunately, he does little to expound upon that. Stonewall Revisited has an article by Alan Chambers in which he describes a childhood sexual assault and later a sexual relationship with a friend who ultimately betrayed him and accused him. He later goes on to describe a religious revival and commitment to not be gay any longer.
I cannot imagine the trauma sexual abuse would inflict on my psyche, nor what such a deep betrayal would do to my ability to trust. I wonder if what Alan Chambers was turning away from was not so much his homosexuality but his pattern of empty and emotionless sexual encounters and what he turned towards was not heterosexuality (or even ex-gayness) but God.
I find it an interesting coincidence that today I also read Sara Whitman’s post at The Huffington Post. I know there are countless more people out there like her: individuals who lead healthy lives, who have healthy relationships, and who set positive examples. Sexuality can be a broken thing–it seems in Alan’s case it was. But I have known gay and straight people alike with broken lives. In fact, Scripture tells me that we are all broken. And thankfully, we can all be healed.
Healing doesn’t come in the form of a conversion from gay to straight. In the same way that Alan’s relationship with God presumably helped him to deal with the demons of abuse and the thorns of not fitting in with his brothers, my relationship helped me to deal with the burns of homophobia and the difficulty of living in a society that does not fully accept me.
Unlike Alan, I did not seek out repeated random anonymous encounters. My relationships were not like that the one he had with his friend (who would ultimately betray him) which were late-night sexual experimentations. What I look for as a gay person is not sexual gratification, I am more than a sex act. I look for the same thing my father looked for when he found my mother and the same thing my mother looked for when she found my father. I look for a healthy, holistic, Christ-centered relationship. I want to stand with Sara Whitman and be a visible witness; an alternative to the sex-centered, emotionless, godless gay man which Chambers used to be. Today, Alan Chambers is a positive example for what an opposite-sex Christian couple can look like. Thankfully, there are many equally positive examples of same-sex Christian couples! (and one day I hope to be one myself)
I’m happy that Alan Chambers has found not only the Lord, but a helper suitable for him. I hope that he will be equally happy for me.
I can only speak for myself when I say that I try to always speak openly and honestly when discussing myself, events I am involved with, facts and information which I posses, and possible interpretations I’ve gleaned. I know in my work with Soulforce, “speak your truth” was a mantra we heard often. I remember the Equality Ride organizers saying something along the lines of, “If we really believe that the truth is on our side, there is no argument, there is no fight, all we need to do is share the truth.” They echoed a mindset I have always had.
It is thus with great sadness that I read of yet another distortion of truth at the hands of anti-organizations. Ex-Gay Watch reports (and also does a thorough follow-up with organizers, witnesses, and police) that PFOX has misrepresented an encounter at a Virginia fair, but not only that, Christian organizations are passing it along as fact. And now PFOX is not returning calls to the police department (who were doing their own follow-up after XGW inquired).
I remember not too long ago reading on Good As You that the American Family Assocation’s One News Now site was editing AP articles, yet passing them off as if they came directly from the Associated Press.
I’m saddened because as I try to see Christ, I can’t imagine him fiddling with facts and figures, shouting out half-truths, or refusing to return phone calls. When he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the light,” I think he meant it.
So what is there to do besides sit and be content with myself for not misrepresenting facts? I’m not sure but I’d like some suggestions on how we can move forward, together, towards reconcillation and a greater understanding, as one human family.
I don’t want to win, I want to seek the truth. In the meantime, I’ll be stewing over ideas.
I’m pretty sure I’ve said it here on the blog before, and I know for certain that I’ve said it publicly in conversations with friends and colleagues:
If you are gay and want to change your sexual orientation to straight, fine by me… so long as you don’t force or try to coerce me into doing the same.
Mother Jones has an article up detailing how some new studies may say that sexual orientation is more fluid that many have previously thought. They include, at the beginning, an interview with a man who says he used to be gay, but isn’t anymore. The good thing about that, is that I get the feeling the gentleman did it just for himself and no one else. In his own words, “The important thing is that ‘now I like myself. I’m not emotionally shut down. I’m comfortable in my own body. I don’t have to be drawn to men anymore. I’m content at this point to lead an asexual life, which is what I’ve done for most of my life anyway.’”
Now, I’m not in this gentleman’s head. I really don’t know what he is thinking or why exactly he felt the need to change himself, but he did. At the same time, he isn’t preaching that anyone else should be forced to change (or, at least, forced to feel as though they should). He did it because it was the right thing for him.
Now… if that was the kind of “ex-gay” therapy that mosts “reparative therapies” engaged in, then I wouldn’t have a problem. If people felt as though they needed to change just because being gay didn’t feel like them – and that feeling wasn’t based on some internalized, deep-seeded prejudice or bigotry – then all is okay. I don’t really care.
What bugs me are those people who seek to want to force others to feel as though they should change… You know who I’m talking about: The Religious Right, Exodus International, so on and so on. Those groups attempt to tell all gay people that they should and can always change if only they tried hard enough and because God really wants them to.
B.S. on all that. Me being gay is something that is a part of me. I feel it in my mind, my body and my soul. It doesn’t hurt me and it doesn’t hurt anyone else and it isn’t making me a crazy person. It isn’t a disease and there is nothing wrong with me just because I happen to be gay.
But the Right doesn’t get that. I sometimes doubt if they ever will.
You want to be an ex-gay? Okay. Whatever. I wish you luck… but don’t come around to me telling me that just because you did it, that I have to do it, too.
UPDATE: I just received a message from a colleague, well-versed in ex-gay matters, that the point of view offered up in that Mother Jones article wasn’t based on any good science. He says there might be an agenda hidden in it.
PS – Our new contributor, my good friend Brian Murphy, wrote a good piece on Senator Larry Craig. Check it out.
Ex-Gay Watch has been all abuzz about the release of a forth-coming study from Exodus International, the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) and Wheaton College.
XGW suggests that the existence of the study wasn’t really supposed to be known this early and that its possible official debut may by Exodus’ Regional Freedom Conference (September 13-15).
According to XGW:
More information has come to light concerning the study we reported on here.
An anonymous source said they have contact with someone participating in the study, called the Thomas Project, out of Wheaton College, and the study consists of questions asked once a year by phone. This participant also noted that the questions were oversimplified, requiring basic responses where they felt detailed explanations were needed. We have good reason to trust this contact, though we will respect their request for anonymity.
There are unconfirmed reports that the study has a sample of as few as 100 to 150 participants. While we don’t know what work was done during selection or preparation, we now know that the data was collected via annual phone calls. A picture is forming of some weak methodology, but presumably more accurate assessments can be made if and/or when others in the scientific community are allowed to review the method of selection of study subjects, the content and method of questions, and the presence or lack of nonverbal measurements and control data.
We suspect Exodus’ Regional Freedom Conference (September 13-15) will be the most likely setting for the formal announcement of the results of the Thomas Project. We also suspect the results will claim rates of over 30% experiencing “change”, but this can’t be verified at this time. If so, it seems interesting that Exodus president Alan Chambers knew this before the study was barely a year out:
By Chambers’ estimate, only 30 percent of those who seek to switch orientations succeed. Fifty percent abandon the program. The other 20 percent, he says, go back and forth. “I would say it’s like [Alcoholics Anonymous],” Chambers says. “It’s in the 30-percent range [that] find a great degree of healing and move into heterosexuality, single or married.”
(Orlando Weekly interview with Alan Chambers, published 24 July 2003)
I first heard of a five year study from Alan Chambers when we sat for a taping of the Faith Under Fire TV program back in February 2005. (The show aired in April of that year. Read transcript here. See video here.)
In March of 2006 some of us were discussing the fuzzy math of how many ex-gays there were in the world. Thousands? Tens of thousands? More?
On my blog I shared an exchange that took place on Faith Under Fire that never got to air.
When I appeared with Chambers on the Faith Under Fire TV show, he insisted that millions and millions of people have found freedom from homosexuality through Jesus Christ. I questioned him, “Millions and millions?!? Do you have data to back this up.” He proceeded to tell me about a five-year study they started with 100 people. I asked, “What happened to millions of millions?”
Perhaps the Thomas Project will have more than just 100 subjects and perhaps most of them won’t be people who work for ex-gay programs.
So much for Exodus’ “gocha” moment. A study of 100 or so people? By telephone? With vague questions?
And that is supposed to prove what?
Also… I find it really interesting that both the “ex-gay” movement and ex-ex-gays seem to have a whole lot of “inside” and “anonymous” sources. How many of these people have to go back and forth between fantasy and reality? How many of these people have to continue to be hurt? I just want the years to hurry up and flash forward to the point where “ex-gay therapy and conversion” is seen as just as horrible as eugenics and Hitler’s concentration camp “medical treatments.”
UPDATE 8/21 2:00pm EST: Wayne Besen’s Truth Wins Out has released a statement warning reporters of the new study. According to the release:
Truth Wins Out warned news organizations today that a biased new politically motivated “ex-gay” sham study will reportedly surface later this year. A controversial “researcher” at a right wing religious university will release it and the goal of the study, known as “The Thomas Project,” is to show that ex-gay therapy is often successful. Unfortunately, an early report by the website Ex-Gay Watch indicates that the research likely consists of calling handpicked ex-gay lobbyists and ministry leaders on the telephone and asking if they had “changed.” There is no indication that key physical measures or tests were included, such as a “No Lie MRI,” which is a scientific truth-detecting brain scan.
The stories of my childhood in a rural, fundamentalist, independent Baptist church in the South aren’t really stories I have too often told others. Being “saved” at the age of 8, growing up practically shadowing “Preacher” and all the challenges that came along with coming to terms with who I am are all stories that are hard to tell and, I guess for some, hard to hear. Oh, yes… people have heard some of the stories, but many have yet to hear the entirety of it. Needless to say, the emotions and memories associated with those stories are ones to which I try hard not to return.
Many of those feelings came flooding back to my mind on Wednesday night in Albany. Our Northern van route of the Right to Marry Campaign had a stop in and around Albany and its suburbs, including the towns of Troy, Saratoga Springs, Fort Edward and Glens Falls.
On Wednesday evening, with the gracious assistance of the Metropolitan Community Church in Albany, we held a screening of a PBS marriage equality documentary. The group of those who gathered was supportive, mostly gay, lesbian and bi, and loving, Christ-centered folks. We watched the film and kind of casually discussed the issues in groups that formed quite naturally.
Near the end of the evening, as we were packing up the snacks and the projector, computer and speakers, a group of young folks just like us walked in. One was a bit older, late twenties I’d guess, wearing a suit. The three others, two women and one guy, were younger, closer to our age.
Rob, one of the campaign participants, walked over to meet the group and welcome them. I eventually walked over to join Rob. The group of folks and I got into a discussion about coming out and coming to terms with my sexuality and my faith. They quickly identified themselves as Baptist and, being Baptist myself, the admission was a warm and welcome sight (Baptists certainly aren’t as numerous up north as they are in the South). I don’t think I picked up on anything unusual from the group, although I certainly thought that they must be straight. But I had no clue or idea of what would come next.
We had to leave the church because the church members who had let us use the space needed to get home, so we all waked outside and sat on the steps facing toward the street. It was outside of this beautiful, old Baptist church, after this group had already gained my trust and, in some ways, my respect, that I heard the real reason for their visit. Rob had already felt that something was a bit odd with them and so had some of the other Campaign participants. Somehow these feelings flew right past me and never entered my mind for a second. Perhaps it was because I was so happy to be talking with who seemed to be folks like me… accepting, loving Baptists.
The group was there to tell us about being “ex-gay” and about “finding freedom from homosexuality.” I felt betrayed as I heard them explain their point of view. Brian, another Campaign participant who had also participated with me in this past spring’s Equality Ride, and I naturally took up the conversation and engaged the four “ex-gays” in a peaceful, respectful dialogue about our faiths, our life experiences and our perceptions of our faith in light of our experiences as gay Christians.
During the Equality Ride I had found it difficult to maintain my peaceful state-of-mind for longer conversations, but for some reason I was able to talk for almost an hour without any indication of moving away from a non-violent spirit.
But it was when we began to discuss our deeply personal faith journeys and relationships with Christ that I began to crack. For me, coming to terms with my sexuality was something that I had to do in order to live and survive. If I had not have come to terms with my sexuality, I can guess that I would be in one of two places: A conservative Baptist church following in the footsteps of my Preacher and teaching a congregation that gay people are worthy of death and absolute exclusion from the life of our world and church, or buried in a pine box six feet under the ground.
My relationship with Christ is a personal one. I can truly say that I have a deeply personal relationship and walk with Christ. I’m not perfect… I’m no where near it, but of course Christ knows this; He is my Saviour, after all. My walk with Christ is between only me, Christ, my God and, if I so choose, my family and my pastor. My walk with Christ is not subject to the thoughts and feelings of others who wonder and judge what I am, who I am or if I am worthy of God’s love.
As I began to cry, I practically begged the group of “ex-gays” to respect my walk with Christ. If I can, as a part of my duty to support and encourage my fellow believers in Christ, respect their personal decisions in their walk with Christ, then why can’t they respect mine? I had to leave the church of my childhood. I had to leave a place where, from the pulpit, I was taught, “Put all the queers on a ship, pluck a hole into the side of it and send it out to see.” If I had remained at that church, or if I had not have come to terms with who I am, then my walk with Christ would be entirely different. I’d go far enough to say that my walk with Christ would be less personal and, I think I might say that I might harbor hate in my heart for God.
I eventually had to get up and leave the conversation. We’ve been taught to approach situations with a non-violent spirit – meaning no violence of the fist, the heart and spirit or of the tongue. In the emotional state I had gotten into, there was no way I could have continued in that non-violent spirit, especially because of all the tough memories brought back into my mind.
I felt betrayed. My trust had been broken by a group I thought was friendly. No matter how nice their words sounded and no matter how much they couched their hate-filled words in what amounted to nothing more than fancy gift and bubble wrap, their words – in my mind – were no different than my Preacher’s: You aren’t worthy of Christ and God does not love you. You aren’t worthy of life.
It has taken me years to mend those wounds; in fact, many of those wounds have still yet to heal. But to have finally realized that despite what I was taught as a child, my God does love me… that is truly amazing and wondrous. He will always love me and Christ will always be there for me… gay or straight. That is the truth. That is, truly, my redeeming message. “Be still and know that I am God,” He says. I know and I will not let anyone tell me I am not worthy of His love.
If you have a friend or relative who has been persuaded by the media, big business, politicians, university programs, including courses of study, or any person or group to try this deadly lifestyle, and especially if your friend or relative is already suffering from a serious disease contracted as a result of it, talk to him or her at the first opportunity about the very real possibility of starting a class-action lawsuit against the group or groups that persuaded them to enter into the activity that did them in. If you happen to be in a care-giving profession, that is a shoe in the door.
When it comes to trend setting, money is the root of all motivation. Let’s make judicious – or shall I say judicial – use of it.
That is what commentator Donald Hank is saying.
In his “commentary” Hank compares the plight of “Big Tobacco” to LGBT people, or in his words “Big Sodomy.”
The activists then were Big Tobacco, supported by Hollywood, the advertising industry, the media and academe. Even politicians, like FDR, smoked and helped sell the image. But the activists were silenced by the nuclear option: lawsuits brought by the smokers, the victims themselves.
Now “alternative” sexual lifestyles are all the rage. They, too, are killing people. And again, it’s the “intellectual” cool, liberal, worldly, suave thing to do. The usual suspects are involved. All the big name colleges have special programs for promoting “alternative” sex. Businesses promote the Gay Olympics. Politicians like Barney Frank think they can foist alternative sex on people through their power positions. Hollywood uses its influence to turn the Marlboro Man into a spokesman for today’s popular deadly activity, and major companies like Ford contribute funds from the shareholders’ meager coffers to promote same-sex marriage. It’s just like the bad old days of Big Tobacco, and the Grim Reaper is having a gay old time.
Oh my. Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh my.
My response: Laugh. Laugh my little white butt off.
Oh, by the way: I thought the right-wingers didn’t like “judicial activism.” They think everything should be left to the legislatures. Here we go again. One set of rules for them and another set for everybody else.
Just a few days ago I wrote a bit about Michael Glatze here, as well as a Featured article over at IQN. Glatze is the former editor of YGA Mag, the founder of Young Gay American and the former associate editor of XY Magazine.
On July 3rd, Glatze wrote an op-ed and appeared in a news article on the conservative WorldNetDaily.com about his “coming out” of homosexuality and ex-gay life.
Since then, both the anti-gay and gay media and blogospheres have picked up the story.
It seems that Glatze is now spending his time perusing the LGBT blogs, making comments and emailing bloggers, asking them to post some of his “ex-gay” propaganda.
The new operators of YGA Mag and the website ygamag.com released the following message:
Recently, Glatze has rejected his own homosexuality and embraced the view that he was never homosexual in the first place, that he was corrupted by lust, and that through accepting God, he realized he could be healed. While we respect everyone’s right to freedom of choice, we believe that the message communicated by Glatze could be extremely harmful and confusing to youth in America and elsewhere who are struggling to come to grips with their own feelings and confusion.
We believe that, particularly in view of Glatze’s recent interviews acknowledging his own struggle, and the inherent conflict between homosexuality and most Christian belief systems, it’s important to continue to communicate honest and (as much as possible) unbiased information about gay sexuality, the current scientific thinking, and societal views to gay youth.
But, now, to the subject of this post: Glatze’s email to bloggers.
In his email, Glatze calls all LGBT people weak, stupid, strange creatures, trapped and with voices in their minds:
God made us men and women. Think about that; you could – really – be a man or a woman! Not a strange creature… but, real!
[...]
Change is very difficult and takes a lot of inner strength. Do you have that strength? I promise you that the Gay Identity does not
exist, that it is a fabrication of mankind (look it up, if you don’t believe me), and that you are not “trapped” in same-sex-orientation. To believe that you are Gay is to be stupid. I’m sorry, if that sounds cruel; it’s not cruel. To believe that you are a false identity, created by man, unnaturally, to participate in social engineering, is to be stupid.
[...]
those angry voices in your mind, planted there by Satan, might scream and judge and ridicule…
And, as if that wasn’t enough damage, Glatze goes on to say that he, personally, knows what every single LGBT person feels and thinks:
I know, in my heart, that all homosexuals desire to be free.
Um. Oh… haha, I get it now. Glatze isn’t trying to be “ex-gay,” he is trying to be God!
Yeah… LGBT people, like all minorities in the world, desire to be free – free from discrimination, harassment, prejudice and bigotry. We desire to take full part in the American Dream. We desire to be recognized as fully human, with the full inherent worth and dignity given to us by God. We desire to see that the promises made by our Founding Fathers are extended to us and all human beings.
But, alas, Glatze thinks we can’t have any of that. After all… we’re all weak, stupid, strange creatures who need to be examined and have the weird voices taken out of our minds.
It sounds like Mr. Glatze has been brainwashed just like a was a few years back. I spent over a year and half of my life in an Exodus ministry. I think I was susceptible to their brainwashing because I was very unhappy with my life which allowed me to be convinced that most of my problems and issues were there because I was gay. If I could just be straight I could be happy. After meeting countless people who had spent many years in ex-gay ministries only to still be attracted to the same sex the lightbulb came on and I realized that there was no changing my sexuality. I hope that Mr. Glatze will realize that too before he goes and marries a naive woman who thinks he is really straight.
The entire “ex-gay” industry is built upon the mistaken, prejudiced and bigoted premise that all LGBT people are evil simply because they are gay. Don’t get me wrong: I’m a Christian – a Baptist from the South – and I certainly believe that, yes, people are sinful. But I do not believe that one’s sexual orientation has anything to do with how sinful – or how righteous – a person is. Straight people are guilty of the same sins as non-straights. And LGBT folk are guilty of the same sins as straight folk. However, being gay – or straight, or bisexual or lesbian or transgender – is not a sin.
I have a dear friend who once thought that being gay was a sin. He was undergoing therapy to “control his homosexual tendencies.” I respected him, partly because he didn’t try to do what Glatze and other “ex-gay” industrialists are doing. My friend didn’t play God. He didn’t pass down judgments. He didn’t tell me that I absolutely had to believe what he believes and if I didn’t then I was some strange, evil, little creature bound for hell. My friend respected me and I respected him.
That is the problem that I have with the “ex-gay” industry and their industrialist tycoons. They make fame and fortune, power and riches off the plight and fear of their followers and the weak. They turn the awesome power and love of God and the radical Gospel of Our Lord into a sword – a weapon to be used at will and to slice open the hearts and souls of those who do not fit into their tiny, 1950’s, black-and-white mold of what humans are to be.
Glatze speaks of being “real” men and women, but Glatze forgets that to God and to Christ, no such thing exists:
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28 (KJV).
There is no love in a “love” which claims that one must forsake true self and life. There is no love when one says, “love the sinner and hate the sin,” for one cannot love God and hate their brother (I John 4:20); for one cannot deny the humanity, divinity and existence of another “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) in the “image & likeness of God” (Genesis 1:26-27); for one cannot uphold “the law” without love, for “the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Galatians 5:14 [Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31]); for one cannot cast out, because in so doing one also casts out Christ (Matthew 25:40, Matthew 25:31-46).
The Witness of the Gospel and the radical, inclusive nature of Christ is overly apparent. All are one in Christ Jesus.
Glatze’s got it wrong. And his words are built only on a foundation of hate, exclusion and prejudice, words and feelings never felt and never preached by Christ. Glatze claims to speak in the Name of God and Christ, unfortunately, I fear he is only acting in the same fashion of all those throughout history who have twisted the love of God and turned it into a tool of hate and exclusion.
I pray for Glatze and hope that he sees the true nature of Christ and the true nature of His love. I hope he sees the beautiful image of God in all of God’s children. I hope that he lays down the Bible as a sword of hate and picks it back up again for its only rightful use: A use which brings together all the nations of the world in love, compassion, mercy and Christ.
Good As You points us to a piece from Concerned Women for America’s radio show with Matt Barber and guest Stephen Bennett, the leader of “ex-gay” Stephen Bennett Ministries.
Talking about ex-gay Charlene Cothran, Bennett states:
“Looking over the masses of BLACK American People, and it was for the first time she saw, as she describes it, that dirtiness, she felt dirty”
Here is the audio:
Good As You is quick to say:
Now, this could, of course, have just been a casual slip (rather than one more Sigmund-esque). However, when listening to the audio this morning while multi-tasking, the mistake jarred our ears alive so fully, it’s hard to believe that neither Bennett nor anyone at CWA caught the mistake and either clarified it or edited it out! It just seems like such a HUGE blunder, and one that they certainly would have wanted to corrected in some fashion!
Whether a slip or on purpose… it should have been corrected. Unless, of course, Bennett really meant to say such a thing.
Hey, we all know that prejudices usually go hand in hand. Being prejudiced against one group opens a Pandora’s Box. If one is racist, one is more likely to be anti-gay. If one is anti-gay, one is more likely to be sexist. It isn’t always true, because of course, gay folks can be racist and black folks can be sexist, but it does happen quite often.
I wonder when or if we’ll ever see some sort of clarification from CWA or Bennett. My bet is on really, really soon or never.
