The American Family Association (AFA) is in a tizzy because the U.S. Army listed them as a hate group in a training presentation. The Army identified the AFA as a hate group based on information from the Southern Poverty Law Center.… [Read more…] about The American Family Association and the KKK
Christian "politicians" and the end of time
When congressional stenographer Dianne Reidy got pulled from the House floor for screaming “prophetic pronouncements” at voting representatives, most of us simply viewed her as someone worthy of pity.
But to others she was the victim of “religious persecution,” because, they believe, she spoke what the Spirit led her to say—that being, of course, that the government is run amok (since, as everyone knows, the Holy Spirit is a fiscal conservative). To these folks, slavery, Civil War, two world wars, and decades on the brink of possible nuclear annihilation were not enough to bring about the End Times. For that, it took a debate about health insurance.
But this is not really about Obamacare; it’s not about whether the government should provide health care at all; it’s not about the proper role of government in people’s lives. Legitimate philosophical debates about the role of government have been around since (before) the founding of the republic.
But one subgroup on one side of that debate has now decided that such discussions must always be about something much larger than that. And in retrospect this turn of events was inevitable. Fiscal conservatives have been courting religious conservatives for decades, and now, finally, they have now successfully wedded the two. So we can’t be too surprised that, for some, whether the government sets up private insurance exchanges or outlaws policy rejections based on pre-existing conditions—whether the government does anything at… [Read more…] about Christian "politicians" and the end of time
To a Gay Anti-Christian Activist Who Suddenly Converted
A friend of mine is a gay artist who, up until a few days ago, was a tireless and fairly high-profile opponent of Christianity. His world recently changed when he realized that, despite his “hard-won atheism,” he was rapidly becoming a Christian.
“I’m sitting here listening to Jars of [bleeping] Clay and weeping,” he wrote me. “Mother[bleep]er! Where is this [bleep] coming from? And why am I okay with it? God[bleep] it.”
Knowing my history (see I, A Rabid Anti-Christian, Very Suddenly Covert), my friend asked for some advice about the phenomenon he was experiencing. That advice (which he was kind enough to encourage me to here share) was/is:
Hey, buddy.
Up until my freakish conversion experience I, like, you, basically loathed Christianity; I considered it at best appallingly stupid. Same as you thought!
That God. S/he sure is … seriously intrusive.
Anyway, yeah: I have some idea of where you’re coming from, and perhaps a bit of what you’re experiencing.
I’m certainly aware of your concern that becoming a Christian will mean having to give up aspects of yourself that you hold dear. Please put that fear to rest. Of all the things that becoming a Christian means—or issupposed to mean, anyway—one of them is not getting absorbed into the giant Borg of Christian Conformity.
Exactly the opposite is true, in fact. God desires you to be more of who you are, not less. God made you exactly the way you are. And God is… [Read more…] about To a Gay Anti-Christian Activist Who Suddenly Converted
My Tattooed Teenager
She’d been asking for years. My firstborn, with the red hair and creamy skin, wanted a tattoo. For years she’s been asking.
The child who, if she could, would paint her room a different color every other month. The child who, if her parents could, would ask them to rearrange the furniture in her room every other week. The child who, as a pre-teen, declared matter-of-factly, “I require constant change.” The undeniable implication was, “Is that so wrong? Is that so difficult? Why is nobody accommodating me???”
A tattoo. The most permanent of permanent body alterations.
When she was fourteen and fifteen, it was easy to laugh – “Pffffft! Over my dead body!” “You? The girl who gets tired of a haircut after three hours?” And my go-to favorite, “If you still want one when you’re older, we’ll talk.” Well, she was coming up on seventeen, and wanted to talk.
I knew better than to offer a henna tattoo – you know – the kind that isn’t permanent and the design can be different every time! No, I knew better. And each time she brought it up, tentatively and unusually respectfully, I pushed her off. I couldn’t help but admire her persistence, though, with this request. Normally that sort of thing annoys me – you know, the kid asking over and over for something I’d already said “no” to.
This topic, however? There was something in the way she asked that told us this was different.
To be clear, she knew Dave (hubs to me/dad to her) and I had… [Read more…] about My Tattooed Teenager
Christians opposing the shameful "Values Voter Summit"
Here’s a snapshot of the speakers at yesterday’s NALT Christians press conference, held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., as a “prebuttal” to the shameful (and for some reason illiterately named) Values Voter Summit, which starts today. From left to right are:… [Read more…] about Christians opposing the shameful "Values Voter Summit"
The Christian right and pornographers: brothers in arms
We’ve all heard the anti-gay vitriol spouted by Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, and all the other right-wing Christian leaders who make their fortunes hectoring and persecuting LGBT people.
What, really, makes such Christians tick? What defines their ethos? What is the true taproot of anti-gay Christianity? Underneath all of their posturing and hyperbole—even underneath their belief that they are only being true to the Bible—what core conviction is really informing the Christian right’s condemnation of homosexuality?… [Read more…] about The Christian right and pornographers: brothers in arms
Romans 1:26-27: A Clobber Passage That Should Lose Its Wallop
Whenever I’m debating with someone who authoritatively declares that the Bible condemns homosexuality, and who cites the infamous Romans 1:26-27 as proof, I almost always offer this rejoinder: “What do you make of the vocative at the beginning of Romans 2?”
The question is admittedly pretentious on my part but I’ve found it effective, because those often most eager to wield the Bible as an authoritative weapon are also often those who have read it only in translation, and not very closely at that.
But it’s not an idle question.
Anyone who has engaged the issue of sexuality and the Bible has at some point contended with Romans 1:26-27: “For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.” (NRSV)
Sounds pretty bad, and indeed, so does the entire last half of the first chapter of Romans. Who, broadly, is being described here? Most agree it’s the Gentiles, and most agree that what is being represented here is boilerplate, Hellenistic Jewish material that attacks the Gentiles. But the condemnatory nature of the verses from 1:18-32 also fits awkwardly, if at all, with the spirit of the rest of the epistle, which goes from talking about the “uprightness of God” in the early verses to… [Read more…] about Romans 1:26-27: A Clobber Passage That Should Lose Its Wallop
Of Cakes and Christians
Embed from Getty Images
Jesus was accused by the Pharisees of being a friend to sinners and to drunkards and to despised tax collectors. He made gallons of wine at a wedding. He treated women of ill-repute with respect. He made a Samaritan–a member of the neighboring race and sworn enemies of the Jews–the hero of one of his most profound parables. He praised a Gentile Roman Centurion–part of the occupying imperial force–for having great faith. He touched lepers. He spoke forgiveness and grace to those who beat and crucified him.
His followers continued the trend: Philip baptized an Ethiopian eunuch who was barred from Jewish temple worship. Peter participated in a religious revival among the Samaritans and then a Holy Ghost outpouring in the home of a Roman Centurion. Paul poured out his life traveling the highways and byways of the Roman Empire with a vision of Jews and pagan Gentiles together becoming the people of God; his fellow countrymen tried repeatedly to kill him because of it.
Last week I heard about two separate instances of Christian bakers–one in Oregon and one in Colorado–refusing to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples. In both cases, the bakers had turned away gay customers more than once, citing their Christian faith as the reason (the baker in Colorado will, however, happily make a cake for a dog wedding). In both cases, the actions of the cake-bakers brought public disapproval and official anti-discrimination investigations upon them. In… [Read more…] about Of Cakes and Christians
Why The Not All Like That (NALT) Christians Project works
On behalf of the small but passionately dedicated team responsible for The NALT Christians Project, I want to thank everyone who has helped make our first week such a tremendous success. Most of all, I want to thank the (as of this writing) seventy-five people who have taken the time and effort to make a NALT video. One of the craziest things about ushering this project through its first whirlwind week is that neither I nor my partners have even had time to personally respond to those good people who, throughout the week, continued to make us cry through the sheer power of their NALT video testimonies.… [Read more…] about Why The Not All Like That (NALT) Christians Project works
My dog in the fight for LGBT equality
The day before yesterday the Not All Like That (NALT) Christians Project launched like a space shuttle. It’s already been written about by TIME, The American Prospect, The Advocate, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post and others.
Which means that in the last two days I’ve done … I dunno, six interviews. (And this Monday morning will be discussing The NALT Christians Project on MSNBC [!].) Throw in the fact that since Tuesday I’ve been at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, Resort and Synapse-Frying Universe (the view from my window of which I just snapped the photo below, because holy cow have I quickly learned how to use my iPhone), and I’m having myself quite the week.
One of the things I’ve been asked a couple of times now is the question that a radio host yesterday put to me in this way (and I’ll let you know when that show is airing): “John, what’s your dog in this fight? You’re not gay. Why do you care so much about the issue of LGBT people and the church?”
I care for two reasons. First, I care because I’m a normal, moral human being, and it’s flat-out wrong for a majority population to victimize a minority population. Everyone with a conscience is morally obligated to defend anyone who is being persecuted and bullied. Defending the unjustly victimized is what it means to be a moral person.
Secondly, I am a Christian. And that makes me loyal to the Bible. And I’m tired of the Christian right forever claiming that LGBT-affirming… [Read more…] about My dog in the fight for LGBT equality