Libyan protests? The fall of the Egyptian government? People around the United States taking to the streets in support of teachers in Wisconsin? A massive earthquake in New Zealand? GOP politicians trying to criminalize miscarriage? The release of Ke$ha’s new music video with James Van Der Beek? NO. None of these things are anywhere near as significant as the inroads the Gay Agenda [BOO!] has made since Christmas, says an area wingnut! Let him explain it to you:
The events of the last several weeks have been seismic in nature, yet occurring so fast that even the most seasoned of pundits have struggled to stay abreast of their full meaning.
Uh, no, the “most seasoned of pundits” are actually busy caring about things that matter. Well, sort of. Let’s not give the Village too much credit here.
Consider:
*In August, ABC’s hit comedy Modern Family – prominently featuring a same-sex couple – won the Emmy for outstanding comedy series.
*In late December, the Senate passed a repeal of the 17-year-old ban known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, allowing gays to serve openly in the military.
*The Southern Poverty Law Center classified several Christian organizations that have taken stances against the acceptance of gay marriage, or who have simply gone public with the stance against homosexuality as a morally acceptable lifestyle, as “hate groups.”
*On Thursday, February 11 – after talks with gay rights organizations, including GLAAD (the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) – Facebook added civil unions and domestic partnerships to the list of relationships that its users can pick from to best describe their romantic status. And as one media adviser put it, “As Facebook goes, so goes the world.”
*While only Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Washington, D.C. allow same-sex marriages, Hawaii will soon become the seventh state to permit civil unions of similar legal recognition for gay couples.
*In a historic shift on gay rights, the Obama administration announced on Wednesday, February 23, that it believed the Constitution forbids unequal treatment of gays and lesbians in almost all cases, and specifically when it comes to federal benefits for legally married same-sex couples. As a result, the Justice Department will no longer oppose legal challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act, passed by Congress in1996, which bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages or extending them the same benefits as heterosexual couples.
*In his new book, Jay Bakker, son of Jim Bakker and the late Tammy Faye Messner, declared that homosexuality is not a sin. Agreeing with Bakker are Tony Jones, “theologian in residence” at Minnesota’s Solomon’s Porch, and Peggy Campolo, wife of evangelist Tony Campolo. Author Brian McLaren condemns the Christian preoccupation with homosexuality as “fundasexuality.”
Whew.
WHEW! So, first of all, the SPLC didn’t list those organizations as hate groups for “simply going public with their stance against homosexuality.” They were listed because all the organizations listed are full of liars who demonize gay people for our very existence. There is a difference. I know fundamentalist Christian “love” can blind people to the harm they and their ideological cohorts inflict, but those of us who live in the real world know better.
But I’ve got to point out here: all of these changes are good for the greater population! The sky is not falling, and will not fall, for anyone except Fundamentalist Christians who erroneously believe that their jacked up worldview should be inflicted on the rest of society, who have either grown out of such philistine notions, or are lucky enough to have never been held down by them in the first place.
Also, Modern Family is one of the funniest shows on television, and most well-written, so I’m going to hazard a guess that that’s why they won the Emmy.
Anyway, so this wingnut [his name is James Emery White, and he is a perfesser at a clown college of some sort] has decided that, rather than give in to the “great gay awakening” that is happening, they should come up with a new approach for hating gay people. Let us see if there is anything new here:
*Homosexuals, repentant or otherwise, must be loved.
This is the same as their old school BS “love the sinner, hate the sin” thing, which is meaningless to all people who understand the nature of sexuality. This is like saying “love the black person, but hate her skin.”
*Those desiring to be faithful to biblical teachings in this area must be met with support and, when they fail, with the same level of grace we would extend to anyone else.
The church has lost the younger generations due to the “same level of grace [they] extend” to other people, so this doesn’t seem new either.
*There should be no impediment to full service and position for those with a homosexual orientation who remain faithful to personal celibacy and biblical orthodoxy.
Well that’s a nice consolation. You can be a church leader, as long as you deny yourself all the joys that intimate, bonding love has to offer!
*Though much that goes under the banner of “anti-discrimination” does, in effect, promote homosexuality and create a specially-protected class (which I do not affirm), Christians should work toward a society that does not persecute practicing homosexuals, and Christians should denounce anyone who uses hate-filled speech.
That sounds nice, but unfortunately the fundamentalist Christian worldview inherently persecutes gay people, and preaching that gay people need to repent or otherwise go to hell is hate speech, especially since it’s an assertion without any corroborating evidence. Try again, wingnut.
*Christians should not work for homosexuality to be criminalized, and should vigorously support the full prosecution of crimes against homosexuals.
Well that’s a nice sentiment. Tell all your Evangelical friends, the ones who have been working behind the scenes with the cynical bigots in Uganda.
*We need a new tone and emphasis that focuses on the homosexual lifestyle as we would any other lifestyle that needs to have its deepest needs intersected by Christ. If one believes that the homosexual lifestyle is broken sexually, it must be affirmed that it is no more broken than the adulterer or the person addicted to pornography.
Uh, that’s exactly what the Church has been doing, and it’s offensive to real people, gay and otherwise, who actually understand what it means to be gay, to have gay family members, and who actually understand the science behind sexuality. The idea that being gay is to be “broken sexually” is completely repudiated by ALL major medical and psychological associations, and to assert otherwise is unmitigated garbage.
*We must put forward a winsome and compelling vision for life in Christ that includes our sexuality; a vision that invites all who are sexually confused and seeking God to come and drink of the living water that Jesus promises to us all (John 4).
Whatever.
So while I pray for an awakening among those who embrace the homosexual lifestyle, I also pray for an awakening among those of us who condemn it.
Namely, that in condemning it, we do not condemn them.
Nope, you still don’t get it, Dr. White. Try again!