The Washington Times reported on the new NALT Christians Project, and in the course of their article, they called hate group leader Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council for his opinion on the project. His comments are helpful because they explain why this project is so necessary. Let’s have a look-see:
Peter Sprigg of Family Research Council said Wednesday that it was ironic to see Mr. Savage and Mr. Besen “involved in any project that purports to promote Christian love.”
Christian love “does not require that we allow people to do whatever they want (and subsidize it). Love requires that we seek the best for people, and work to bring that about,” said Mr. Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies for the traditional-values group.
Indeed. Mr. Savage, Mr. Besen, Mr. Shore and I all agree that we should seek the best for people, and we all agree that we should do so in ways that are supported by actual science, actual research and actual results, as opposed to trying to conform the population to disproven, bigoted beliefs about things like human sexuality such as those espoused by Mr. Sprigg. We’ll look at those in one minute.
“Perhaps conservatives should mount a ‘Not At All Like That’ campaign, because we are not at all like the hate-filled bigots usually portrayed by homosexual activists,” Mr. Sprigg added.
Well, sir, Not All Like That is trademarked, so you can’t have it. A friend of mine suggested Faithfully Affirming Religious Tradition, which I think would be just great.
Moreover, the NALT Christian project is open to any conservative Christian who has seen the light on the issue of sexuality and affirms the dignity and equality of all LGBT people! Despite what Mr. Sprigg may believe, they very much exist, as research has shown that there is a wide age gap among conservative evangelicals on this issue.
But let’s look at the evidence for the suggestion that Mr. Sprigg is not a “hate-filled bigot [as] portrayed by homosexual activists,” shall we?
1. Peter Sprigg almost single-handedly landed the Family Research Council on the SPLC’s hate group list when he suggested that homosexuals should be “exported” from the United States.
2. Peter Sprigg essentially blames gay teen suicide victims for their own problems, suggesting that the younger they come out, the more likely they are to try to kill themselves.
3. Peter Sprigg’s “pro-family” organization lobbied the United States Congress against passing a resolution condemning Uganda’s infamous “Kill the Gays” bill.
4. Peter Sprigg supports criminal sanctions against gay people, a stance he admitted on Hardball in 2010.
That’s just what I found in a few minutes of Googling our own website. If you’d like to swim in the swampy waters of Sprigg’s alleged love for people for a while longer, I’d suggest the archives of Good-As-You and JoeMyGod.
Peter can tell us he’s Not Like That — not a hate-filled anti-gay bigot — all he wants, but his words, his actions and his career say otherwise, and they’re exactly what is giving his alleged religious faith a bad name in civilized society.
The Christians making NALT videos have a different message for Mr. Sprigg, and whether or not they’re directly addressing him or simply affirming their own support for a fully inclusive Christianity, they are the negation of the messages of hatred and division spread by hate group leaders such as he.
