He offers a different take on why the church continues to oppose gay marriage:
As the American family fractures and the majority of women choose to live without men, churches are losing their grip on power and scapegoating gays and lesbians for their failures.
…
The possibility that a whole new generation of American males is being raised by women without men is very challenging for the churches. I think they want to reassert some sort of male authority over the order of things. I think the pro-Proposition 8 movement was really galvanized by an insecurity that churches are feeling now with the rise of women.
I still believe the Christian Church will get over this. As a new generation of leaders takes over, the Church will become less homophobic. It’ll take time, but most younger Christians don’t see any contradiction between what the Bible says and same-sex marriage. They support marriage, period.
For almost two centuries American Christianity, including BJU in its early stages, was characterized by the segregationist ethos of American culture. Consequently, for far too long, we allowed institutional policies regarding race to be shaped more directly by that ethos than by the principles and precepts of the Scriptures. We conformed to the culture rather than provide a clear Christian counterpoint to it.
In so doing, we failed to accurately represent the Lord and to fulfill the commandment to love others as ourselves. For these failures we are profoundly sorry. Though no known antagonism toward minorities or expressions of racism on a personal level have ever been tolerated on our campus, we allowed institutional policies to remain in place that were racially hurtful.
On national television in March 2000, Bob Jones III, who was the university’s president until 2005, stated that BJU was wrong in not admitting African-American students before 1971, which sadly was a common practice of both public and private universities in the years prior to that time. On the same program, he announced the lifting of the University’s policy against interracial dating.
It’s nice that they’re apologizing. Too bad it’s decades too late for it to be truly meaningful.
By the way, hold on to this apology script.
It’s the same one Christians will be using in the future when they realize that they are acting the same way towards gay people today as they were toward black people decades ago.
You could practically rewrite the whole thing:
For almost two centuries American Christianity, including BJU in its early stages, was characterized by the discriminatory ethos of American culture. Consequently, for far too long, we allowed institutional policies regarding sexual identity to be shaped more directly by that ethos than by the principles and precepts of the Scriptures. We conformed to the culture rather than provide a clear Christian counterpoint to it.
In so doing, we failed to accurately represent the Lord and to fulfill the commandment to love others as ourselves. For these failures we are profoundly sorry. Though no known antagonism toward minorities or expressions of homophobia on a personal level have ever been tolerated on our campus, we allowed institutional policies to remain in place that were personally hurtful…
Plenty of other groups, atheists included, were against racism long before conservative Christians came around to it.
And plenty of groups today, liberal Christians included, are against the homophobia seen in churches across the country. The churches will come around to that view as well within a couple generations. The faster they can drop their ignorance, the longer they’ll survive. If they don’t, they’ll begin to lose members even faster than they are now.
Where is the anti-gay rhetoric coming from? Some Christians say homophobia is Bible-based. Other try to give their reasoning without appealing to the Bible. Personally, when they try to justify their bigotry this way, it sounds even more ignorant.
Either way, younger Christians are much more in favor of equality for all than their parents and grandparents. That’s good for everyone.
And, by the way, if you ever wanted short and snappy responses to common anti-gay-rights talking points, here you go.
From: Jan
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 5:34 PM
To: ncwarren@eharmony.com [Dr. Neil Clark Warren, founder, eHarmony.com]
Subject: unbelievable
Dear Mr. Warren:
I was absolutely shocked that you would cave into the homosexual agenda, by offering date-matching for homosexuals on your “Christian” dating website. They have their own dating websites which I understand to be extremely X-rated.
I have several single and widowed friends who use your website. I will be sending an e-mail to them about your caving into EVIL and that they should not use your website — ever again.
Extremely disappointed,
Jan
Crystal Lake, IL
She may be confusing X-Rated with purely hookup sites. And she doesn’t seem to know gay people will get a site with a different domain name.
That said, I have sudden urge to want to use eHarmony now…
At the risk of using a strong word, this must be one of those “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” sort of things.
Glendale Community College in Arizona recently staged The Laramie Project, a play about Matthew Shepard, in honor of the tenth anniversary of his murder.
Guess who was there to protest?
Westboro Baptist Church, of course.
But more than 100 people from several organizations (including the Secular Freethought Society from Arizona State University and a local atheist Meetup group) were there waiting.
The people from the church ended up just driving by and shouting that we were all going to hell, but that was the end of what they did. Normally they are in full force protesting the play and any related events that have anything to do with gay rights. These people from this church are bad people, spreading hate.
Everybody there who was in these photos was speaking for love, and human rights, and to end the discrimination against gay people.
The Christian OneNewsNow site says we are winning a war I didn’t even know we were waging! The article by Chad Groening references the Secular Coalition for America’s policy recommendations for the new President:
The Secular Coalition for America recently held a news conference urging president-elect Barack Obama to, among other things, enact new rules against proselytizing and develop a new directive for all chaplains and commanders to eliminate public prayers from any mandatory attendance events for military troops.
Gordon James Klingenschmitt is a former naval chaplain who says, unfortunately, the Secular Coalition for America will eventually get its way. “There is a day coming in the end times when the military will be forced to be atheistic because, in order for the eventual man who is the man of sin — the Anti-Christ — as it is describe in the Bible, for him to come to power and to stamp out Christianity around the globe, he’s going to need a good strong atheist military,” he contends. “That is the first step toward Armageddon, and I’m concerned about that. And I pray that President (elect) Obama is not foolish enough to lead us down that road.”
Right. Got it.
Remind me never to join the Navy.
Of course, we know atheists aren’t trying to stop Christians from practicing their faith in the military. We just want them to stop forcing their faith upon atheists in the service and denying them promotions as a result of their non-belief. No harassment. No proselytizing. Keep your faith to yourself. Don’t have public prayers when attendance is mandatory. Simple rules.
…
While we’re on that OneNewsNow site, I was amused by this other story.
First, because of the headline:
‘Gay’ activists engage in ‘hate crimes’ against Christians
Why is “gay” in quotation marks?!
You might also wonder why “hate crimes” is in quotation marks. That’s because there’s no actual crime being committed. The “crime” is that many people — gay and straight, I should add — are peacefully protesting outside churches that supported the Proposition 8 gay marriage ban.
The other reason I’m amused: The opening phrase is “Homosexual militants” — a bit ironic considering openly gay people are not allowed to serve in the military…
The settlement is the result of a complaint New Jersey resident Eric McKinley filed against the online matchmaker in 2005. McKinley, 46, said he was shocked when he tried to sign up for the dating site but couldn’t get past the first screen because there was no option for men seeking men.
“It’s very frustrating and it’s very humiliating to think that other people can do it and I can’t,” he said. “And the only reason I can’t is because I’m a gay man. That’s very hurtful.”
Neither the company nor its founder, Neil Clark Warren, acknowledged any liability. Under the settlement, eHarmony will pay New Jersey state division $50,000 to cover administrative costs and will pay McKinley $5,000.
…
Pasadena, Calif.-based eHarmony said it plans to launch its new service, called Compatible Partners, on March 31.
Of course, the more popular and better-known eHarmony site will have nothing to do with those evil gays.
… But Warren says eHarmony promotes heterosexual marriage, about which he has done extensive research. He says he does not know enough about gay and lesbian relationships to do same-sex matching.
It “calls for some very careful thinking. Very careful research.” He adds that same-sex marriage is illegal in most states. “We don’t really want to participate in something that’s illegal.”
I didn’t realize eHarmony gave away marriage licenses.
Seems like the smarter option is to just say no to the new site (and eHarmony in general) and pay for services at a place that doesn’t practice discrimination.
The Mormon Church gave millions of dollars to support Proposition 8 in California. The measure passed and, as a result, gay people in the state will have to wait a little longer before they obtain equal rights.
Jodi Mardesich tells an incredible story about how she was a practicing Mormon for so long but her own research into the faith drew her away from it. The Mormons’ support of Proposition 8 was the final straw that forced her to get her name off of the church membership list:
The day after the election, I wrote my letter of resignation. I sent it to the membership office of the church, telling them that I am no longer One of Them. They have to take me off their rolls. I can’t stomach being counted as One of Them. I despise what they have done in Hawaii, in California, in Arizona, in Florida. They are actively working to strip gay people of their rights. They want to define marriage as a union that can only take place between a man and a woman.
…
I spent much of the ’90s as a lesbian, in committed relationships with women. It doesn’t matter that I’m now in love with a man. I support the rights of gay couples to define their relationships in the traditional sense, if they so choose. I despise what the Mormon church has done to restrict the definition of a family. Love should be celebrated where it is found, whether it’s between a man and a woman, or a woman and a woman, or a man and a man. Period.
My dad says I need to get over my anger toward the Mormon church. I wish I could. Maybe if it someday becomes inclusive, and stops hating, I will get over my anger.
A reader of this site, Rose, also raises this question in regards to the story:
If faith is something you can give up whenever you decide you no longer agree, how can it be the truth?
I mean, I know this is one of the many reasons I cannot be a religious person, but why don’t more people have this epiphany (no irony, really)?
I would hope more Mormons (More-mons?) are realizing how their religion is (once again) acting as an obstacle to equal rights.
This story may be just a drip, but I hope the deluge will follow.
Here’s what Mark Oppenheimer of Slate said about us:
When the lion lies down with the lamb, when the president is a Republican Muslim and the Democratic speaker of the House is a vegan Mormon lesbian, when the secretary of defense is a Jain pacifist from the Green Party, they will all agree on one thing: atheists need not apply. A 2007 Gallup poll found that 53 percent of Americans would not vote for an atheist for president. (By contrast, only 43 percent wouldn’t vote for a homosexual, and only 24 percent wouldn’t vote for a Mormon.) As Ronald Lindsay, executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism, told me in an e-mail: “Atheism spells political death in this country.”
Indeed. Only one current congressman has confessed to being an atheist: Rep. Pete Stark, a Democrat from the lefty East Bay region of Northern California. If he ever ran for president, he would need God’s help just as surely as he wouldn’t ask for it.
I’m still optimistic that we’ll see more Congresspeople come out as atheists during Barack Obama’s adminstration, during this time of a Democratic majority. We’ll move up in the ranks in the coming years. We just need non-religious people to come out as such so others can see it’s possible. As more Americans get comfortable with the idea of atheists holding public office at all — even locally — it’ll be easier for us to get elected to higher office in the future.
I’m wondering why, if this is true, it took him two years to admit it.
I’m also wondering: would it really be that hard at this point in his life to come out and just say he’s gay?
If he did — and spoke out in defense of homosexuality and against the Christian treatment of gays — he could still be a hero to many people instead of being the fallen has-been that he has become.
My interview with Mike Jones, the male escort Haggard scandalized himself with, is here.
This is not just a rally for the non-religious. It’d be great to see Christians, Mormons, and African-Americans at these rallies showing that they are in support of equal rights for everyone.
Keith Olbermann said it well the other night:
This isn’t about hate. It’s about love. It’s absurd that there are people out there who would deny other people that love and then complain about the breakdown of the family structure.
This isn’t about hate. It’s about ignorance. The people who are against gay marriage need to be educated. They need to know that denying two committed people the right to marry hurts them. They need to see people they know supporting gay rights. Some of them will cling to their Bible but many of them can be swayed.
If you’re looking for rallies near you, you can find them here.
Reader Eliza said this:
I’m planning to attend the rally & march in Seattle and I am tentatively planning my sign to say: “There is NO EARTHLY REASON to deny equal marriage rights… any other reason is UNCONSTITUTIONAL”
