Both Right-wing religionists and Left-wing GLBT activists have called for a boycott of the film, End of the Spear. The film presents the true story of the murders of five evangelical Christian missionaries in the jungles of Ecuador a half-century ago. Their widows stayed on and eventually reached out to their husbands’ killers who, along with many fellow tribesmen, came to Christ.
The fuss over the film revolves around the fact that out gay actor Chad Allen portrays one of the assassinated missionaries as well as that missionary’s son (also a producer of the film). The boycotting fundamentalists are angry that an openly gay actor is playing the part of an evangelical Christian and the boycotting gay activists are angry that an openly gay actor is playing the part of an evangelical Christian.
Says Allen: “I thought I was going to work with a bunch of right-wing conservative wackos. I think they, in turn, thought they were going to work with a godless bohemian kid. None of those preconceived notions were true. We had to throw everything out and get to know each other.” He says that working in the film “provided me the invitation to go deeper than I ever have in my relationship with God.” He adds: “I’m surrounded by an enormous amount of letters and e-mails and phone calls [from] people publicly supporting me who are Christians, who are saying to me, ‘Look, we’re getting to witness firsthand the meanness of what’s gone on in the name of Jesus Christ for a long time now. And we’re shocked. And we’re sorry. And we love and respect you.’”
End of the Spear producer Mart Green says: “If there was going to be an ‘End of the Spear 2,’ Chad would be in it. We cast the best person for the part.” He says he hopes to “change the culture through films rooted in Christian values.” Director Jim Hanon adds: “We disagree with Chad about homosexuality, but we love him and worked with him and we feel that’s a biblical position. If we start measuring the sin of everyone in a movie, we would never be able to make a picture because none of us would be left.”
Jerry Falwell opposes the Right-wing religionists who call for boycotting End of the Spear. In a mass e-mail, Falwell says: “Folks, we complain a lot about how Hollywood has become a cesspool of violence and immortality. This is our chance to do something about initiating a change in that situation. Please join me in supporting End of the Spear.”
Adding his support for the film, Bob Waliszewski, head of the media review department at Focus on the Family, told The New York Times that he was saddened by the reaction of Christians against the film. Alluding to the Focus position against homosexuality, he said: “But what is the message of the product? And do we at Focus feel compelled to check on the sexual history of everyone in a movie? Did they have a D.U.I.? Did they pay their taxes?”
Southern [Baptist] Seminary president R. Albert Mohler, Jr. says “the real problem” with Chad Allen’s starring in End of the Spear is that, because we know him to be gay, he’s “the actor least likely to be able to make us forget him and see [missionary] Nate Saint.” Mohler states: “Christians loved the film ‘Chariots of Fire,’ but the lead role of Eric Liddell was played by Ian Charleston, a gay man. Another great performance in that film was given by Sir John Gielgud, a homosexual man …[and] the role of Gandalf in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ was played by Sir Ian McKellen, who has also been known as a homosexual activist. Yet, I was not aware of these identifications as I viewed these movies. Thus, the associations never crossed my mind.”
“Isn’t playing straight what evangelicals have been urging gay men to do?” Dan Savage poses this question in his New York Times Op-Ed piece on the Religious Right’s objections to Chad Allen’s work in End of the Spear. (Feb 10) Savage goes on to ask: “If they don’t think Chad Allen can play straight convincingly for 108 minutes, do they honestly imagine that gay men who aren’t actors can play straight for a lifetime?”
Darlene Bogle was once a leader in the Exodus “ex-gay” movement. She is now an ex-“ex-lesbian” and says you “can’t change your [sexual] orientation, and you can try till hell freezes over.” Having once written a book on “moving away from lesbianism,” Bogle is now at work on a book about her moving away from the “ex-gay” claims. She appears in a new documentary film, “God and Gays: Bridging the Gap.”
With mounting evidence that homosexual orientation has some biological basis, the leader of a DC-based ministry on public policy says his fellow evangelicals need to adjust. Rob Schenck tells The Boston Globe: “If it’s inevitable that this scientific evidence is coming, we have to be prepared with a loving response. If we don’t have one, [evangelicals] won’t have any credibility.” Nevertheless, he maintains that evangelicals should oppose all homosexual behavior.
“Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood.” This was one of the many pro-gay statements made over the years by Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s widow, who died in January. Keith Boykin of the National Black Justice Coalition said: “She was one of the few people who got it – that racism, sexism and homophobia are discrimination – like few others did. [Ministers] would do well to call her name and recall her words.”
Mindful of the contributions of gay people such as Bayard Rustin, who organized the 1963 March on Washington, King said: “Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery, Selma … and many other campaigns of the civil rights movement. … Many of these courageous men and women were fighting for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for their own, and I salute their contributions.” In 1998 she said: “I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.”
When, upon her death, gay rights leaders noted their appreciation for her long support, the Religious Right balked. Lee Duigon of Concerned Women for America, in evident ignorance, decried such a “rider to [King’s] death,” complaining: “Neither Dr. nor Mrs. King is in a position to object to [this] crass opportunism.”
Not following in her mother’s footsteps on GLBT issues, Rev. Bernice King marches in antigay crusades. Her cousin, Alveda King, speaks at rallies against gay rights legislation.
Jasmyn Cannick, a board member of the National Black Justice Coalition says “many blacks consider homosexuality the mother of all sins.” A Pew Research Poll found, for example, that blacks oppose gay marriage by roughly 2-to-1. Recently, the NBJC held a summit for black ministers in Atlanta where Kenneth L. Samuel said that, two years ago, he began to preach forcefully on the acceptance of gay men and lesbians to his mostly African-American congregation at Victory Church. A thousand of his 5,000 members left in protest. Their departure was hard on the church finances and morale and he surmised that smaller churches would have an even harder time with such a revolt. The meeting was hosted by First Iconium Church pastor Timothy McDonald. He said he’d gotten some angry responses but: “I think Jesus took some unpopular stances, too.”
The Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians joined with Feminists for Life, Democrats for Life and other non-traditional pro-life groups at the annual March for Life in Washington. PLAGAL’s motto is “Human rights start when human life begins.”
Groups as diverse as the Christian Educators Association International and The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network are coming together for dialogue to find common ground for a framework to deal with discussions of sexual orientation in schools. They are attempting to “think outside the box of ‘us vs. them’ politics” and “listen to all sides.” The effort is spearheaded by the First Amendment Center.
Cliff Richard, veteran British pop singer and a favorite at evangelical Christian venues, says that churches need to “learn to deal” with gay people. Speaking on Britain’s Sky News, Richard noted: “Slavery was an in-thing at one time. We were told to deal with it. And we’ve dealt with it. And we’ve got to deal with every aspect of life. …There are gay people in this world. Some of them are very talented. Some of them could be great priests.” Since the still boyish Richard, at 65, has remained single, rumors have circulated about his sexuality. In 1996, he told London’s Daily Mail: “I’m aware of the rumours, but I am not gay.”
Dove Award-winning gospel singer and songwriter Kirk Talley’s latest CD presents his new song, “Judge Not.” Here’s the third of the song’s three scenes of people in distress: “They were obviously a couple / They had seen their share of trouble / So they up and moved away to start again / On an Interstate to Dallas / They prayed: Father, please allow us / To find some decent, non-judgmental friends / But again amidst the stares and snickers / Though they tried to be the bigger / Condemnation broke their will in two / So one night they went out driving / So sick and tired of just surviving / The morning headlines read: Suicide times two.”
At the end of each verse, Talley sings these poignant words: “Judge not, lest ye be judged / Forgive not, if you’ll never need forgiveness / Don’t criticize what you don’t understand / Jesus wrote a message in the sand / Judge not.” The CD is titled “Hymns of Hope.” Allison Speer lends her voice in a duet (“I’d Rather Have Jesus”) and there are seven tracks by Anthony Burger, the distinguished pianist who, at only 44, collapsed and died during a concert on a Gaither Homecoming cruise in the Caribbean in February. He’d been scheduled to rejoin Talley for another gospel concert cruise in April.
Talley was a pallbearer at his good friend’s funeral at Christ Church in Nashville and sang at the family’s service and the burial later in the week. Talley said it was “an honor to carry Anthony in and out of the sanctuary. He has carried me many a mile … over many dark days.”
After news of blackmail over his same-sex attraction hit the headlines in December 2003, Talley was abandoned by many of his associates in gospel music, but Burger stuck by him, encouraging him and performing with him.
Information on their “Hymns of Hope” CD is at www.kirktalley.com.
Openly lesbian comic Lily Tomlin introduced her good friend Dottie Rambo when this veteran gospel singer was inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in February. The Gaither Homecoming magazine quotes Tomlin’s saying: “Dottie sang at my mother’s funeral in July. She came and did a blessing while my mom was still living. … She and my mom prayed together. … Dottie has just been a real blessing in our lives.” Earlier the same week, Rambo sang at the dedication of the Tomlin Triage Center at Nashville’s St. Thomas Hospital. Her e-mail newsletter to “Dottie’s Dearest” reports that that service included “a wonderful invitation to Christ for all those in attendance.”
Dolly Parton, who has sung duets with Dottie Rambo and other gospel artists, wrote the Oscar nominated song, “Travelin’ Thru,” for “Transamerica,” a movie about a male-to-female transgender person. She sang it at the 78th Annual Academy Awards show: “Oh sweet Jesus,” she implored, “keep me ever close to you / As I’m stumblin’, tumblin’, wonderin’, as I’m travelin’ thru.”
She says: “Having a big gay following, I get hate mail and threats. Some people are blind or ignorant.” She recalls that, with her Pentecostal preacher grandfather, “it was a sin to even pluck your eyebrows.”
Marsha Stevens, who, at 16, composed a veritable anthem of the Jesus People movement, “For Those Tears I Died,” was ousted from gospel music circles when she “came out” as a lesbian. Now, after many years in Christian music ministry to gay men and lesbians, the title of her latest CD is “You Called Us Good.” In the title song, she sings: “Others see the outside but You know us by heart.” In a song about reaching a world of outcasts in need, she sings: “The miracle that’s needed is Christ in me.” On starting over, she sings: “the richest soil is full of death” and on painful pasts, she sings: “Jesus saw, Jesus knew, and Jesus wept.” Her life partner, Cindy, adds her own testimony to the spoken intervals on this “live” concert recording. The CD, enhanced with multimedia content, is available through www.BalmMinistries.com
David G. Myers of Hope College has responded to Robert Gagnon’s hostile review of his book, What God has Joined Together? A Christian Case for Gay Marriage. Both Gagnon’s review and Myers’ response were published in the Reformed Church in America’s Western Theological Seminary Reformed Review (Autumn 2005).
Myers’ book is 44,132 words long; Gagnon’s review is 58,466 words long! Gagnon, who teaches at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, has made something of a career in rambling antigay rhetoric, including a 500-page book that Ralph Blair reviewed in 2002. (www.ecinc.org/Reviews/rvFall_2002.htm)
Myers says that, though he once held a negative view of homosexuality, “my reading of psychological science, my revisiting of the biblical texts, and my engagement with real people’s life stories have now drawn me to a different place.” He reminds readers that the American Psychological Association recognizes that sexual orientation cannot be understood apart from “biology, including genetic or inborn hormonal factors,” it is not a choice, and it “is not changeable,” as, he notes, the national psychiatric, pediatric, and social work associations have all concurred. He suggests that readers who may agree with Gagnon consult the works of Gagnon’s professional peers such as Jack Rogers, Walter Wink and other theological and biblical scholars.
Myers notes the work of fellow social psychologists to the effect that we tend to find rationalizations to justify our gut-level disgust and suggests that this may help to explain the church’s current preoccupation with an antigay agenda.
Myers will be a keynoter at both of EC’s 2006 summer conferences. More information on his work is at www.davidmyers.org.
Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer weighs in on gay marriage and polygamy. This Washington Post columnist, trained in psychiatry, says: “I’m not one of those who see gay marriage or polygamy as a threat to, or assault on, traditional marriage. The assault came from within. Marriage has needed no help in managing its own long, slow suicide, thank you. Astronomical rates of divorce and of single parenthood (the deliberate creation of fatherless families) existed before there was a single gay marriage or any talk of sanctioning polygamy.” He says he’s come to “a studied ambivalence” on gay marriage: “I think it is a mistake for society to make this ultimate declaration of indifference between gay and straight life, if only for reasons of pedagogy. On the other hand, I have gay friends and feel the pain of their inability to have the same level of social approbation and confirmation of their relationship with a loved one that I’m not about to go to anyone’s barricade to deny them that.”
Americans’ strongest opposition to gay marriage has fallen from 42 to 28 percent since 2004. This is a finding of the Pew Research Center. There has been a steep drop in opposition among Republicans and senior citizens. Overall, 51 percent of Americans oppose gay marriage but in 2004, that figure was 63 percent. In sum: “Most Americans still oppose gay marriage,” says Pew Research director Andrew Kohut, “but the levels of opposition are down and the number of strong opponents are down.”
Is James Dobson of Focus on the Family too pro-gay? A competing Right-wing organization, Family Research Council, claims he is. FRC’s Paul Cameron faults him for endorsing a measure on the Colorado ballot that would extend hospital visitation, property transfer, and medical decision making to same-sex couples and other unmarried couples.
A decade ago, gay author Bruce Bawer, an Episcopalian, wrote Stealing Jesus, a critique of fundamentalist and evangelical Christianity. He then moved to Europe. Now he’s written While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West from Within. He’s rethought some of his assumptions. “Given what I’d seen and heard of evangelical Christianity in America, I hadn’t been terribly upset that Christian belief in Western Europe had declined precipitously since World War II and that the churches were now almost empty. But,” he says, “I was beginning to see that when Christian faith had departed, it had taken with it a sense of ultimate meaning and purpose – and left the Continent vulnerable to conquest by people with deeper faith and stronger convictions.”
America’s largest Catholic university now offers an academic minor in gay studies. The director of DePaul University’s LGBTQ Studies says that the school has offered gay studies courses for a decade but now students can minor in the studies.
“I am, every day of the week, an Irish lesbian, so I can’t take part.” That’s what New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said in explaining her refusal to march in this year’s Fifth Avenue St. Patrick’s Day Parade that, for the past 16 years, has refused to allow gay organizations to march. The U. S. Supreme Court ruled that parade organizers can assemble with whomever they choose. That ruling allows Gay Pride parades to exclude “ex-gay” groups.
The Boston Archdiocese has stopped offering adoption services to avoid having to place children with homosexuals. In the past 20 years, Boston Catholic Charities had placed 720 children, including 13 children in homosexual households.
“Our Catholic Church Has a Testosterone Deficiency.” That’s a typical headline in full-page ads for New Oxford Review, “an orthodox Catholic monthly” put out by former Anglicans. The publication regularly blames “all the homosexuals in the priesthood,” the “fey priests,” the “Lavender Mafia” for turning “a patriarchal Church” into a “feminized …dialoguing [instead of arguing – as “real men” do], touchy-feely, gutless, anemic, and wimpy” perversion of what it’s said it once was. It’s said that the church is “riddled” with homosexuals because John Paul II “summarily dismissed” all accusations about gay priests as the “standard practice of the Communist government in his native Poland.” These ads warn that “if you’re a bozo or a sissy” you should not subscribe to the monthly: “Doing so will give you a hissy fit.”
AND FINALLY:
In a goodwill gesture, Muslims and gays played a soccer match in Amsterdam in March. The Muslim team won the game, 4-0. Soccer, anyone? BJU? ORU? Liberty?