Southern Baptist Seminary president and a leader of the Religious Right, R. Albert Mohler, grants that scientific research “points to some level of biological causation” for homosexuality. Such conclusions do not sit well on the Religious Right, where homosexuality is said to be a sin that people choose, and so he has come under attack from cohorts for making this concession.
In his March 2 blog, Mohler writes: “We sin against homosexuals by insisting that sexual temptation and attraction are predominately chosen [and] we must insist at all times that all persons – whether identified as heterosexual, homosexual, lesbian, transsexual, transgendered, bisexual, or whatever – are equally made in the image of God. …Nevertheless, we are absolutely responsible for what we do with sinful temptations, whatever our so-called sexual orientation.” Mohler argues that, it might someday become possible to detect homosexual markers in utero, and that “we must fight against the idea of aborting fetuses or human embryos identified as homosexual in orientation.” While too credulous of talk of so-called “gay sheep” and a “gay gene”, he shows an appreciation for the practical implications of a genetic component to sexual orientation: “The discovery of a biological basis for homosexuality would be of great pastoral significance, allowing for a greater understanding of why certain persons struggle with these particular sexual temptations.
A gay New York City psychiatrist, Jack Drescher, gives Mohler credit for countering the Religious Right’s party line on etiology. He told the Chicago Tribune: “This represents a major shift. This is a man who actually has an open mind, who is struggling to reconcile his religious beliefs with facts that contradict it.”
Only 3 of “The 50 Most Influential Christians in America” are known primarily for their virulent antigay rhetoric. They are James C. Dobson (in 5th place), D. James Kennedy (at 37th place) and Jerry Falwell (at 40th place). Other virulent antigay leaders of the Religious Right, such as Pat Robertson, Lou Sheldon, Tony Perkins, Donald Wildmon, and Tim and Beverly LaHaye, did not make the list. More moderate but no less antigay Christians such as Chuck Colson, Franklin Graham and Richard Land were included. Topping the list of the fifty most influential Christians were Joel Osteen, Billy Graham and Bill Hybels. Others on the list included T. D. Jakes, Leonard Sweet, Robert H. Schuller, Rick Warren, Rob Bell, Erwin Raphael McManus, Luis Palau, Joni Eareckson Tada, Max Lucado, George Barna and George W. Bush. The list was compiled from suggestions of over 200,000 readers of The Church Report, a conservative Christian publication and Web site.
Chuck Smith, Jr. and Matt Whitlock address “Are There Gay Christians?” in their book, Frequently Avoided Questions. In 1975, Smith, now in his 50s, started the Capo Beach branch of the Calvary Chapel “Jesus People” movement, begun by his father in the ‘60s. Whitlock, in his 20s, works with Youth With A Mission and teaches at the University of the Nations in Hawaii. After recalling the suicide of a friend, a generous-hearted youth pastor who could not cope with his own homosexuality, Whitlock wonders: “How prepared are we to serve gays and their adopted children?” He asks: “Would we meet them at the door and say, ‘First of all, you must abandon your gay orientation before you can enter’”? Smith asks readers to imagine their own child’s having to deal with homosexual orientation and he observes: “In conservative churches, these young people felt trapped between a sexual orientation they had not chosen and could not control and an unyielding doctrine and subculture that viewed their ‘condition’ as evil. Sadly, there are many stories of young men, like Matt’s friend, who took their lives because they could not see any hope for people like them.” Smith concludes that “the first concern is not whether we have the one right answer but how well we represent Jesus Christ in our attitude, actions, and treatment of other human beings, regardless of sexual orientation.”
The book is published by Baker Books and endorsed by Richard J. Mouw, president of Fuller Seminary and Leonard Sweet of George Fox University, among others.
Evangelical Bible scholar Tom Hanks reports: “Key lesbian/gay evangelical pastors and leaders [have] come out in the Southern Cone.” Writing from Buenos Aires, the founder of Other Sheep, a ministry with sexual minorities, Hanks mentions a Peruvian pastor of a large Southern Baptist church in Buenos Aires, another man who, for many years, directed Baptist theological education in Argentina, and an elderly, well known pastor from the province of Mendoza. Additionally, two women on the staff of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, each of whom were responsible for some ten university groups in Chile and Paraguay, fell in love and had their union blessed at a service in Buenos Aires in August.
“I do not think that the issue of homosexuality can be determined by any one verse of Scripture.” That’s the reply theologian Stanley Hauerwas gave to World magazine’s Marvin Olasky’s suggestion that Hauerwas relativized Scripture on homosexuality. Olasky’s interview with the Duke University Divinity School professor began by noting a conservative theologian’s saying that “without his constant critique of everything American, he would be in danger of looking like just another evangelical theologian.” Olasky grants that “the larger academic audience is hearing something about Christ, and apart from Hauerwas it’s unlikely that they would. Students who have seen ‘personal peace and affluence’ (to use Francis Schaeffer’s expression) placed ahead of Christ in their churches often respond favorably to Hauerwas’ call.” Olasky commends Hauerwas’s opposition to abortion: “His response to a defender of fetal tissue experimentation is hard to top: ‘What if it were discovered that fetal tissue were a delicacy. Could you eat it?’” The interview is in the March 17th issue of World.
Jay Bakker, son of Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker, “has come out as a gay-friendly, punk-rocking, Jesus-loving man,” as an interviewer puts it in the gay New York Blade. Bakker has a new church in Brooklyn, New York. It’s called “Revolution”. But, he says: “We’ve lost most of our support since I came out as a gay –affirming pastor.” Still, he thinks there are probably many evangelicals who are “supportive of the gay community. But unfortunately it’s the mean ones who yell the loudest.”
Spring Arbor University has fired John Nemecek – now Julie Marie Nemecek – a longtime professor and dean who has begun to wear a wig and women’s clothing in keeping with his transgender transition. Administrators of Spring Arbor, a Free Methodist institution in Michigan, object: “We expect our faculty to model Christian character.” Nemecek, 55, is an ordained Baptist minister and is married. The couple is committed to remain married so there will be no sex-change operation.
The first U.S. serviceman to be injured in the Iraq war has come out as gay. Retired Marine Staff Sgt. Erik Alva, who lost his right leg when he stepped on a landmine, spent months in rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Hospital. President Bush, the First Lady and Donald Rumsfeld visited him in the hospital.
This Purple Heart Marine came out as gay during Congressional hearings on a proposed repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy signed by former President Clinton 14 years ago. Almost 10,000 young men and women have been kicked out of the armed services for breaching “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. The government estimates that the cost to recruit and train replacements for service members separated under the ban has reached almost $200 million.
Alva recalls that a drinking buddy mocked him for not ogling women in a bar: “Dude, what’s the matter? Are you gay or something?” Having had a couple of drinks, he shot back in disgust: “As a matter of fact, I am.” The guy then gossiped about Alva’s acknowledgment but the typical response from fellow military personnel was: “So what’s your point? He’s still Eric.”
Rep. Martin T. Meehan (D) is introducing legislation to repeal the policy. One of his supporters, Rep. Christopher Shays (R) says: “I hope we get beyond this foolish policy, and one that I think is cruel.”
Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs when “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was first enacted now declares he’s against the policy. In a New York Times Op-Ed piece on January 2, he wrote: Given “the evidence that has emerged over the last 14 years …I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces.” He said that, after interviewing gay soldiers and marines with battlefield experience, he had concluded: “We must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.” He noted that a new Zogby poll of more than 500 service members returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, found that three quarters of them said they were comfortable interacting with gay people. He also noted that “24 foreign nations, including Israel, Britain and other allies in the fight against terrorism, let gays serve openly, with none reporting morale or recruitment problems.”
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, says he regrets having called homosexuality “immoral” but that that is his personal opinion. His statement of regret followed a strong rebuke from Sen. John Warner (R) of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
When ABC asked Hillary Rodham Clinton for comment on the general’s saying that homosexuality is immoral, she said: “Well, I’m going to leave that to others to conclude.” Later, her spokesperson said that the senator disagreed with the general’s remark. When Barack Obama was asked the same question, he sidestepped the issue. Later, his spokesperson said that the senator disagreed with the general’s remark. Joe Solmonese, the Human Rights Campaign head, said he wasn’t satisfied and that the comments of both of these rivals for the Democrats’ presidential nomination require clarification.
Though some 47 percent of Americans in the 18-25 year old age range support same-sex marriage rights, a Pew Research poll also finds that these younger Americans are much less likely to vote than their elders – who are less likely to support same-sex marriage rights.
Mary Cheney made it clear: “This is a baby. This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate by people on either side of an issue. It is my child.” The Vice President’s daughter was pointing to her middle as she made these statements to students at Barnard College in New York City in January. She said she agreed with the researchers who protest that James Dobson of Focus on the Family twisted their research for his own political agenda. Said Cheney: “Every piece of remotely responsible research that has been done in the last 20 years on this issue has shown there is no difference between children who are raised by same-sex parents and children who are raised by opposite-sex parents,” adding: “What matters is that children are being raised in a stable, loving environment.” Both antigay and progay lobbies have been politicizing her pregnancy.
In his Time magazine essay, “Two Mommies is One Too Many”, James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family stated: “the majority of more than 30 years of social-science evidence indicates that children do best on every measure of well-being when raised by their married mother and father.” (December 12, 2006) Dobson went on to back this up by citing two researchers who, when the piece was published, strongly objected, saying that he’d misused their research for his own purposes. Social psychologist Carol Gilligan said she was “mortified” to see his distortions of her findings. Kyle Pruett of Yale Medical School said Dobson had “cherry-picked” his work. He noted: “This practice is condemned in real science.” Dobson’s position against same-sex parenting is countered by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Association of Social Workers, all of which have issued statements in support of same-sex parenting.
Books & Culture, published by Christianity Today, carries sociologist Christian Smith’s “Evangelicals Behaving Badly with Statistics”. (January/February 2007). He writes: “American evangelicals, who profess to be committed to Truth, are among the worst abusers of simple descriptive statistics, which claim to represent the truth about reality, of any group I have ever seen. At stake in this misuse are evangelicals’ own integrity, credibility with outsiders, and effectiveness in the world. It is an issue worth making a fuss over. And so I write.” Smith offers examples of this bad behavior and observes: “Either statistically reckless evangelicals are somewhat aware that they are playing fast and loose with numbers. Or they are not, they simply do not know better. Either is unacceptable.” He concludes: “The real question is not whether evangelicals can clean up their statistical act. The deeper question is whether American evangelicals can learn to live without the alarmism that is so comfortably familiar to them.”
Church growth coach Steve Sjogren has alerted his readers to dishonest reports of some of the so-called “Fastest Growing Churches in the U.S.”. He notes: “As it happens, of the top 10 fastest growing churches this year, I have been involved in coaching projects with three of them in light of their lack of growth during calendar year 2006. … Yet sadly, in each of these three cases the official report offered was they grew by 2,500. One prominent church lost something close to 2,000 in ’06, yet they reported they grew by over 2,500. Why did they do this? Because they always report that they grow. That’s simply what is expected.”
This dishonesty is reminiscent of what former “ex-gay” leaders have said about the glowing numbers of “successes” that “ex-gay” and “reparative therapy” groups claim. The former leaders say that most people who go to such programs don’t last more than a few days or a few weeks, and drop out in disgust, the “ex-gay” publicity keeps touting that many thousands are being “changed”.
“He is completely heterosexual!” After three weeks of “counseling”, Tim Ralph, a firefighter/preacher in rural Colorado and one Ted Haggard’s “counselors” made this claim about the fallen minister’s progress. Erwin Raphael McManus, lead pastor of the Mosaic congregation of Jesus’ followers in Los Angeles observed: “The world knows he is lying. Why don’t we?” Even some “ex-gay” proponents found the announcement to be a bit much. So Rob Brendle, associate pastor of the church where Haggard was pastor, tried to clarify. The announcement, he said, was meant merely to affirm that Haggard was choosing to remain married to his wife.
New Life Church, formerly Ted Haggard’s church, has dismissed 44 of its 350 employees because of a sharp drop in donations since Haggard resigned as senior minister. Donations in the past four months have fallen to $4.9 million, compared with $5.3 million in the same period last year. Attendance is down about 15 percent.
“Ted Haggard struggled with homosexuality and God knew this for decades” and yet “God still blessed him.” In the March issue of the Pentecostal magazine, Charisma, a reader writes to ask the editors to explain this in the light of church teaching that “homosexuals are an abomination.”. This anonymous reader from Albuquerque asks: “How do you explain all the blessings God gave to this man who struggled with this sin?” The editors print no explanation.
Focus on the Family & Traditional Family Values Coalition: “Heads up!” Flawed Families of the Bible is a new book from evangelical publisher Brazos Press. It’s written by husband and wife team David E. Garland and Diana R. Garland. They are, respectively, professor of Christian Scriptures at Baylor University (and a Christianity Today Book Award Winner in 2004) and the dean of the Baylor University School of Social Work and founding director of the Baylor Center for Family and Community Ministries. Brazos states: “Take a close look at family life in the Old Testament and you will find the same dysfunctions that plague families today – betrayal, jealousy, physical and emotional violence, infidelity, and mean-spiritedness.”
Abbe Pierre, a Roman Catholic priest who repeatedly ranked among France’s most beloved public figures, has died at age 94. Known by the code name he used during the French Resistance in World War II, he was an advocate for the homeless since the 1950s and, more recently, a supporter of gay people and an advocate for same-sex marriage.
Shannon Hickey, at 11 years old, founded Mychal’s Message, an outreach to the homeless. It was named for Father Mychal Judge, the New York City Fire Department chaplain who was killed in the 9/11 attack at the World Trade Center. Fr. Judge was a close friend of the Hickey family ever since Shannon had a liver transplant when she was only seven months old. In honor of his spiritual support, she began to collect and distribute clothes for the homeless. In January, First Lady Barbara Bush honored Shannon as her special guest at the State of the Union Address. Fr. Judge’s memory has been fraught with controversy over his support for his fellow gay folk.
The U. S. State Department is sending Scott Oak, a gay liaison officer for the Missoula, Montana police department, to Afghanistan to train the Afghan National Police force. His work will cover “cultural diversity” issues and matters of human rights in police operations.
Rep. Roy Cohee, (Rep) Speaker of the House in Wyoming, cast the tie-breaking vote that shot down a bill that would have barred Wyoming’s recognizing marriages of same-sex couples from other states. Another Republican in the House, Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, made an impassioned speech in favor of gay equality and said: “This is the civil rights struggle of my generation.” Wyoming already disallows marriage for the state’s same-sex couples.
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reports that 41 percent of white evangelicals say they are unhappy that the Democrats won the midterm election. The survey also found that 41 percent of white evangelicals say they are happy that the Democrats won.
AND FINALLY:
Mike Jones, the gay prostitute “who [as it was put] exposed the hypocrisy of Rev. Ted Haggard”, drew an enthusiastic crowd as the “featured guest” at the Cocktail Reception to “kick-off” The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s 2007 Leadership Awards in New York City in January.