Is Texas the last place you’d expect to see religion and homosexuality mix so well? You should be ashamed! Because the Lonestar State isn’t just a God-fearing (secession-wanting) nation, but one that loves the homos so much, they’ve got a budget for outdoor advertising Jesus’ same-sex ways.
On Interstate 30 in North Texas, a handful of billboards confront commuters about their previously assumed conclusions about whether the church has room for LGBTs. Sponsored by some five gay-loving churches to promote WouldJesusDiscriminate.com, the billboards are generating the expected flurry of opposition.
“I cringed. I was disgusted at the same time,” says good Christian lady Christine Lutz, who spotted the billboards on a drive. So she emailed their creators: “I said how dare you take the scriptures and twist it to fit your needs,” she recounts.
But hey, at least they fit in with another clever billboard campaign from a higher power:
MORE: See the other four billboards on the next page.
Fitz
Jesus is my gardener.
Daniel Villarreal
I’ll agree with Naomi and Ruth being as gay as Jonathan and David. but I the first billboard posted in this article and the last two are stretching the verses pretty far.
In the first, a centurion guard asks Jesus to heal a sick servant at his house and in the last two the “gay men” are called “enuchs” which isn’t exactly the same (seeing as most gay men I know have genitals).
I applaud the church for trying to raise discussion, but twisting verse like that seems disingenuous. There are tons of verses for extending love towards you brother/neighbor/everyone. I wonder why they didn’t use those.
Charles Merrill
Go to their site. http://www.wouldjesusdiscriminate.com. Looks like it’s a subtle way to get publicity in order to sell a book by a lesbian MCC pastor, Rev. Love. I don’t approve of this kind of controversial promotion, it’s stirring up the Xtian nutjobs in the bible belt. Hope nothing bad happens, like MCC churches torched.
rudy
@Charles Merrill: Are you suggesting only heterosexual pastors spreading anti-gay bigotry should have access to airwaves, billboards and publishing?
I salute her courage.
Bill Perdue
Religion is the enemy, it’s a scam, and it can be downright silly.
Namaste85
the christian crazies use the bible and twist and skew religious texts to explain and define all kinds of hatred, bigotry, and all sorts of other horrible things that take place in this world. But this lady is interpreting the texts to help stop people from hating gays or to not see them as hell bound inferiors and some of you guys are saying shes wrong for it?? who cares if shes trying to sell books or whatever shes doing, shes using their weapon against them in a manner thats just as arguable as when they try to use the bible against gays so whats the problem?? the bible isnt a big book of facts anyway so if it can be used to the gay advantage for a change then fucking bring it on.
Charles Merrill
@rudy: No, I am not suggesting that. I am an atheist and think all of the bible thumpers are delusional, gay or straight. I am saying there is a potential for causing violence, especially down in Texas.
Josh
@Charles Merrill: Well, if violence comes of it, good. It’ll only mean that those who start the violence dig their cause a deeper grave.
tinkerbell
Religion is brainwashing at the expense of scientific research. Christian nuts.
RainaWeather
I hate those billboards that say “blah blah blah” -God. I mean WTF?! That has to be the most presumptuous thing a Christian can do.
fuzzypony
@Daniel Villarreal: There appears to be evidence that, way back in the day, the term “eunuch” encompassed both castrated men and gay men, for their lack of interest in women. Jesus said specifically that some are born eunuchs, and seeing as being born without testes is an extremely rare condition, there is a good chance that he meant gay men.
The “selective” interpretation here is no worse than what the conservative right is doing, and actually better in some ways because people are looking at the historic context of the documents rather than the modern interpretation. Looking at the dates when certain books of the Bible were written, for example, there is evidence that Jesus was prejudiced and bitter, but you won’t hear anybody telling you that on the street.
This message brought to you by an apathetic agnostic. Don’t know, don’t care. The bible is a historical document, not the word of any god.
bystander
Trying to twist the meaning of some bronze age religion dribble in order to find suppose for gays is completely useless. You’ll never be able to compete with the entrenched traditional interpretations. There’s no way to empirically show which interpretation of the bible is true, because just about front to back its wrong about god damn near everything. We should be encouraging people to actually think for themselves instead of taking something inherently evil (religion) and twisting it to our own uses. Anyone imprint their beliefs on this nonsense, thats what makes it so dangerous.
Aaron K.
Christians have been twisting scriptures to fit their needs for thousands of years to fit there needs. Don’t even go there lady, this is nothing new.
lessthan
You have to understand, the Bible you are familiar with springs from the King James version or other English translations from that time period. Those self-righteous men, reworded the translation to benefit themselves and their worldview. Greek had a lot of words with very different meanings. For example, the word used in the centurion story for the slave, could have meant boy or slave or lover. The website argues that the word was translated as slave, but the context indicates that it should have been lover. A good English example would be “He’s my man.” If we were in a club today, you would assume that he was my lover. If we were in the South during the 1800’s (a mere 200 years ago, rather than the 1800 years) you would assume I meant slave.
Charles Merrill
@lessthan: @Josh: Unfortunately the violence is directed at young gays who can’t defend themselves. Kids like Matthew Sheppard
and Billy Jack Gaither. Ms. Love probably means well, but she is self serving and vanity published, as are most LGBT Pastors. If the march on Washington turns into a Jesus fest, we as a community are doomed to stay in the dark ages. Religion is not progressive and has proven itself to be destructive.
Bubba in TX
I live off of I-30 in Fort Worth (yes, home of the now-infamous Rainbow Lounge), and one of those billboards is only a few miles from my house. When I first saw it, my initial reaction was to imagine how many “thumpers” are going to stroke out when they see them–this is serious blasphemy to these people, folks. Then I wondered how long it will take before someone(s) vandalizes them. You know, in the name of Jesus.
Having said that, I think it’s pretty damn cool to see pro-gay messages. ON A BILLBOARD. IN FORT WORTH, TEXAS. Even if you don’t live around here, think about that one for a minute.
UWSguy
No. 16 Bubba in TX is right. This is a masterful stroke–gay Christians seem to be getting the hang of it finally.
schlukitz
Like the old adage goes “Fight fire with fire”.
MackMichael
@lessthan: You are absolutely correct about the translations, and if anyone has any doubt how the Bible can be translated in order to serve an agenda, take a look at the NIV version that just came out, which now translates to clearly condemn gay people without having a basis to do so within the original translations. Good posting, Lessthan.
To say that most LGBT pastors are self serving and vain is both unfair and an inaccurate generalization. Why is it that those who often sound a call for freedom of expression wish to squelch the freedom of others? There are those in our community who are absolute separatists, and others are people of faith. We will never advance our struggle for equality and liberty by silencing a faction of our brothers and sisters. The only way to successfully assure our rights is to see the commonality that binds us together, respect our diversity, allow all to have a voice, and embrace one another against the forces who would separate us from one another.
schlukitz
@MackMichael:
Co-sign.