It was bound to happen sometime: a major article suggesting that evangelicals are changing their opinion at marriage equality. The source is Politico, and the story’s theme is that “increasingly, even evangelical Christians, long known for doctrinally condemning homosexuality, are embracing gay people, too.”
Sort of.
The story marshals the available evidence to support its case. There’s the inspiring work of Matthew Vines, who is holding boot camps to help other Christians understand the importance of accepting LGBT people. There’s James Brownson, an evangelical scholar whose book Bible, Gender, Sexuality: Reframing the Church’s Debate on Same-Sex Relationships concludes that people in committed same-sex relationships can be living the Bible’s word.
But there’s also a lot of rhetoric from evangelical leaders who are throwing in the towel in the face of endless defeat, particularly on marriage equality. The story contrasts some of the most hateful rhetoric of ten years ago with the more resigned language of today. Yes, in 2004 James Dobson of Focus on the Family did say that evangelicals, “could not stand idly by while the radical gay agenda was forced down their throats.”
How about we take this to the next level?
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In 2014, Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association said that “gay activists are leeches.”
And that’s the problem. There’s still plenty of hateful rhetoric to go around. More to the point, at heart, most evangelical leaders have not changed their position. So what if Rick Warren is sorry that he supported Proposition 8? Now he’s urging President Obama to make sure the proposed executive order banning discrimination by federal contractors includes a giant exception that would allow religious organizations to discriminate as they wish.
If that’s an embrace, count us out.
It’s true that the number of evangelicals who support gay marriage is growing. It’s also appalling low. About 27 percent of white evangelicals support marriage equality. Compare that to the majority of Americans who do.
Any movement is for the better, and the story acknowledges that the change may take decades to complete. But let’s not kid ourselves. Evangelical Christians will be the holdouts against LGBT progress, particularly marriage equality. The leaders know that it’s a lost cause. Just because they’ve come to terms with losing, doesn’t mean that they’ve come to terms with us.
Dakotahgeo
I wouldn’t trust these right wing evangelical turds if they kissed my behind with lipstick on. The Evangelicals that are changing their minds need a new track record… we WILL be watching and listening!
Little-Kiwi
Not really. Evangelicals tend to have a lots of children, and college tuitions and weddings are expensive. Funerals are cheaper. Many an evangelical will choose instead to drive their gay kids to suicide.
After all, that’s exactly what Rick Warren did.
Ron Jackson
Our worst enemies are evangelicals with lots of money to waste; people like the nutjobs that run Hobby Lobby.
Desert Boy
I suppose the opinions of Evangelicals matter to some but, in all honesty, I don’t give a rat’s ass what they think. Ditto Pope Francis or any other faith.
DuMaurier
This discussion fuzzes over the most important distinction: that is, between a church’s internal doctrines (which are no concern of mine), and its public stance and political efforts on matters of law. The two don’t always line up together–Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example, are doctrinally anti-gay but don’t participate in anti-gay political causes (or any other politics, for that matter)
Fem Repellent
@Dakotahgeo: No one wants to kiss your hairy, wrinkly, stretch marked butt.
MCHG
@Little-Kiwi: enough of this shit. You know how fucking disrespectful that is. There is absolutely zero evidence mathew warren was gay, or that he had problems with his father. Mathew suffered from a mental illness, most likely depression or schizophrenia. Every person who commits suicide is not gay. Stop slandering the dead you fucking creep. Shit like this doesnt help the cause.
DarkZephyr
@MCHG: “Every person who commits suicide is not gay.” Huh? So no gay person has ever committed suicide because EVERY person who does is not gay? Please explain.
Stache99
@MCHG: It’s not slander. Just good speculation.
http://bbsnews.net/was-rick-warrens-son-matthew-gay/
MCHG
@DarkZephyr: stop putting words in my mouth. Theres zero evidence rick warrens son was gay. People claim that because he committed suicide that it must’ve been because he was dealing with being gay. People kill themselves for all sorts of reasons, like having their judgement clouded by a mental disorder. Matthews suicide is not evidence that he was gay. Its not too hard to understand.
MCHG
@Stache99: good speculation? You think its good to speculate that a father drove his son to suicide because he was living a double life without any fucking evidence?
Stache99
@MCHG: With a angry zealot POS bigot like Rick Warren of coarse that played a part. Kids that grow up in good healthy accepting households rarely commit suicide.
Merv
If you want to get the pulse of what everyday Christians think just look at the YouTube comments when there is a viral video relating to gay people. There is always an overwhelming and sustained volume of the vilest imaginable anti-gay comments from Christians, and few if any pro-gay comments from Christians. You may laugh at using YouTube comments as a metric, but it’s one of the few reliable measures of intensity of belief. Pro-gay Christians, if they exist, just don’t care enough to make their presence known.
Black Pegasus
I really don’t have two f@cks to give concerning what religious nut jobs think of same sex marriage. These people believe in talking snakes that supposedly lived in a tree at a garden called “Eden”. That’s just one of many many ridiculous fables these people model their lives behind. Such idiotic hate mongers will never have my respect.
Queer4Life
If this doesn’t tell you what the agenda is then nothing will. “Homosexuality is okay as long as it looks like hetero-normativite relationships.”
Inculturation: Acceptance as the price of your soul.
Xzamilloh
@MCHG: Get off your high horse. It’s the dead… nothing you say can hurt them NOW, you moron. I wish people would wait to slander me or talk shit AFTER I’m dead than while I’m still here… the damage was done while Matt Warren was still alive.
Xzamilloh
@DarkZephyr: I’m not even on the guy’s side, and that is clearly not what he said or even remotely implied
DarkZephyr
@MCHG: I didn’t put words in your mouth, I quoted you directly. You said: “Every person who commits suicide is not gay.” If you didn’t mean it, why did you say it? Look carefully at your own words.
Please explain yourself. Do you deny that gay teens and youths have often been bullied into suicide by homophobic bullies?
DarkZephyr
@Xzamilloh: I quoted him word for word. “Every person who commits suicide is not gay.” Look back to his post to Kiwi. Perhaps he didn’t MEAN it but if that’s so, why did he say it?
RevJames
@Little-Kiwi: You win. Hands down…you win.
Goforit
@DarkZephyr: Now now children…. Darkephyr can you please just admit that you misinterpreted MCHG’s comment? Yes, it would have been more accurate if he had said “NOT EVERY” instead of every. But it is clear what he meant. Can we not stop having these childish little bitch fests amongst each other and concentrate on our true enemies?
Queer4Life
@Goforit: Thanks for the sanity check Goforit. I really like some of what Queerty produces but these little nitpicky articles are annoying.
The most important part of this article is completely ignored. The Evangelicals are irrelevant. Let me state that again the Evangelicals are irrelevant. They know they are irrelevant and are desperate to try and be relevant. Part of doing that is by inculturation. “It’s okay to be gay as long as you settle down with ONE person. You give up your culture and adopt 2.3 kids.”.
Things have gotten so much better over the past 15 years, they really have. But part of me is sad because I see queers loosing their identity. Giving up this rich culture we have built up. We are forgetting Stonewall.
Christians, Republicans, Democrats, Voting are all irrelevant. If we win battles in the voting booth what happens when the other guys get in? They undo it and apply worse tyranny. If we want to be who we are, if we want to be left alone to be who we are its about winning the battle in the minds of the everyday person.
Remember Stonewall. Be who you are unapologetically. Do not incultureate. Do not apologize.
DarkZephyr
@Goforit: I didn’t misinterpret it, I knew what he meant, I just found him to be rather insufferable and the grammatical error on top of that really bugged me. 🙂
justSomeGuyFromNJ
Yeah, FUCK Rick Warren.
Ogre Magi
@justSomeGuyFromNJ: Not even with my dog’s dick