“Truth in Love” was the theme of a 1998 ex-gay ad campaign sponsored by Exodus International and Focus on the Family, which first brought the existence of Exodus’ alleged “ex-gays” to widespread public attention.
But in a statement due next week, evangelicals blast Focus and other culture-war organizations for practicing “truth without love.”
The Associated Press reports via CNN:
The statement, called “An Evangelical Manifesto,” condemns Christians on the right and left for using faith to express political views without regard to the truth of the Bible, according to a draft of the document obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
“That way faith loses its independence, Christians become ‘useful idiots’ for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology,” according to the draft.
The declaration, scheduled to be released Wednesday in Washington, encourages Christians to be politically engaged and uphold teachings such as traditional marriage. But the drafters say evangelicals have often expressed “truth without love,” helping create a backlash against religion during a “generation of culture warring.”
Phil Burress, longtime board member of Exodus International, dismissed the manifesto without addressing its concerns, by asserting a majority-rules argument. According to AP:
Tags: culture war, evangelicals, Exodus, Focus on the FamilyRichard Land, head of the public policy arm for the Southern Baptist Convention, said through a spokeswoman that he has not seen the document and was not asked to sign it.
James Dobson, the influential founder of Focus on the Family, a Christian group in Colorado Springs, Colorado, did not sign the document, said Gary Schneeberger, a Dobson spokesman. Schneeberger would not say whether Dobson had read the manifesto or had been asked to sign on.
Phil Burress, an Ohio activist who networks with national evangelical leaders, said that if high-profile evangelical leaders such as Dobson and Land don’t support the document, “it’s like throwing a pebble in the ocean” and will carry no weight.
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Yikes. So, “God Hates Fags” goes through the Truth-in-Love Translator and comes out, “God despises homosexuality, but I love you in Christ and will condescend to allow you to attend my church as long as you live a long and lonely life lacking any sort of true intimacy, or dedicate yourself to a loveless ’straight marriage’ which destroys both you and your spouse and leaves your children victims of your eminently-predictable divorce…”
I’d almost rather listen to “God Hates Fags.” At least it’s over quicker and I can get on with my life, and my relationship to my God, who does not hate fags in the slightest, but rather, celebrates our being and our love and our strength and our commitment.
Thanks for keeping us up-to-date, Wayne. I love your site.
Comment by Lorian — May 3, 2008 @ 12:19 am
“…and the Christian faith becomes an ideology.”
Religion an ideology? No way.
You know, one would think people might be turned off by religion because of all the nonsense about humans being created by an ancient Hebrew storm god and being kicked out of a mythical paradise after taking magical fruit from a talking snake; or Yahweh ordering the deaths of thousands of people, including all male homosexuals; or women being the property of men; or talking donkeys and people walking around on water and rising from the grave; or supposedly perfect Jesus not even opposing slavery; or the constant opposition to science and labeling freethinkers as “heretics”; or all the hundreds of years Christians have been killing Jews and other groups, and each other, in the name of their mythology; or the fact that Christianity is so widespread largely because European Christians invaded other countries and continents, massacred most of the indigenous people there and forced the rest into Christian schools; or the fact that anyone who doesn’t share their beliefs is threatened with eternal damnation in a mythical underworld of burning pain and torture…
But apparently it’s just contemporary U.S. politics that’s doing it.
Uh huh.
Comment by Eshto — May 3, 2008 @ 2:49 pm
Phil Burress [”longtime board member of Exodus International”], an Ohio activist who networks with national evangelical leaders, said that if high-profile evangelical leaders such as Dobson and Land don’t support the document, “it’s like throwing a pebble in the ocean” and will carry no weight.
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Am I to understand that the message of Phil Burress is that without the support of “high-profile evangelical leaders,” one should not even consider sending a message?
Comment by Emproph — May 4, 2008 @ 5:49 am