in the 1960’s, the church led on civil rights. fifty years later, an American Taliban is the final roadblock to marriage equality
In the wake of President Barack Obama’s endorsement of equal marriage rights for same sex couples, communities traditionally opposed to LGBT equality have responded in a variety of ways. The African-American community (seems) to be rapidly evolving on the issue, and while no one expected conservative Christianity’s response to be positive, the line coming from fundamentalist Christians is disturbing, ugly, and very likely to incite violence. From Maryland pastor Dennis Leatherman:
Kill them all. Right? I will be very honest with you. My flesh kind of likes that idea...Kansas pastor Curtis Knapp:
"They should be put to death -- that's what happened in Israel," Knapp proclaims. "That's why homosexuality wouldn't have grown in Israel."And the chart topper from North Carolina’s Charles Worley:
"Do the same thing for the queers and the homosexuals and have that fence electrified so they can't get out...and you know what, in a few years, they'll die out...do you know why? They can't reproduce!"It’s easy to dismiss extreme language like this as “exceptions to the rule”, mainly because to many of us, this type of language seems so incredibly foreign that it’s hard to believe there is someone out there who literally wants to see LGBTQ Americans herded into concentration camps and being left to die.
The church’s leadership in the African-American civil rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s has been well documented, all the way up to Rev. Martin Luther King. While it’s easy to disregard extremist language from Christian theocrats as the “exception to the rule”, at what point do we draw the line between “exception” and “rule”? Is it when the cheering of the death and damnation of LGBTQ Americans switches from pulpit to congregation?
The congregation in the church, which has been identified as the Apostolic Truth Tabernacle Church in Greensburg, Ind., gives a standing ovation after the child sings, "I know the Bible’s right, somebody’s wrong...ain't no homos gonna make it to heaven."The obsession, venom, and hate coming from the “American Taliban” (aka fundamentalist Christianity) towards the LGBTQ people of America is so dramatically un-Christlike that it would be a challenge to find anything “Christian” about the far right voices that seem to be drowning out those who preach a message of tolerance, indeed, not just “A” message of tolerance, but the message of tolerance that Jesus himself preached in the Bible.
Look, there is a line between being against marriage equality and promoting or quietly assenting to such disgusting rhetoric (and violence) against LGBT Americans. If you truly believe, in your heart, that your Christianity prevents you from supporting full civil marriage rights for all Americans, then while you may be extremely wrong, you at least have a consistent, non-violent, non-incideniary leg to stand on. I challenge those that I grew up with in the church, and Christians who believe in the message of tolerance, redemption, and love, to stand up and shout down the bigotry of a few that seems to have engulfed mainstream Christianity in the wake of the marriage equality controversy. Just remember: How will your grandchildren judge you in 40 years?
