Wing Nuts Goe Berserk Over Tebow Cancellation of Appearance at Anti-Gay Church

In the grand scheme of things, Tim Tebow and where he decides to make appearances doesn't add up to a hill of beans.  At least not among rational, sentient individuals in touch with objective reality.  But among the Christofascists, Tebow's cancellation of his April appearance at the opening of Robert Jeffress’ $115 million First Baptist Church in Dallas has launched all kinds of spittle spraying batshitery.  And of course, the hate merchants of the "family values" organizations and the professional Christian crowd are blaming the gays - and Satan - on Tebow's decision to avoid appearing at a church best defined by who its senior pastor hates, namely most everyone. And even more bizarrely, Tebow's decision is claimed to reflect an attack on Christianity.  It truly doesn't get any crazier than among the "godly Christian" folk.  Box Turtle Bulletin looks at the insanity.  Here are some excerpts:

Quarterback Tim Tebow recently cancelled an appearance at the opening of Robert Jeffress’ $115 million church after finding out about Jeffress’ controversial reputation.  The good pastor has spoken out against:

• Mormonism (“a heresy from the pit of hell”)

• Judaism (“you can’t be saved being a Jew”)

• Catholicism (“the genius of Satan”)

and, of course,

• Gays (“homosexuality is perverse, it represents a degradation of a person’s mind and if a person will sink that low and there are no restraints from God’s law, then there is no telling to whatever sins he will commit as well”)

Of course, while Jeffress is merely exercising his religious freedom, any attempt to disagree with him is an attack on that freedom:

Denny Burk, a cultural commentator and professor at Boyce College in Louisville, Ken., said Tebow’s decision is a significant event for the nation’s Christian community and could serve as a troubling bellwether.

“This moment will appear to many as another marker of Christianity’s cultural marginalization,” he wrote on his website. “In the broad tolerance of views in our public discourse, who’s in and who’s out? What voices are allowed in the cacophony that is American democracy? Which voices should be excluded? Christian voices have long been a part of the din but moments like these make it seem like those days are coming to an end.”

Pass the smelling salts! I’ll need them when I stop laughing. Apparently disagreeing with Jeffress, deciding not to associate with him, suggesting that others rethink their association with him, is an assault on Jeffress’ liberty — wait, no, that’s not right — is an assault on Christianity itself and American democracy along with it.

See, it’s fine to call someone a Satanic, heretical pervert from the pit of Hell, but if your target calls you a bigot in reply then you get to be all, OMG, Can you believe what he just said??

Over at Civil Commotion, Bob Felton reports on the hissy fit thrown by Baptist Press over Tebow's cancellation and has a few on point comments on why society needs to reject the Christofascist agenda:

Baptist Press is on the case, and affirms that America sure is hard on the godly.

The pastor at First Baptist Dallas, Robert Jeffress, has been nationally prominent in stating his biblical views regarding marriage, homosexuality, and during the presidential campaign last year, Mormonism, according to the Southern Baptist Texan newspaper.

In a statement to the Florida Baptist Witness, Brunson [Tebow's pastor at FBC-Jacksonville] said the media attacks on Jeffress, the church and Tebow are without merit. “Clearly there is a bias in this country when it comes to evangelical Christianity,” he said.

Further, Tebow’s home church and First Baptist Dallas share the same beliefs, Brunson said.

Yeah, yeah — ho-hum. Gay rights have been before the public for more than a decade, endlessly debated — and common sense has prevailed: There just isn’t any reason why gays should not enjoy full marriage equality. Reason. Freeborn adults believe you should have a reason if you’re going to constrict other people’s lives — and “My invisible friend says so” doesn’t pass muster.

Let’s be clear about something: The evangelicals are right about this much — there is a moral issue at stake. But their insistence that we must be guided by a nonsensical old book of unknown provenance instead of our minds puts them on the wrong side of the moral issue. Blind obedience is not morality, but an abdication of morality; it is choosing to live as a dumb farm animal.

What I find most ironic is that it is the hate-filled, ignorance embracing racists and bigots of the Christianist  crowd who are accelerating the decline of Christianity in the developed world.  The more they scream and howl and direct hate and bigotry towards other citizens, the more the younger generations and educated people walk away.  Yet these fanatics cannot see that it is they themselves, not gays, liberals or the media that are the real problem.