Why Christofascist Hate Gays So Much

I've argued a number of times that the reason the Christofascists hate gays so much and would happily see us exterminated - or at least "cured" is because we threaten their fantasy world based on an all too fallible Bible.  How so?  Because, if the Bible is wrong about gays and homosexuality, then the entire house of cards begins to collapse and for those with a sick psychological need for certainty and the ability to feel superior to others this prospect is simply terrifying.  A post at SBC Voices highlights this reality:

What we cannot do, without sacrificing everything we believe in, is say that their sin [homosexuality] is not sin. . . . .   The Bible is clear that homosexuality is sinful. We cannot, without denying everything we are, accept homosexuality as okay. 

In the next breath,  the author then leaps in to persecution complex mode and whines that Chrisofascists are becoming an oppressed minority:

"But our world is not satisfied with this. It demands that we not only love and accept homosexuals as human beings, but that we approve of their behavior. So, we are now becoming an oppressed minority. "

This is a free speech issue. Are Christians, who stand against the views of now-majority culture going to be allowed to speak our minds? Or will New McCarthyism . . . . try to intimidate us into silence? 

It's stunning to see the admission that merely accepting gays as human beings  is a threat to these self-centered psychologically insecure people.  In the upside down world of the Christofascists, the one doing the victimizing always becomes the victim. 

Further illustrating the mindset of these people is one comment that implies that they wish Joesph McCarthy's reign of terror on liberals had been more successful:

"Not to take us very far off topic (seeing as it is in the title) but consider that if McCarthy was able to be successful in his attempts to permanently rid this country of Communist/socialist influence, we very well may not be in this position we are today, given that it is the socialist/communist leaning electorate in this country that are advocating the most for pro-homosexual, anti-Christian views today. 

These are indeed scary people.  As science disproves more and more of the Bible and more and more Americans walk away from the Christofascists' toxic form of religion we can expect them to become ever more strident and potentially violent.  We are not talking about rational people.

Former Southern Baptist Convention Officer Praying Fpr Obama's Death

Sometimes it is impossible to make up stories about the Christo-fascist elements of the far right and GOP base that are stranger than the truth. Their real life bat shittery is beyond imagination and invention. One has to wonder why some of them have not been taken into police custody, in fact, when they are actively promoting the death of President of the United States. A case in point is Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, California, and a former Southern Baptist Convention officers (pictured at left) - which I guess should not be a surprise given how utterly whacked out the SBC has become since the conservative takeover some years back. The leadership of the SBC - e'g. Richard Land - is obsessed with gays and abortion and has basically turned its back on the bulk of the Christian Gospel message and seems to endeavor daily instead to make the term Christian into something foul, although even the SBC seems to be running away from association with Drake. Here are some highlights from the Associated Baptist Press:

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NEW YORK (ABP) -- A former Southern Baptist Convention officer who on June 2 called the death of abortion provider George Tiller an answer to prayer said later in the day he is also praying "imprecatory prayer" against President Obama.

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"Imprecatory prayer is agreeing with God, and if people don't like that, they need to talk to God," Drake told syndicated talk-show host Alan Colmes. "God said it, I didn't. I was just agreeing with God." Asked if there are others for whom Drake is praying "imprecatory prayer," Drake hesitated before answering that there are several. "The usurper that is in the White House is one, B. Hussein Obama," he said.

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Later in the interview, Colmes returned to Drake's answer to make sure he heard him right. "Are you praying for his death?" Colmes asked. "Yes," Drake replied. "So you're praying for the death of the president of the United States?" "Yes."

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You would like for the president of the United States to die?" Colmes asked once more. "If he does not turn to God and does not turn his life around, I am asking God to enforce imprecatory prayers that are throughout the Scripture that would cause him death, that's correct."

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Sing Oldham, vice president for convention relations with the SBC Executive Committee, was unavailable for comment until late on May 4. He said that while Drake served one year as second vice president of the SBC, he is not now nor has ever been a spokesman for the convention. "Mr. Drake does not represent Southern Baptist actions, resolutions, or positions in his interpretation and application of 'imprecatory prayers,'" Oldham said. "Any comments made by Wiley Drake on this subject represent his personal views, not those of the Convention."

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I cannot help but wonder how someone becomes as mentally and emotionally screwed up as is obviously the case with Mr. Drake. Here's a video of some of Drake's lunacy:*

Fort Worth's Baptist Church Expeled from SBC

I have written in the past about Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, which after much internal controversy allowed gay members of the church to be pictured in the church's directory although not as family units. This compromise action was apparently perceived to be too gay tolerant by the owe rs that be at the Southern Baptist Convention - who seem to be Hell bent towards making the Church irrelevant to anyone with more than a 3rd grade education and intellectual level - and the result is that Broadway Baptist has been thrown out of the SBC after 125 years as an affiliate of the SBC. One cannot help but be struck by the obsession with gays and gays sex amongst the SBC leadership. It is sad that a church that tries to actually preach and conform its behavior to the Gospel message finds itself - be it SBC or Catholic - driven from the larger denomination that seems set only on judging others and displaying bigotry. Here are some highlights from the Associated Baptist Press:

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It took messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting June 23 only 30 seconds to sever a 125-year relationship with a prominent Texas congregation because of the church’s perceived toleration of gay members. Voting in the opening session of their annual meeting in Louisville, the messengers chose overwhelmingly to dismiss Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth. They did so on a recommendation the convention’s Executive Committee approved, without dissent, the day before.The recommendation did not specifically mention homosexuality. But that issue has been the backdrop of controversy at the church since late 2007, when a dispute arose regarding whether to include pictures of same-sex couples alongside other families in the church’s membership directory.

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"We are disappointed with the decision of the Southern Baptist Convention," said Kathy Madeja, the church's deacon chair, "We are disappointed with the decision of the Southern Baptist Convention," said Kathy Madeja, the church's deacon chair, in a statement released shortly after the vote June 23. "Our mission at Broadway is and will continue to be consistent with the SBC’s stated enterprise of reaching the world for Christ. Like other SBC churches, membership at Broadway is by acceptance of Jesus as Savior and Lord and the experience of believer’s baptism by immersion.

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"We do not believe Broadway has taken any action which would justify its being deemed not in friendly cooperation with the SBC. It is unfortunate that the Southern Baptist Convention decided otherwise and has severed its affiliation with Broadway Baptist Church."

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The SBC changed its constitution in 1993 to exclude churches that are welcoming and affirming of gays. Previously the amendment was interpreted to apply only to churches that take some formal action, like ordaining or licensing a gay minister or conducting a ceremony to bless a same-sex union, but in 2006 an SBC-affiliated state convention with a similar policy said a church could be expelled for simply being perceived as affirming homosexual behavior.

Southern Baptists Losing Members

The Southern Baptist Convention is among the most anti-gay denominations around, with spokesman, Richard Land (at left), nearly foaming at the mouth at times during his denunciation of LGBT Americans. Thus, I find it ironic and a source of amusement that the SBC is losing membership at record rates. Could it just be that Americans are growing tired of a denomination which often seems to define itself by who it hates? Losses seem particularly high among the younger generations. For example, I know that the Baptist church the boyfriend's parents attend seems to have a far older congregation than my more progressive ELCA parish that has more younger couples and youth. An article in the Washington Post that looks at this phenomenon. Here are some highlights:

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After decades of growth, the nation's largest group of Protestants, the Southern Baptist Convention, is reporting losses (in church membership and recorded baptisms) for the third year in a row. Baptisms are at a 20-year low, a figure liable to put an eternity-conscious church into a severe depression.

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Cutbacks at Southern Baptist seminaries and agencies are even hitting the denomination's bold, new marketing strategy designed to spread the gospel (and increase the flock) to every soul in North America by 2020. The campaign, called "God's Plan for Sharing" (Yes, GPS), includes a new image media campaign, "We Are Southern Baptists."

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No doubt there are market forces behind the SBC's declining statistics.

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1. The product is less appealing. Southern Baptists still profess the belief in Christ is the only path to salvation. But a new Pew Forum analysis shows that a majority of all American Christians (52%) think at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life. More surprising, among evangelicals surveyed, 35 percent said Muslims can go to heaven, 33 percent said Hindus can, and 26 percent said atheists can.

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2. The brand is less appealing. After 30 years of theo-political warfare within the denomination and the culture, which has included the merciless purging of evangelical moderates and even conservatives from all Southern Baptist school and agencies, not to mention strong public support for the Republican Party and Administration, the words "Southern Baptist" carry more negatives than positives. The largest and most prominent Southern Baptist congregation in America -- Rick Warren's Saddleback Church -- doesn't even use the word Baptist in its name.

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3. The market is changing. Nearly all predominantly white Christian denominations (Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal) in America are seeing a slow but steady decline in membership, a decline that reflects changing U.S. demographics. "This is not about orthodoxy or unorthodoxy or failed methods," Baptist historian Bill Leonard, dean of the Wake Forest School of Divinity in North Carolina, told Peter Smith of the (Louisville) Courier-Journal. "This is about demographics and sociology."

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Just a thought, but perhaps if the SBC had a more loving message and did not condemn the majority of the human race most of the time, it might make the SBC brand an easier sell. Jettisoning bigots like Richard Land might be a positive first step in the process.

Another Southern Baptist Sex Abuse Case

Increasingly, it seems that the more repressive a religious denomination is in matters of sex and sexuality (particularly in their stances against gay rights), the more cases of sex abuse that seem to be rampant throughout the denomination. While the Roman Catholic Church wins the prize hands down for repressive sexual teachings combine with incredibly wide spread sex abuse of minors by priests, the Southern Baptists seem to have a similar problem with its clergy. The latest Southern Baptist abuse case comes from Arizona, but it is only one of dozens and dozens of cases. It would appear that Richard Land of the SBC might do better tending to his own denomination's obvious systemic problem rather than running about on a constant anti-gay jihad. Here are some highlights from EthicsDaily.com (http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=10022):

A grand jury in Tucson, Ariz., has indicted a Southern Baptist youth minister arrested Jan. 11 on eight counts of sexual abuse of a minor, a local television station reported Friday. According to KOLD News 13, the five-page indictment details charges against Christopher Decaire, 57, who was arrested after police served a search warrant on East Tucson Baptist Church. Decaire had worked two years as a part-time minister but volunteered in the church's student ministry before that for six years.

Last week Pastor John Anderson told EthicsDaily.com that East Tucson Baptist Church found itself in "uncharted waters" in dealing with accusations that a trusted staff member sexually abused a 13-year-old girl. "They don't teach this in seminary," Anderson told a Tucson newspaper. But the church is hardly alone. EthicsDaily.com has reported on at least 72 news stories about sexual abuse by clergy, the vast majority involving allegations against Southern Baptist ministers, since September 2006. Stories included reports of 11 arrests, three convictions and one suicide in 2007 alone. Other stories included a church that allowed a convicted sex offender to preach from its pulpit while knowing about his past and an executive director of a Baptist children's home who asked for leniency in the sentencing of a pastor who confessed to criminal sexual assault of a teenage girl.

SBC president Frank Page went on record to deny clergy predators are a "systemic" problem and accuse victim advocates of using the issue for personal gain. Robert Parham of the Baptist Center for Ethics accused Southern Baptist leaders of "hiding behind a false wall of local church autonomy" as an excuse not to act.