Campaign Targets 'Religion-Based Bigotry Against Gay People'

CNSNews.com ^ | May 04, 2007 | Randy Hall

[rhema]

A homosexual advocacy group announced on Thursday that it is launching a five-city, six-month "Call to Courage" tour to "educate Americans about the misuse of religious teachings to discriminate and isolate gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people."

However, a conservative Christian leader told Cybercast News Service that the group was replacing one kind of bigotry with another -- and "unfortunately, it's against Almighty God."

"We're asking Americans to be courageous and to join us in a stand against discrimination in all forms," said Mitchell Gold, founder of the organization Faith in America, during a telephone news conference on Thursday.

"As a nation, we have exhibited such courage in the past by rejecting the use of religion to sanction slavery and the subjugation of women," Gold said, adding that people "using their biblical interpretations to justify legalized discrimination or lack of protections for any American is just plain wrong."

Jimmy Creech, who spent 29 years as a minister in the United Methodist Church and is the organization's executive director, asserted that "religion-based bigotry" is presently being used "to manipulate the American public to take rights and protections away from GLBT people."

Nevertheless, "Faith in America has faith in America, in the democratic principles that underlie our constitutional government and in the authentic religious traditions in our country that move us to compassion, justice and respect for the dignity of all people," Creech said.

The "Call to Courage" tour will be conducted in six cities, starting with a full-page advertisement in Sunday's edition of the Tribune newspaper in Ames, Iowa.

From there, the campaign will proceed to Reno, Nev.; Greenville, S.C. (the site of Bob Jones University, a conservative Christian school); and Manchester, N.H., using a combination of grassroots organizing, direct mail and paid ads to educate the public and provide a forum for citizens to "express their sentiments about religion-based bigotry."

Creech said that those cities were selected because they are in states with early caucus and primary votes during the 2008 presidential election and thus will attract contenders for the White House.

"We want to ask those candidates, 'Is it OK to use your religious beliefs to make public policy that denies the full rights and protections of the Constitution to GLBT people?'" Creech said.

In each city, the group will work with local clergy and community activists, as well as such national organizations as Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the Metropolitan Community Church Worldwide (MCC).

Rev. Dr. Cindy Love, executive director of the MCC, said it was "fitting" that Thursday's announcement took place on the National Day of Prayer, adding that she enthusiastically agrees with the campaign's goals.

"I believe we'll truly be a Christ-centered nation when we no longer allow our own homophobia, our irrational fear of GLBT people, to stop us from doing what is really right," Love asserted.

"Jesus would have included GLBT people at the table with him as his disciples. For all we know, they were there with him, and there are hundreds of thousands of faithful, same-gender-loving people serving as the disciples of Jesus Christ today in the United States of America," she added.

The final stop in the "Call for Courage" tour will be in late November at Colorado Springs, Colo. Creech acknowledged that is the home of Dr. James Dobson and the conservative organization Focus on the Family, which, according to Creech, "have been primary leaders in the attack on GLBT people in this country."

'Seat-of-the-pants rules'

However, Carrie Gordon Earll, senior director for issue analysis with Focus on the Family, told Cybercast News Service that the "Call to Courage" is "yet another campaign to level unsubstantiated and inflammatory accusations against organizations like Focus" as well as "marginalize Bible-believing Christians and drive them out of the public square."

"Biblically orthodox Christianity is the last bastion of resistance to homosexual activists who demand special legal status for people based on gender identity and choices about sexual behavior," Earll said.

"It's not 'discrimination' to state that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that children deserve a mother and a father," she stated. "It's not 'discrimination' to protect religious organizations from government-mandated policies that force them to violate their most basic beliefs in hiring and other business practices."

Linda Harvey, president of the conservative group Mission America, told Cybercast News Service on Thursday that "Faith in America claims to oppose 'religious bigotry,' but what they bring to the table is their own bigotry. Unfortunately, it's against Almighty God."

"The implication of Faith in America's statements is that these are all inborn traits, when there's no science to back this up," Harvey said.

But "Scripture could not be clearer on this topic," she stated, pointing to Matthew 19, "which records Christ's words that people were created 'from the beginning' as male and female, and the two become one when they marry."

"This group is clearly operating by 'seat-of-the-pants' rules," Harvey said. "They have decided to alter Scripture or disregard it for their own twisted purposes.

"By encouraging people to believe homosexuality is compatible with Christian doctrine, they will lead many people directly into harm's way, into sin, and into believing a deception that may separate them, possibly forever, from Christ," she said.

[Graybeard58]

As a nation, we have exhibited such courage in the past by rejecting the use of religion to sanction slavery and the subjugation of women," Gold said

And being queer is the same as slavery or the subjugation of women?

I'm not buying it.

[rhema]

Speaking of a call to authentically Biblical courage. . .

[beezdotcom]

well, really, I thought gay people were despicable when I was an atheist.

Now that I'm Catholic, at least I have compassion for them.

I'm not even sure why the moderator deleted your comment, because I thought it indeed displayed the difference that SHOULD be present between atheists and Christians. Not all atheists despise gay people - but the ones who do are often unburdened by a religious moral compass that demands compassion for fellow human beings. Christans, while called upon to reject sin, are also called upon to love sinners (including themselves).

[Last Dakotan]

For all we know, they were there with him...

Well, I'm sure he knew, which is why you've never heard of any.

[freemama]

“’We want to ask those candidates, ‘Is it OK to use your religious beliefs to make public policy that denies the full rights and protections of the Constitution to GLBT people?’” Creech said. “

They have the all the rights of anyone else. They do not get SPECIAL rights! They are asking to have the right to marry. They have it. They do not have the right to marry a person of the same gender. Neither does anyone else.

[DJ MacWoW]

"using their biblical interpretations to justify legalized discrimination "

I think Leviticus is clear and NOT open to "gay" interpretation. Also clear is the call against sexual immorality in the NT.

[beezdotcom]

They are asking to have the right to marry. They have it. They do not have the right to marry a person of the same gender. Neither does anyone else.

You know, this is a very good point that seldom gets exposure.

[Texas_Jarhead]

"...or lack of protections for any American is just plain wrong."

Which freakin "protections" are queers denied? These people are in the same class as the racial and ethnic supremacists. They want top billing with special treatment and privileges because of nothing more than their choice of sexual proclivities.

[sageb1]

I’m Catholic. It is not necessary for me to use my religion to have the opinion that there is no scientific proof that humans are born homosexual.

[acapesket]

Here we go kids! Gay lobby frustration designed as justification for the moronic hate Crimes bill that just passed the Congress!

Could these Q folk BE ANY MORE OBVIOUS?

I am actually embarrassed for them!

[EternalVigilance]

The day that those in government can tell me what to believe about God and His Word is the day that the social contract has been broken, and that our free republic is dead.

[RichInOC]

Jimmy, sex is not a right. If it is, we have the makings of one heck of a class-action suit.

[goodnesswins]

Yeah....me thinks they’ve “jumped the shark”....and the American people do NOT buy it! (AND especially minorities!)

[beezdotcom]

I’m Catholic. It is not necessary for me to use my religion to have the opinion that there is no scientific proof that humans are born homosexual.

Of course not - clearly, choice is the issue. However, your religion may have more to do with whether or not you view that choice as an ACCEPTABLE choice.

As an aside, it's so ironic that gays who try to change orientation are confronted with the "you're born that way, so stay that way argument" - but when a "transgendered" person attempts to change their physical gender, they are applauded by the same people.

[lilylangtree]

Sh*t floats and there’s enough floating around this so-called queer advocacy grp.

[LiteKeeper]

Major Sodomite INTREP

[Nathan Zachary]

It’s a sick sick country we live in, and getting sicker each day. It’s not enough these self destructive moraly depraved, angry, hateful ‘persons’ lead themselves into hell, they want to take the whole nation with them.

[Manic_Episode]

The slippery slope steepens...