{"id":674,"date":"2018-06-22T21:47:24","date_gmt":"2018-06-23T04:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/?p=674"},"modified":"2018-06-22T21:47:24","modified_gmt":"2018-06-23T04:47:24","slug":"of-cakes-guns-and-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/22\/of-cakes-guns-and-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Cakes, Guns, and Children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

We have cakes.\u00a0 Evangelical Christians have been wringing their hands about whether or not they might have to bake cakes for the weddings of gay couples.\u00a0 Even after the recent SCOTUS decision, they are still wringing their hands thinking the decision didn\u2019t go far enough or settle the matter for good.<\/p>\n

And they\u2019ve been wringing their hands about laws making conversion<\/a> \u201ctherapies\u201d illegal\u2014these are attempts to get a gay person to \u201cconvert\u201d back to (or for the first time\u2014have) opposite gender attraction.\u00a0 I wonder what it\u2019s like to lay awake at night and worry about people different than one\u2019s self, their sexuality, and the travesty they may be afforded the same privileges others enjoy.<\/p>\n

For a generation of Christians who have been divorced, had affairs, and been addicted to pornography, it is fairly amazing<\/a> they are so concerned about what gay people can do or not do.\u00a0 After the \u201cMeToo\u201d moment, after scandals, after decades of marriages and families as dysfunctional as the general populace, the fact people different than themselves might be afforded the same rights and privileges still concentrates their minds.<\/p>\n

Instead of turning inward and addressing their own significant failures, they spend time and resources policing the sexual lives of others, writing books, preaching sermons, writing emails, letters, and supporting law makers who will do their bidding.\u00a0 This seems foremost in their minds\u2014they are vocal and active.<\/p>\n

And we have guns.\u00a0 We have many Trump evangelicals concerned about cold pieces<\/a> of steel that have one purpose:\u00a0 Violence.\u00a0 How dare the law or government separate any gun owner from their gun.\u00a0 We have rights and our guns are important to us.\u00a0 We will march, we will lobby, we will spend money defeating any effort to separate us from our guns.\u00a0 We will be loud and proud when it comes to anyone trying to separate us from our guns.<\/p>\n

And then, we have children.\u00a0 We have babies, toddlers, and children being separated from their mothers and fathers at our border.\u00a0 If they were embryos or fetuses, I\u2019m sure these same Christians would take notice.\u00a0 If they were guns, I\u2019m sure these same Christians would take notice.\u00a0 But, they are neither.\u00a0 And, because these strangers, these \u201cothers,\u201d were born in the wrong place, at the wrong time, to these parents, due to no fault of their own, they are in cages, removed from their mothers and fathers.<\/p>\n

For too many Trump evangelicals and groups like Focus on the Family<\/a>, these families, do not seem to matter.\u00a0 I guess their focus is still on gays and guns.\u00a0 While baking cakes and two people of the same gender loving each other, or inanimate objects that deal violence are causes for shouting, preaching, campaigning, raising money, getting angry, and being vocal, the separating of families, often by force, is a cause for shrugging the shoulders and remaining silent.<\/p>\n

Yes, I know Franklin Graham has spoken out and the great majority of religious traditions have voiced their opposition, but too many rank-and-file, white evangelicals<\/a> in the pews, remain silent regarding this purposeful and evil practice of separating families along our borders.\u00a0 And too many evangelical pastors remain silent too.\u00a0 They fear their congregations, but I would suggest their fear is misplaced.\u00a0 There are far more important things a pastor should fear.<\/p>\n

The recent executive order signed by Trump (which is like the arsonist calling the firehouse after he\u2019s been found out) doesn\u2019t mean this issue is over.\u00a0 Over 2000 children are still separated from their families, many taken hundreds of miles away from their parent(s).\u00a0 At the moment, there is no plan as to how they are going to be reunited.\u00a0 Further, Trump\u2019s invective, his claiming that immigrants are \u201cinfesting\u201d America, is still a clear and present danger, regardless.<\/p>\n

Silence is complicity.\u00a0 As Martin Luther King, Jr. noted:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right now, the silence on the part of white evangelicals is deafening.<\/p>\n

If we are bothered by the sexual lives of others, or the protecting of gun rights, more than we are the actual, current, suffering of children and families, then may I suggest we might be spending more time listening to Fox News and other right-wing propaganda than we are the gospels.\u00a0 Whatever it is we are listening to, it certainly isn\u2019t the Bible.<\/p>\n

And please do not tell us one is concerned about both.\u00a0 First of all, they aren\u2019t even in the same universe of moral weight or worthiness of attention.\u00a0 And second, one cannot say he is concerned about that which he has been completely silent.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have cakes.\u00a0 Evangelical Christians have been wringing their hands about whether or not they might have to bake cakes for the weddings of gay couples.\u00a0 Even after the recent SCOTUS decision, they are still wringing their hands thinking the decision didn\u2019t go far enough or settle the matter for good. And they\u2019ve been wringing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3524,"featured_media":680,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[143,179,533,536,485],"class_list":["post-674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-evangelicalism","tag-guns","tag-immigration","tag-lbgt","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nOf Cakes, Guns, and Children<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We have cakes.\u00a0 Evangelical Christians have been wringing their hands about whether or not they might have to bake cakes for the weddings of gay couples.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/22\/of-cakes-guns-and-children\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Of Cakes, Guns, and Children\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We have cakes.\u00a0 Evangelical Christians have been wringing their hands about whether or not they might have to bake cakes for the weddings of gay couples.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/22\/of-cakes-guns-and-children\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Divergence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-23T04:47:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1004\/2018\/06\/migrant-mother-2169284_640.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"290\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@darrelllackey1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/22\/of-cakes-guns-and-children\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/22\/of-cakes-guns-and-children\/\",\"name\":\"Of Cakes, Guns, and Children\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-23T04:47:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-23T04:47:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/d88a32b8d4b5f40fbd6ccbfce4e0f813\"},\"description\":\"We have cakes.\u00a0 Evangelical Christians have been wringing their hands about whether or not they might have to bake cakes for the weddings of gay couples.\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/22\/of-cakes-guns-and-children\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/22\/of-cakes-guns-and-children\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/06\/22\/of-cakes-guns-and-children\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Of Cakes, Guns, and Children\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\",\"name\":\"Divergence\",\"description\":\"Commentary Regarding Fundamentalism - 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