Why I Still Talk to Jesus -- In Spite of Everything
Are Franklin Graham–and/or the 13 Evangelical leaders who wrote to Obama asking to be allowed to discriminate against gay people–gay? I’m betting the answer is yes for some of them. Evangelical Leaders of anti-gay initiatives have turned out to be closeted gays often. Those who fight to “defend the faith” in its fundamentalist harsh incarnation, as Evangelical “professional Christians” often do, have a special need-based interest in making sure other people live by the letter of the Bible’s “inerrant” Word. One of their needs is to defend their jobs. And what better way to cover their tracks in their homophobic subculture than to lead the lynch mobs Evangelicals send out from time-to-time to bully minorities. As modernity has threatened the belief system of conservative Christians, their resentment has grown into alienation. Rather than rethink their beliefs, many Christian leaders seem hell-bent on forcing the world to conform to their fears. If professional Christians earn their living and derive their meaning from their roles as religious leaders—not to mention enjoy their power over other people—then they have all the more motivation to deny their doubts (and their bodies and perhaps their sexual orientation) and to call for others to conform to their beliefs. But note I say “conform to their beliefs” rather than conform to their example. And therein is the problem: Theory and practice have diverged. Many Evangelical leaders of antigay initiatives have turned out to be closeted gay men. Many leaders in Congress harping on “family values” or state governors crusading on platforms of moral rectitude have turned out to be mired in sexual scandals. For instance, David Vitter, Senator (R-LA), took over the House seat of former Congressman Robert Livingston, who resigned in 1999 following revelations of an extramarital affair. According to Wikipedia,
At the time, Vitter stated, “I think Livingston’s stepping down makes a very powerful argument that (Bill) Clinton should resign as well….” Vitters’ name was then discovered in the address book of the DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey. (2007) Vitter advocated abstinence-only sex education, emphasizing abstinence over sex education that includes information about birth control, drawing criticism from Planned Parenthood. He said, “Abstinence education is a public health strategy focused on risk avoidance that aims to help young people avoid exposure to harm…by teaching teenagers that saving sex until marriage and remaining faithful afterwards is the best choice for health and happiness.”
In 2003, Vitter proposed to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. In 2004, he said, “This is a real outrage. The Hollywood left is redefining the most basic institution in human history…We need a U.S. Senator who will stand up for Louisiana values, not Massachusetts values.” In June 2006, he said “I don’t believe there’s any issue that’s more important than this one … I think this debate is very healthy, and it’s winning a lot of hearts and minds. I think we’re going to show real progress.” In 2006, he told The Times-Picayune, “I’m a conservative who opposes radically redefining marriage, the most important social institution in human history.”
In October 2005, at a Lafayette Parish Republican Executive Committee luncheon, Vitter compared gay marriage to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which came through the same geographical areas. Vitter said “It’s the crossroads where Katrina meets Rita. I always knew I was against same-sex unions.”
In 2005 Vitter introduced a resolution supporting prayer at school board meetings in response to an earlier district court decision that the Louisiana’s Tangipahoa Parish practice of opening meetings with Christian prayers was unconstitutional.
Many Roman Catholic “celibate” bishops that sniff around in other people’s bedrooms also are fighting to keep the public misled about what they and many of their priests actually have been getting up to in their own bedrooms, including child molesting. One outspoken social conservative was William J. Lynn, of the archdiocese of Philadelphia. He became the first senior official convicted in the United States for covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests he oversaw. There seems to have been a consistent pattern: The louder the protest against “the modern lack of morals,” the more likely it has been that the person doing the protesting and/or trying to make others conform to his or her beliefs was also mired in sexual struggles that, if known, would have given a lie to the protester’s moralizing. I think that is why sometimes the sons (or daughters) of some religious leaders are harsher and even more extreme in their rants against “the World” than their parents were. I wonder what the Evangelical leaders making such a point of writing to Obama to protest having to obey the laws of the USA on discrimination against gays were hiding? Frank Schaeffer is a writer. His latest book —WHY I AM AN ATHEIST WHO BELIEVES IN GOD: How to give love, create beauty and find peace
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