Hi, all. While I was on vacation last week, Wayne Besen and Evan Hurst, my fellow NALT Christians co-founders, issued the statement below, which I thought I’d here share.
The co-founders of the NALT Christians Project released the following statement in response to the media firestorm around homophobic and racist comments made in the name of Christianity by Phil Robertson, patriarch of the “Duck Dynasty” family.
Controversy arose this week after Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson made homophobic and racist comments in an interview with GQ. He couched his comments in religious language, which has led many conservative Christians to believe that, in protesting his words, and in A&E’s subsequent suspension, Robertson’s First Amendment rights and freedom of religion are being infringed upon.
As is usual in these debates, the real loser is Christianity itself. Millions of Christians around the world affirm the dignity and equality of LGBT people, and their voices go unheard when public figures like Phil Robertson and his supporters in the right-wing media claim that their discriminatory beliefs represent Christianity. As The NALT Christians Project and a growing grassroots movement of loving, supportive Christians shows, this is not the case. Robertson was suspended because he made hateful comments about minorities, not because he’s a Christian. He and others who couch racist and anti-gay bias in religious language do not own Christianity, nor do they even speak for a majority of Christians.
To those whose faith leads them to show love rather than hatred, we encourage you to make your voice heard by making a NALT Christians video, sharing the message with your families and churches and getting involved in the growing chorus of Christians who are Not All Like That.
Signed
John Shore, Wayne Besen and Evan Hurst, co-founders of the NALT Christians Project
For more info or to submit a NALT video of your own, please visit the NALT Christians Project.
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