Al Mohler\u2019s \u2018erotic liberty\u2019 is a sinful, unbiblical, indecent, nasty lie<\/a>\u201c).<\/p>\nInventing new dehumanizing slurs might help Mohler to rally his most-committed troops, but it\u2019s not an effective approach to persuading any of his would-be followers who might not already be 100-percent devoted to Mohlerism. Yes, I\u2019m sure that when they first heard him try out the phrase, Denny Burk and Owen Strachan said, \u201cAwesome, boss! That\u2019s great! Someday I hope I\u2019m just like you!\u201d But that\u2019s what they say in response to everything<\/em> Mohler says, and outside of his circle of obsequious henchmen, this \u201cerotic liberty\u201d business is a punchline and a horrifying embarrassment.<\/p>\nPerhaps the main reason the phrase is so ridiculous is Mohler\u2019s inability to understand how it is heard and perceived by anyone who\u2019s not<\/em> desperately seeking tenure at Southern seminary or Boyce College. Mohler and his circle can only hear\u00a0\u201cerotic liberty\u201d as an accusation, but the rest of the world hears it as an unconscious confession<\/em>.\u00a0The phrase, as Mohler is trying to use it, only makes sense if you accept Mohler\u2019s premise \u2014 which is that \u201cerotic\u201d has, and can only have, negative connotations. For Mohler and his Mohlerettes, \u201cerotic\u201d means dirty. It means sex \u2014 and sex is a bad, naughty, nasty, filthy thing. (And not, like, the good<\/em> kind of naughty, nasty or filthy.) For Mohler, in other words, \u201cerotic\u201d means \u201cshameful<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\nThus the vast gulf between what Mohler intends his new slur to communicate and what the rest of us actually hear whenever he employs it. He denounces \u201cerotic liberty\u201d intending us to understand that LGBT people are subhuman beasts, slaves to their genitalia who are incapable of the emotional and spiritual depth we fully human persons possess.<\/p>\n
But every time he says \u201cerotic liberty\u201d and tries yet again to make this buzz-phrase a thing, all the rest of us can hear him saying is this: \u201cI, Richard Albert Mohler Jr., am deeply ashamed that I have a penis and that it sometimes gets hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
And, yes, that makes us laugh \u2014 and, yes, we\u2019re laughing at<\/em> him. But it\u2019s a nervous laughter, tinged with sadness and pity for this miserable creature so horribly uncomfortable in his own skin \u2014 so horribly uncomfortable that he has<\/em> skin. For Mohler, this apparently goes\u00a0beyond the mortification of the flesh. He\u2019s mortified by<\/em> his flesh. His confession is unwitting and unaware, but it\u2019s so vulnerable and nakedly genuine that we can\u2019t help but feel that tinge of pity even despite his making that confession in the midst of his attempt to insult, demean and dehumanize others in order to deny them their civil rights and human dignity.<\/p>\nBut there are other important reasons that \u201cerotic liberty\u201d will never work as the slogan Mohler thinks it can become. To consider those, we will have to do something Mohler himself is apparently incapable of doing \u2014 which is to set aside all thoughts of the shamefulness of Mohler\u2019s penis in order to consider what this phrase, \u201cerotic liberty,\u201d could possibly mean legally<\/em>.<\/p>\nWhat could it possibly mean to say that citizens\u2019 \u201cerotic liberty\u201d is not their essential human right, but some kind of limited, contingent privilege to be monitored and regulated by the state? What would it mean to empower the state with the authority to carry out such monitoring and regulation? Could any state so empowered to govern the most intimate thoughts and consensual deeds of its subjects be limited or restrained in any other area? I don\u2019t see how.<\/p>\n
Mohler is determined to invent a false and weird conflict between \u201cerotic liberty\u201d and \u201creligious liberty,\u201d but the two things \u2014 as actual meaningful concepts rather than pliable slogans and epithets \u2014 are actually closely linked. Both belong to the category of things that must be regarded as intrinsic human rights because any state empowered to monitor or regulate them would be invited to become totalitarian.<\/p>\n
So again, please, Al Mohler: Stop making the rest of us have to think about your penis. Stop trying to make \u201cerotic liberty\u201d your hot new slogan. You\u2019re not doing what you think you\u2019re doing. It\u2019s not working.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The phrase “erotic liberty,” as Al Mohler is trying to use it, only makes sense if you accept Mohler’s premise — which is that “erotic” has, and can only have, negative connotations. For Mohler and his Mohlerettes, “erotic” means dirty. It means sex — and sex is a bad, naughty, nasty, filthy thing. For Mohler, in other words, “erotic” means “shameful.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[74,13,17,53,52,28,103],"class_list":["post-27974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evangelicals","tag-al-mohler","tag-church-state","tag-equality","tag-gay-rights","tag-homosexuality","tag-religious-right","tag-sbc"],"yoast_head":"\n
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For Mohler, in other words, "erotic" means "shameful."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/05\/21\/erotic-liberty-al-mohlers-new-slur-is-really-a-sad-confession\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-21T21:44:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/files\/2015\/05\/AlMohler.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\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\/slacktivist\/2015\/05\/21\/erotic-liberty-al-mohlers-new-slur-is-really-a-sad-confession\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/05\/21\/erotic-liberty-al-mohlers-new-slur-is-really-a-sad-confession\/\",\"name\":\"'Erotic liberty' -- Al Mohler's new slur is really a sad confession\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-21T21:44:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-05-21T21:44:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\"},\"description\":\"The phrase \\\"erotic liberty,\\\" as Al Mohler is trying to use it, only makes sense if you accept Mohler's premise -- which is that \\\"erotic\\\" has, and can only have, negative connotations. 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![\"AlMohler\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/52\/2015\/05\/AlMohler.jpg\")
<\/a>Apart from just sounding silly \u2014 I\u2019ve noted earlier that \u201cErotic Liberty\u201d sounds like a bootleg album from Prince or P-funk<\/a>, or like a \u201cnew reality\u00a0series from Cinemax exposing the sordid post-curfew nightlife of Jerry Falwell\u2019s flagship fundamentalist university<\/a> in Virginia\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s also a dehumanizing reductionist insult. It\u2019s intended<\/em> to be a dehumanizing, reductionist insult. Straight-married white Christians, Mohler is suggesting, are capable of love. But LBGT people, he is saying, are capable only of \u201cerotic\u201d lust.<\/span><\/p>\n