{"id":82,"date":"2010-11-03T16:25:36","date_gmt":"2010-11-03T16:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/rabbishmuleyunleashed\/2010\/11\/gay-obsession-has-marginalized-evangelicals-politically.html"},"modified":"2010-11-03T16:25:36","modified_gmt":"2010-11-03T16:25:36","slug":"gay-obsession-has-marginalized-evangelicals-politically","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/rabbishmuleyunleashed\/2010\/11\/gay-obsession-has-marginalized-evangelicals-politically.htm","title":{"rendered":"Gay Obsession Has Marginalized Evangelicals Politically"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
My debate Monday night in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Southern Theological Seminary was insightful as to why Evangelicals are increasingly politically marginalized. For the record, I am a fan of Evangelicals because they raise strong, faith-based families, serve disproportionately in the military, love Israel, and try and enrich an increasingly materialistic culture with values. But, for goodness sake, what is this obsession with homosexuality?<\/span><\/div>\n


\n<\/p>\n


<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

I
\ndebated my long-time nemesis Dr. Michael Brown, one of America’s leading
\nChristian scholars, with whom I have a warm and mutually respectful
\nrelationship. It was the best of the twenty-odd debates we did: scholarly,
\ncontemporary, fiery, and on both sides ferociously-argued (you can see the
\ndebate at <\/span>www.shmuley.com<\/span><\/a>).
\nThe subject: Is Homosexuality America’s Greatest Moral Crisis? Our audience was
\nnearly all Evangelical Christian, and here is where they lost me.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nargued passionately that Evangelicals had become obsessed with homosexuality.
\nThey took a single prohibition in the Bible and elevated it to single moral
\nstandard besides which all else pails. I pointed out how in 2004, amid President
\nGeorge W. Bush being the most hated man on earth he still won the election
\nbecause of Evangelical support. The reason: as the polls showed, 22% of all
\nvoters had voted for values. But now, just one night before the mid-term
\nelections, the Tea Party had completely usurped the place of the Evangelicals.
\nThe only thing being discussed in this election was jobs, money, the size of
\ngovernment, and the national debt. In other words, the economy and money. Not
\none major values-based issue was even on the table. Why? Because the people who
\ntalk about values and are a large voting block – primarily Evangelical
\nChristians – had utterly marginalized themselves with their obsession over
\nhomosexuality. Forget about the fifty percent divorce rate, the growing
\nsexualization of young teens (Miley Cyrus is now pole-dancing), the collapse of
\nthe American economy because of addiction to shopping, no, all the problems in
\nAmerica can be laid at the feet of gays. And if we stop the gay agenda,
\n then America will suddenly be transformed into a family-friendly,
\nspiritually rich, Eden-like Shangri-La.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I
\ncould not move them. Try as I might, my audience would not budge. Even when I
\ntold them that I came down to Charlotte not primarily for a debate but to plead
\nwith my Christian brothers and sisters to recapture their relevance, they stood
\ntheir ground. They were proud of it. No compromise with sinners. We’ll go down
\nwith the ship if that’s what Jesus wants from us. By hook or by crook, America
\nwill be moral. Homosexuality will be stopped.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But
\ndidn’t Jesus say ‘Judge not that ye not be judged’? Did he not say that all our
\nsinners? And was I not saying that they have a right to regard homosexuality as
\na sin but not to tell gays and lesbians that they have crossed some imaginary
\nline and now can have no relationship with G-d? Did not the same Bible that
\nlabeled homosexuality as being in contravention to the divine will not also say
\nthat ‘It is not good for man to be alone,’ and should we not be telling gays
\nand lesbians who have no attraction to the opposite sex that there are hundreds
\nof commandments in the Bible left for them to keep? No, homosexuality
\nrepresented the fall of American morality and the breakdown of common decency.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The
\npoint of no return was when Dr. Brown said that in terms of sinfulness
\nhomosexuality was the same as bestiality, incest, and pedophilia. I should have
\nbeen thrilled at the comparison. Dr. Brown spends most of his time trying to
\nconvert Jews to Christianity and I should have welcomed this act of
\nself-immolation. Instead, because he is a friend and, amid our profound
\ndisagreements, a refined gentleman, I pleaded with him to come back from the
\nbrink. I repeated over and over again that this debate was being recorded for
\nposterity and he would irreversibly damage his credibility with thinking people
\neverywhere if he made the insane comparison. But rather than relent, he instead
\nasked the audience members to raise their hands if they agreed he had come
\nacross as an extremist. Amid hundreds of people, only three hands went up. My
\nheart sank. This is a community I admire. I lecture to Christian groups all
\nover the world. We need their voice in the American values debate. Religious
\nChristians are people of inspiring faith. But by supporting the comment that
\nhomosexuality was akin to pedophilia and bestiality they too had crossed a
\nline. And it would be difficult to come back.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What
\nis needed are Evangelical Christian leaders who finally change the subject and
\nfocus us on what really can be done to save the American family, namely,
\nstrengthening marriage, reducing the divorce rate, increasing male respect for
\nwomen, and pushing for a congressional bill to make marital counseling
\ntax-deductible so that couples who need help can afford it and keep their
\nfamilies intact.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My debate Monday night in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Southern Theological Seminary was insightful as to why Evangelicals are increasingly politically marginalized. For the record, I am a fan of Evangelicals because they raise strong, faith-based families, serve disproportionately in the military, love Israel, and try and enrich an increasingly materialistic culture with values.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":203,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-religion-and-spirituality","category-values"],"yoast_head":"\nGay Obsession Has Marginalized Evangelicals Politically - Rabbi Shmuley Unleashed<\/title>\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.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/rabbishmuleyunleashed\/2010\/11\/gay-obsession-has-marginalized-evangelicals-politically.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gay Obsession Has Marginalized Evangelicals Politically - Rabbi Shmuley Unleashed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My debate Monday night in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Southern Theological Seminary was insightful as to why Evangelicals are increasingly politically marginalized. 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