When non-believers and skeptics point out the harm done by religious dogma, moderates and liberals tend to rebut us with a handful of names. Most often mentioned is Jim Wallis. Wallis is the founder of a liberal-leaning evangelical Christian group called Sojourners and publishes a magazine of the same name.
In fact, he’s the only nationally known liberal religious leader that I can think of that isn’t primarily a political activist like Jesse Jackson or Barry Lynn.
Now, Jim Wallis and Sojourners aren’t nearly as big or influential as their countless fundamentalist counterparts like Pat Robertson’s 700 Club or James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, but they’re the largest progressive Christian group in the country. They like to bill themselves as a saner alternative to the Religious Right, taking far more moderate stances on civil rights and abortion. All of the Jesus with less of the pesky, fattening dogmatic hate.
So, one would think that he’d have jumped at the chance to sell advertising space to Believe Out Loud, an LBGT Christian group calling for greater acceptance of gays and lesbians in church congregations. I mean, Wallis does claim to be a progressive “social justice” guy, right?
Sojourners rejected the ads, saying that they’re “afraid [they]’ll have to decline. Sojourners’ position is to avoid taking sides on this issue. In that care [sic], the decision to accept advertising may give the appearance of taking sides.”
Taking sides? Are you serious? Let’s take a look at these ads:
That’s it?
No demands for same-sex marriage rights? No demands that churches ordain gay and lesbian clergy? No steamy same-sex makeout sessions? Just basic tolerance. You don’t want to be seen taking a side on that?
Let’s take a look at these “sides” Jim Wallis and Sojourners doesn’t want to take. In one corner, you have people who think that gays and lesbians should be afforded the same level of rights and respect as anyone else. In the other corner, you have people who believe that gay people are subhuman abominations who should not only be shunned and excluded, but denied any level of social or legal equality. This is the divide you want to remain neutral on, Sojourners?
Reverend Robert Chase is just as baffled as I am:
I called the folks at Sojourners and asked what the problem was, what the “sides” in question might be. The first response was that Sojourners has not taken a stance on gay marriage (the ad is not about gay marriage); or on ordination of homosexuals (the ad is about welcome, not ordination); that the decision, made by “the folks in executive” (why such a high level decision?) was made quickly because of the Mother’s Day deadline. The rationale kept shifting. The reasoning made no sense.
I’m so flabbergasted by Wallis’ moving rhetorical goal posts that I almost forgot to take a cheap shot at a religious leader’s reasoning not making sense.
His rationalizations didn’t get any better. In a statement, Jim Wallis explained that:
we chose not to become involved in the controversy that such a major ad campaign could entail, and the time it could require of us. Instead, we have taken this opportunity to affirm our commitment to civil rights for gay and lesbian people, and to the call of churches to be loving and welcoming to all people, and promote good and healthy dialogue.
So the best way to affirm your commitment to gay civil rights is to reject an ad calling for… gay civil rights? How was the Believe Out Loud ad anything but “a call to be loving and welcoming to all people?” How are the ads not promoting dialogue? Can you even hear yourself speak?
Furthermore, Wallis says they rejected the ad in a move of respect for “the major differences of theology and biblical interpretation in the church with regard to issues such as the nature of homosexuality, gay marriage, and ordination” and that these “are not issues that should be allowed to divide the churches ” and “that local churches should lead the way here, and that an honest, open, respectful, and, hopefully, loving dialogue should characterize the church on these very controversial questions.”
Controversial, to whom? In the latest polls, a majority of American now support marriage equality for same-sex couples.
This makes most of Americans more staunchly progressive on gay rights than Mr. Wallis, who told Christianity Today that he didn’t support equal marriage rights, saying “I have never done a blessing for a same-sex couple. I’ve never been asked to do one. I’m not sure that I would.” He also said the Bible was clearly opposed to same-sex marriage, and that the thought of gay rights becoming a major topic of discussion in churches made him “nervous.”
But these ads – again – weren’t even about marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. This is about simple acceptance of gay membership in a church congregation. This was about being able to take a seat in the pews without people gawking at you like you’re a freak in a circus menagerie. When you broaden the discussion — not to marriage or ordination or adoption — but to basic tolerance, I have to imagine the sort of people who think that this is a deal breaker aren’t the sort that you should even want in your coalition.
Why is Wallis afraid to offend the very people he should be standing firm against? Sojourners is the premiere left-leaning faith group in the country, and Jim Wallis is supposed t
o be the world heavyweight champion of progressive Christianity.
He’s supposed to be their Hulk Hogan. When the loud theme music plays, Wallis is the guy who’s supposed to be running wild on all of fundamentalism’s proverbial “Rowdy” Roddy Pipers and Iron Shieks, not sitting in the back and lamenting how divisive he’d look if he gave a bigoted pastor the Big Leg Drop.
When it came time to make a choice between affirming the humanity of gay people and protecting the tender feelings of bigots, Wallis has made his choice.
Do you know what a real progressive leader says when he’s told that a choice he’s made would burn bridges with the sort of reactionaries that could possibly be turned off by the Believe Out Loud advertisements?
“Good.”
The fact that this man is apparently the best national leader that progressive Christianity has to offer is a spit in the face of all the good and ethical people I personally know who wear the label of Christian.
While I cannot fathom why any LBGT person would ever want to be a Christian, it takes no effort for me to understand why anyone would want to be treated like a human being. Therefore, on behalf of the producers of “Ask an Atheist,” I would like to inform the people at Believe Out Loud, that we would be more than happy to run your ads on our program. Despite our clear theological disagreements, we stand at your side in our shared belief in the total social and legal equality of gays and lesbians.
And if Wallis and progressive Christians groups like Sojourners can’t get behind a message like that, well, as Dan Savage bluntly put it, “gee, what the fuck good are they?”
