This article was first published on Christian Today – you can read the original here
Dear Bishop Budde,
That was some sermon you preached this week! Philip Pullman, the noted atheist author, loved it and suggested you should be the next Archbishop of Canterbury. Alastair Campbell, he of ‘we don’t do God’ fame, declared that you should be made person of the year. He cited you as a prime example of someone ‘speaking truth to power’. Does it not make you feel a little uncomfortable that those who don’t believe in God think that your sermon was the best thing since the Communist Manifesto?
As a fellow preacher I thought your delivery was perfect. Clear, well enunciated and with the right tone – like an angel of light. I loved the theme of unity and indeed much of how you expanded that in the 15 minutes you had. But perhaps you will allow me, a poor Presbyterian minister who doesn’t have the kind of pulpit to the powerful that you have, to also speak truth to your power?
You are in a powerful position. You belong to what has long been one of the most elitist denominations in the USA – the ultimate WASP church. You are a bishop in a prestigious cathedral, and you get to preach to presidents. (You preach to presidents about the poor, I preach to the poor about presidents). I would hope that both of us would preach Christ, and not our own politics – after all that is what we are paid to do.
I found it more than a little ironic that for 12 minutes and 30 seconds you spoke about unity and then, turning to the newly installed President, you addressed him in such partisan and political terms, that you contradicted and negated what went before.
Perhaps there is a role for such political comment (some might call it prophetic) but I suspect not at a service which is supposed to be about national unity, and at the end of a sermon which warned us about doing precisely that. I think you knew what you were doing. Every word of your sermon was carefully crafted. It is more than a little disingenuous to make a plea for unity and then issue what amounted to a personal political attack on the President. The result was – as you must have seen on X and in the rest of the media – that you again polarised the country you said you were seeking to unify. As you stated, “there isn’t much to be said for our prayers (or sermons may I add) if we act in ways which deepen the divisions amongst us”.
However, I agreed completely with your comments about the culture of contempt which seeks to demonise and threatens to destroy us – what is known as the outrage industrial complex. I assume you will also apply this to those who demonise people like President Trump – and that you will demand that people do not use your sermon to further stir up hatred and division?
In that regard it was less than helpful to scold the President about LGBT children who you said were scared – some for their lives. Even if this were true (and what is your evidence for this somewhat scary statement?), it is not your job to feed such false fears. Because false they are. President Trump has nowhere threatened the lives of LGBT children (incidentally as a bishop are you not more than a little concerned about the labelling of children in this way?). For you to imply that these fears were legitimate was either dishonest or ignorant. Stoking fear to make a political or even a theological point is something that no preacher should do. We should speak the truth in love. As you stated in your sermon, honesty is foundational to unity. At this point you were less than honest. Practice what you preach!
The same can be said about your remarks on immigration. The situation is not as simplistic as you put it. Although it has to be admitted that simple political (progressive) fundamentalism does allow you to engage in fine sentimental rhetoric, immigration is a much more complex issue than your 1-minute soundbite portrayed. Donald Trump and JD Vance both married immigrants – it is clear that they are not opposed to all immigration. The question is what should be done about illegal immigration? If you have any ideas, then engage constructively – don’t virtue signal from a pulpit 12 feet above contradiction.
You will forgive me saying this but there was also an inherent contradiction in your statement about the dignity of every human being. Your denomination doesn’t believe that. The Episcopal Church in the USA supports abortion on demand up to birth. That is an astonishingly evil and anti-Christ position to take. You cannot possibly take the high moral ground on humanity when you teach such anti-human doctrines. Your plea for mercy when you support such cruel policies is, to say the least, somewhat hypocritical. What about mercy for the most vulnerable human beings – those still in their mothers’ wombs?
I loved what you had to say about humility: “We are most dangerous when we are persuaded without a doubt that we are absolutely right and someone else is absolutely wrong. We are just a few steps from labelling ourselves the good people and others the bad people.” Amen and amen. But then you taught your political doctrines as though they were self-evidently right – and anyone who disagreed with them must be absolutely wrong. You think that men can become women, that mothers have the right to kill their babies, and that those who want a more limited immigration are evil.
You certainly gave those who agree with you a loud and clear dog whistle. The trouble is that not only are you absolute in your political dogmas, but you preached them from a pulpit, by implication, stating that these were not just your opinions but God’s! It’s hard to be more absolutist than that!
Perhaps the one thing that bothered me most about your sermon was how little of Christ and his Word it contained. He was kind of a bit player – an illustration who supported your political ideology. But he was certainly not the centre.
Even when you quoted him, you misinformed. For example, you stated that Jesus said unity was the solid rock on which to build the nation. He said nothing of the sort. He did say that He is the rock. I would be really encouraged to hear you say that the nation of the US should be built on the rock that is Jesus – but would you say that? To your Muslim, Hindu and atheist friends? It’s what should be said by a Christian minister, but I suspect it is not your position.
Finally let me end on a note of agreement (kind of). Your prayer at the end: “May God give us the strength and courage to honour the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people in this nation and the world.”
We do need to honour the dignity of every human being – including the child in the womb. We do need to speak the truth – God’s truth as given to us in his word. If we are to seek the good of all the people in the world, then we must make sure that we proclaim the Good News of the Gospel, not the politics of this world. We won’t get the plaudits from the world if we do so, but we will get the commendation of Christ – “well done, good and faithful servant”. And in proclaiming His word we will do some good and bring that true unity – the unity of Christ – rather than the false unity of a partisan political ideology. Preach that, sister!
Yours,
David Robertson,
Minister in Scots Kirk, Newcastle, Australia
Bishop Michael Curry’s Sermon – A Distorted Gospel Divides the Church
Quantum 340 – The President, the Bishop and the Indonesian Coal Magnate
Amazing – will she reply? Watch this space!!!!
Dear Bishop Budde,
I am personally supportive of your speaking truth to power, thank you. An opening presented itself, and it took courage for you to embrace it. You spoke for many people who are indeed scared, and in my view, that was no exaggeration. Trolling and death threats have become almost a norm, it pains us all to admit, and this proliferation started with the rise of this president in politics. Most people realize that fear is most definitely in the air, and everywhere in the news. And this president gives oxygen to fear and loathing. I think the criticism of your actions is unfair. I think you were making a human statement to a politician. In my understanding, Christ taught that everyone is worthy of God’s love. For me that means all, not just some: the ones who follow my religion. I do not share with the pastor from Newcastle the sentiment that as a Christian you should direct that our nation should be built on the rock that is Jesus. No. I say that our hearts should be called and be built on that rock. Let’s trust our God enough to quit insisting on our own way, our own religion, as ascendant over others. Our separation of church and state is a fact of our founding, and not available to be re-written by anyone. I believe you might have left yourself open to criticism by making your appeal to a man in the room rather than an appeal as prayer, which I believe was, anyway, the spirit of your words. I think you did a difficult thing. You spoke for many people, including me. Don’t let the criticism hurt too much, we know what you meant. And maybe the man you addressed from the pulpit will hear it some day.
Barbara – you seem to have the wrong address! This is not the Bishops website. You are of course correct about trolling and death threats – they are common on all sides. Dare to question trans ideology for example and you will receive plenty of them. Believe me – I have experienced it.
Fear and loathing is in the air – and the bishop was helping spread that.
Christ did not teach that everyone is ‘worthy’ of God’s love. You will not find that every where. God loves the unworthy.
If you believe that Jesus is who he says he is – and he brings us the Word of God, why would you not want that to be the basis of our nation? How cruel and unkind is that? Wanting to keep him for yourself….
As for insisting on your own way – is that not precisely what you and the bishop are doing. Demanding that everyone follow your ideology on trans, sex etc.
If the bishop really believed in the separation of church and state why was she addressing the nation as a representative of the church?!
Personally I prefer my clergy to speak the truth of the word of God – and not just their own political opinions.
The moment the bishop said: in the name of god (purpously small g letter) that is exactly what I thought, which god?
I read that there was a huge spontaneous worship afterwards to cleanse the evil from the place
David, did you read or consider this?
https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/editorial/editorial-addressing-trump-bishop-budde-did-what-christian-obliged-do
Yes – doesn’t change a word of what I wrote…..and interesting to see a Catholic newspaper defending a bishop who openly opposes fundamental Catholic doctrines…
My apologies for not responding earlier to your first short YouTube on Bishop Budde and 1 Jn 4:5. I had been debating in my head all day whether to say anything or whether to let it lie. It has been the appearance of your second post, “Speaking the truth to power – a letter to Bishop Budde” that has swung the balance. In the famous words of Oliver Cromwell, addressed to your fellow-countrymen, “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken”.
I agree with you that her sermon is well constructed, well delivered and its style is not contumacious. However, neither you nor I are American – nor, for that matter are Philip Pullman or Alastair Campbell – but both of us can see that not by any stretch of any imagination is Bishop Budde ‘power’ in the sense meant by “speaking the truth to power”. She is a prominent figure in one denomination among many in a country which under its constitution has no religious establishment, and avowedly no religious self-identity. Yes, I recognise that you are also criticising her for the way she “speaks truth to power” where that power is President Trump, but when you also refer to her as representing an elite WASP denomination, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that you also see yourself in your letter to her as “speaking truth to power”.
If one were going to comment seriously about the relationship between religious leaders and the US government over the last few days, would it not have been more appropriate to have commented on the resonance between the words of Franklin Graham’s the previous day,
“Mr President, over the last four years I’m sure there were times when you thought it was pretty dark, but look at what God has done. We praise him and give him glory.…………. we come to say thank you O Lord our God. Father when Donald Trump’s enemies thought he was down and out you and you alone saved his life in raised him up with strength and Power by your mighty hand.”
and the iron horns of Zedekiah in 1 Ki 22?
Bishop Budde is no Micaiah, but she has not claimed to be. She made no claim either to specific divine or prophetic enlightenment. What she said, anyone with a reasonable amount of knowledge and mental effort could work out for themselves. I have no idea what she believes about the authority of scripture. I had never heard of her before this week. Even if you disagree with her, though, one has to admire her courage in saying the words she did to a congregation which was unlikely to appreciate them, and could be dangerous to her, rather than the bland words more usually expected on these sorts of occasions.
Going back to my quotation from Oliver Cromwell, I would ask you to consider whether your opinion of her sermon might have been quite different if she had not mentioned gays and trans people. It would probably have been better if she had left it out, but listening to her again, I realise that is only once sentence in a talk of 15 minutes.
It may not be penetrating exegesis but one can hardly criticise her for the rest, how difficult it is to aspire to unity when people disagree with each other vehemently, on honouring the inherent dignity of every human being even of those one disagrees with, and how essential honesty and humility are in both private and public life. And nobody can criticise anybody for putting in a plea for mercy towards honest hard-working immigrants at the bottom of the social heap, those who pick crops and wash dishes, whether legal or illegal, nor from advocating Jesus’s words in support of that.
Thanks for this – a few responses to your very interesting comments..
1) Yes she is power. She is a powerful member of the establishment. She has enormous privilege, is wealthy and mixes with the powerful. Of course I was speaking truth to her power – which she abused.
2) Franklin Graham was not really in the news. And I was not asked to comment on his comments. I can’t comment on everything. This was far more significant.
3) Yes she does make claim to divine and prophetic enlightenment. She is not there, or should not be, in her own capacity. She is there as a minister of the Word, to proclaim the Word of God – not her own political opinions.
4) I don’t think it took courage to repeat words that she has already said many times – she is a noted anti-Trump campaigner and a political progressive. She was playing to her own crowd and,as expected, she has been lauded. She does not believe that the Bible is the Word of God and she thinks that Jesus was wrong about marriage.
5) I think her words were incredibly bland – they were the same thoughtless truisms that can posted out every day. They contained very little of any intellectual or spiritual substance (except for the first 12 minutes which she negated by her political polemic).
6) Interesting that you use Oliver Cromwell – one of my heroes. I have no doubt what Cromwell would have said and done with her sermon! But you misjudge me and attribute motives to me I do not have and have not expressed. I don’t appreciate being called homophobic/transphobic – which is really what you are saying. According to you my concern was only with that issue. It wasn’t. I would have said exactly the same if she had left that part out.
7) Of course it would be hard to disagree with the first 12 minutes. But she contradicted herself in the last two and a half by issuing that political polemic. And my article calls her out for her dishonesty (she speaks of honouring the inherent dignity of every human being whilst supporting abortion up to nine months!), and her lack of humility in thinking that her political position equates to the Gospel!
8) Imagine if I had said that noone can criticise Hitler for saying that we should not smoke, we should be kind to animals and we should work hard because work makes us free! Just saying things that are true – or sound nice – does not justify our message. Christians have so fallen into this trap. Just because the devil comes as an angel of light – does not make him light! Its why so many said yes we support SSM because we are for love and love is love. Who is going to deny mercy for honest hard working immigrants. But what about dishonest ones? What about illegal ones? What about showing mercy to Nazis and paedophiles? The question of what mercy is, on what basis we show it, and how it affects our public policy is a really important question. Just simply using nice sounding soundbites without any real substance is not helpful. Her sermon was a passive- aggressive political polemic which should fool no one – but sadly has fooled many.
Ian
Do you think it’s Christian to have armed police “raid” primary schools and select kids to question based on whether they look like they might be an immigrant?
I think you are criticizing entirely the wrong person
I think President trump summed up the disingenuity and Christless diatribe delivered by budde in the following manner “not too exciting, I dont think it was a good service,they could do much better.” And he was correct in his assessment.
Absolute rubbish John
The bishop spoke the truth. You may not like it Trumps politics are well to the right .. he’s also an idiot. And maybe you voted / supported for him. People’s sexual or religious orientation ought to be a considered a sense of freedom – nature given if you like . The truth will out and trumps Zelenskyy BS has again exposed him for what he is and those who voted for him I guess will get their reward. Most folks with a decent education and intellect would never vote for Trump.
Its disappointing that you feel the need to abuse and mock in order to make your point that those who disagree with you are less intelligent! Make your case with facts and reason – and show some respect. For example you seem to be arguing that sexual orientation is just a ‘sense of freedom’ and therefore should be indulged. Does that include paedophilia?
If paediphelia or sexual abuse is alive and well then you’ll find it mostly in religious organisations .. check out the movie Spotlight … rather than mudslinging .. the bishop spoke the truth and was within her rights .. Trumpnis a Christian extremist IMO who probably has never read the bible and has the morals of an alley cat to quote Biden
extremism in any form goes against my grain … be it the taliban, Protestant creationists, active political right wingers ( often the same ) .. .. those who are not prepared to accept people for who they are .. away back your bunkers and leave decent folks alone
Yes – I have checked out the movie Spotlight – which does highlight a horrific case of child abuse within the church. But that does not prove your prejudice and is itself mudslinging. If you look at the actual statistics for child abuse you will see it is not mostly in religious institutions. The bishop did not speak the truth of the Bible. She is perfectly entitled to air whatever views she likes – but not as someone who is paid to teach the Word of God. I tend to think it is the honourable and honest thing to do.
It’s very strange that you argue that Trump is a ‘Christian’ extremist and yet has never read the Bible. Take your time think about it….
I have personally never met someone who is a Protestant creationist, active political right winger, Taliban member! And I suspect you havn’t either. You are just mouthing all the abusive terms you can muster.
And again you seem to have a lack of real self awareness – on the one hand you say that we should just accept people for who they are….on the other hand you condemn Protestant creationists, taliban members and right wingers for being who they are. Seems that your tolerance is somewhat intolerant!
Apparently only those who agree with you and your extremist intolerance are ‘decent’ folks. I will leave the reader to judge!
A BS sermon! No nice way to describe it. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to bring division and separation. Has this Bishop ever reflected carefully on the NT, and does she understand the mission of Our Lord? “Actions not informed by our prayer etc”,……then is support for abortion to birth a denial of the incarnation, of humans being made in God’s image and a blasphemous contempt for human dignity?
Anglican
Trump is nothing like Jesus
Absolutely spot on David. Thanks again
On the ground Trump has been a lot worse already than most of the media are reporting. He’s ended international aid. He’s ended medical research. Christians used to agree with ending global poverty and securing healthcare for the world. What happened to you?
Hes building detention camps. He’s ended federal recognition of the existence of LGBT people. He’s announced raids on hospitals and schools. There’s at least one case of this already happening where staff at an elementary (primary) school prevented heavily armed police from detaining and questioning small children
Apart from this Bishop the Christian response has been complicity. The Bishop has been a US citizen since birth and has been threatened with deportation for preaching her religious beliefs in her pulpit. If Biden had done the same you’d all be calling for his impeachment. Yet silence about Trumps human rights abuse of Christians.
The new defense secretary says he was having sex with a married woman while married to his second wife and a third woman was pregnant with his child because he is a Christian. He says he was flagged by his own military unit as a risk because of his “Christian tattoos”, which call for the death of Muslims
The Christian world is either silent to all of these outrages or encouraging them. Why? Because several of his cabinet are Russell Brand style “Christians”? Because we’ve discovered an extra verse in Matthew that encourages hatred of immigrants? Because we want a weak west and a resurgent Russian empire?
My article was nothing to do with Trumps policies. Stick to the subject…And tried to tell the truth…you have exaggerated and distorted and to be honest lives to short to deal with your comments – when you wouldn’t listen anyway…When you want to get serious feel free to come back…
It appears to me to be ironic that Oliver Cromwell’s letter to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland be cited.
The issue was who was the rightful king. Of course they were both wrong.
Your paragraph beginning “Perhaps……..” says it all.
Amen
Good morning Rev Roberson – rather off topic from the post – but I would be grateful of your thoughts on this article on the issues of sexual determination proposed by President Trump – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/25/trump-executive-order-sex
Yes – I saw this – its one of the sillier articles that the Guardian has published. Any biologist will tell you that XX and XY are determined at conception. The Guardian like to play these silly games in their denial of science for the sake of their ideology!
Thank you for this response. As an epidemiologist I’ve been interested in the extreme rise of diseases like diabetes and dementia. These cannot be explained by behaviour alone and it looks as if there is a heavy environment component. Bearing this in mind I would welcome your thoughts on the role of, for example, forever chemicals pollution affecting problems with sexual determination. If this is the case we have an extreme growing problem.
Great post, David.
Bishop Budde was honest about the fear within the LGBTQIA community. Apparently, she is listening to us in general, her congregation specifically, as a true pastor does.
No she wasn’t. There are those who are seeking to stir up fear….and a bishop should not be doing that. A true pastor does indeed listen to all their congregation – but a true pastor teaches the Word of God…to those who want to hear it or not. It is not our role to bring our own personal politics into the pulpit
David here is another assessment of +Budde’s sermon:
http://anglicandownunder.blogspot.com/2025/01/a-budde-right-moment.html
Thanks for that….fascinating and yet another example of how much of the Church has turned away from Christ…
I’d be interested to hear the opinions of readers of preacher Lorenzo Sewell who also participated in the inauguration ceremony – and also his post sermon behaviour
As a theologian I find it really funny (read: a combination of “funny ha ha” and “this is painful, but if I don’t laugh I’ll cry”) when people talk about bringing personal politics into interpretations of, or sermons where gospel themes are the core (of which they should be anyway, right?). It always raises the question “is this really personal politics, or is what’s being said actually congruous with the gospels and Jesus’ ministry?”, and in this case it is absolutely harmonious with both the teachings and ministry of Jesus. One only need look to the Sermon On The Mount for its grounding.
This ultimately leads to the next question “at what point did we replace Jesus as a humble, gracious, caring, and compassionate representation of God for a Jesus cloaked in the ruthless morality of the Temple Priests with whom He argued?”. How do we reconcile what’s written in black and white of someone who went out of His way to show mercy to the “least of these”, the outcast, the sick, the oppressed, with what we see of evangelical fundamentalism, prosperity gospel, and telling people that their social, financial, and health situations are purely because they don’t believe strongly enough?
The outrage over Bishop Budde’s address to Trump has shown just how many “Christians” have lost alignment with Christ and found their spiritual compass pointed toward an unGodly false north, and should cause us not to respond to her in anger, but to ask ourselves why anger is our first response.
As a theologian you should be aware of course that advocating for transgender conversion therapy (including physical mutilation) is not according to the teaching of Jesus. Nor is killing babies in the womb. There is not much ‘mercy’ for ‘the least of these’ in that. Nor is denying Christ’s teaching about marriage, gender and sex. You have answered your own question – your theology has nothing to do with the teachings and ministry of Jesus – except in so far as you have made them up in your head. The use of the word ‘mercy is meaningless if you give it no substance. Given that Bishop Budde denies the atonement of Christ (and I suspect you do so as well) – her version of mercy is meaningless and Christless.
And why did you bring the prosperity Gospel into it? Only to defame those who disagree with you. The Prosperity Gospel is as much from the pit of Hell as is your LGBTQ theology….
I’m not sure where you got your theology degree – but can I suggest you ask them for a refund and then go and study some proper theology – something that actually tells you about God!
I feel at this point it’s a good time to remind you that the gospels exist and you should probably spend some time reading them.
One of the curious examples of Jesus interacting with someone who was practising “sexual immorality” is in the narrative of the centurion and his servant. If you are as well versed in history as you claim to be elsewhere, then you would know that it was beyond common practice for the servant to act as a sexual surrogate for the wife while centurions were deployed.
It’s funny that Jesus didn’t say a word about their relationship when he healed the servant. In fact, there was more admonition for the woman caught in adultery than there was for any queer interpersonal actions. Further, there are exactly zero times Jesus mentions homosexuality. He not once mentions transgender people either, so it’s weird that as such a learned authority on scripture you would table such an easily disprovable lie.
But this is where people like you excel, isn’t it? You read Jesus backwards into the Old Testament to say words that never passed his lips as a way to shield your hatred in righteousness. At the end of the day this becomes something you have to answer to God for. While you’re busy stammering for ways to justify your perversion of the gospel, I guess my response to the final question of why I approached my faith the way I do, I can at least say I erred on the side of grace.
My theology degree came from The University of Melbourne through Trinity College.
I sincerely hope you find Jesus, and not… Whatever you call that withered husk of pride you follow.
Thanks for the advice – I read the Gospels every day….I suggest you do the same – and take off your ideological glasses when you do so.
Your theology degree seems to have given you the idea that you can use eisegesis (reading into) the scriptures – rather than exegesis (taking out of). There is of course nothing in the gospel account of the centurion and his servant (Luke 7:1-10) which would suggest any kind of sexual relationship. As a biblical exegete I can tell you that. As a historian I can also tell you that you are just making it up about centurions having their servants act as sexual surrogates…I accept you probably read it in some Queer studies paper – but it just isn’t history. And you can offer no evidence for it whatsoever.
As for Jesus not saying about explictly about homosexuality – he didn’t say anything about paedophilia either – that doesn’t mean he endorsed it. We do know that Jesus upheld every word of the OT law – and that his followers like Paul also taught that homosexuality was wrong. And we know that Jesus taught that sex was to be within marriage and marriage is between a man and a woman.
“You read Jesus back into the Old Testament” – as though that were some kind of bad thing. Unfortunately for you that is precisely what Jesus did – telling his disciples that the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms were about him (Luke 24:44). Then he opened their minds so that they could understand the Scriptures. I pray he will do the same for you.
I don’t need to justify my ‘perversion of the Gospel”. I just follow the gospel – you on the other hand follow an ideology which Christ calls perverse.
As for ‘erring on the side of grace’ – your somewhat judgemental post is hardly very gracious is it? Calling Christ ‘that withered husk of pride”.
As for your theology degree – I would suggest you get your money back. Whatever they taught you – it certainly wasn’t the theology of the Christ of the Bible….!
David, it’s fascinating that you can simultaneously champion ‘proper theology’ while dismissing the lived experiences of marginalised communities that that guy Jesus would have embraced. I’m particularly intrigued by your theological expertise in determining which medical procedures constitute ‘mutilation’ and which don’t.
Perhaps you could enlighten me – are cochlear implants ‘mutilation’? What about spinal fusion? Cleft palate repair? Or is your concern for bodily integrity mysteriously specific to one particular group? Will you be loftily informing Elon Musk that his gender affirming surgery is against God’s teachings?
It’s remarkable how you’ve managed to extract from Christ’s ministry – you know, the one where he consistently sided with society’s outcasts and challenged religious authorities who placed burdens on vulnerable people – a message that perfectly aligns with causing maximum harm to an already persecuted community. When you read about Jesus healing the sick and comforting the suffering, did you interpret that as deny them healthcare and contribute to their astronomical suicide rates’?
Your suggestion that Sarah request a theology degree refund is particularly delightful. Clearly, only theology that reinforces existing power structures while ignoring Christ’s radical message of inclusion counts as ‘proper.’
Tell me this, David. Do you ever lie awake at night thinking about the young people who have taken their lives after being told their existence is incompatible with God’s love? Or does your concern for ‘the least of these’ have carefully drawn boundaries that exclude anyone who makes you uncomfortable?
But please, do continue lecturing us about mercy while advocating positions that directly contribute to human suffering. I’m sure that’s exactly what Jesus had in mind.
P.S. When you next read Matthew 25, pay special attention to the part about how we treat the most vulnerable. You seem to have missed it in your rigorous theological studies.
1) I don’t dismiss the lived experience of ‘marginalised communities’. I know many people who struggle with alcoholism, porn addiction, paedophila, polygamy etc. But I don’t feel obliged to affirm every lifestyle which goes contrary to what Jesus taught…
2) The notion that cleft palate repair is synonymous with a double mastectomy only demonstrates how illogical and insane your ideology is. And how cruel and inhumane.
3) I do side with societies outcasts. Unlike you and your powerful friends. Who oppress the poor and the marginalised in the name of your ideology. I was challenging the religious authorities – in this case the bishop who lives in a $2 million mansion.
4).I agree that it is unbelievably cruel to indoctrinate children into a trans ideology which causes them to mutilate their bodies in order to treat a mental condition. Having spoken to detransitioners and having had trans people in my church for the past 30 years – I regard the trans ideology as one of the most cruel and inhumane ideologies that has ever existed – largely imposed by the powerful on the poor. I am strongly opposed to such conversion therapy.
5) I agree – my theology does oppose existing power structures. Unlike the bishops – which is wedded to the elitist power structures of the up political, media and academic system.
6). Yes – I do lie awake at night and think about the horrors I have seen your ideology impose on people. I also resist the emotional blackmail game you play by threatening suicides. It’s a game I have seen often played. Of course you don’t think about how many suicides the imposition of your evil ideology has caused to children. For you its all about your doctrine. I have been delighted to help young people escape your cult.
7) My ideology includes everyone. Everyone gets offered the same thing – come to Christ, repent and believe. We are all the same. On the other hand you demonise and exclude everyone who does not sign up to your doctrines. I have seen what happens to those who leave the cult. Or who dare to question.
8) I am happy to leave it to the Lord to determine who has caused the most suffering. Me in following his word – or you in perverting it. Let Him be the judge. As you will one day find out.
9) Yes – I know Matthew 25 very well. The parable of the ten virgins about people who don’t know Christ being shut out. The parable of the bags of gold where the richest got rewarded for using his money well? Or perhaps the sheep and the goats – where Christ separates the sheep and the goats – and sends some to heaven and some to Hell…..? Glad to hear that you believe in these things…
David, where does your $2m house information come from? And how exactly is it relevant?
The value of the bishops mansion she stays in is valued at between $2 and $2.5 million. It is relevant because she is being portrayed as being this poor, powerless woman ‘speaking truth to power’ when she in fact is a wealthy, privileged, white woman who belongs to the most elitist church in the US and is herself part of that elite.
Interesting. I’m new to this blog – visited on recommendation of a friend – and my first impressions both of the author and the bulk of the contributers seem very angry people. I’m trying to reconcile the sources of this anger with the religious philosophies under discussion.
Lee Ann – welcome – as a newcomer you have already been busy – posting at least ten times. Good for you! Keep on posting! But a word of caution – be very careful about being judgemental about other people’s motives and emotions. You have already accused people of being Islamaphobic, racist etc. Now you say angry. There are two things to say about that – 1) don’t assume people are angry – unless they tell you so. and 2) As the author of this blog I do get angry – I am angry about injustice, war, racism, poverty, heresy, hatred, misogyny, child abuse, religious hypocrisy, lies…..etc I’m sure you are too. I know Jesus is. But there is a difference between that kind of anger and personal anger about ourselves or against individuals….
Hi David,
John 15:21 comes to mind when I read some of the attacks directed towards you.
I have always enjoyed your blog. It’s not common to find someone with your dedication to patiently redirect people to the truth in scripture if they are willing to listen.
Best wishes
Yours in Christ
Tim