Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Marching and praying for Dobson's soul

Again, anyone with a Scriptural view of sexual sin is now a hate-monger according to progressives. With that in mind, "Soulforce" is marching on Focus on the Family.

Marching and praying for Dobson's soul from the Denver Post is garden-variety progressive "open-mindedness" pointed at a Bible-believing ministry. In full ...


They started marching Monday, from the state Capitol toward Colorado Springs.

And as the week progresses, their numbers will grow into the hundreds as they converge Saturday at the campus of Focus on the Family, where an estimated 1,000 people will pray for its founder, James Dobson.

I plan to be there, to witness a courageous act: Hundreds of gays and lesbians praying for a man whose powerful organization lobbies for anti-gay legislation and spews damaging mistruths about gay people.

The 1000-Watt March is being organized by Soulforce, a non-profit organization that confronts homophobic religious organizations and leaders using the non-violent teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.

Actor Chad Allen will lead a 2-mile march from Rampart Park in Colorado Springs starting at 6 p.m. Saturday.

At the headquarters of Focus on the Family, they will light candles and pray. Later that night, Broadway star Billy Porter will perform.

The demonstrators pledge to behave respectfully.

"We seek to confront spiritual violence at its source," said Chris Hubble, a local Soulforce leader. "We define spiritual violence as the misuse of religion to condemn or reject any of God's children."

It's a logical approach, considering homophobic religious leaders have controlled the national debate in a country where our democracy seems to be turning into a theocracy. Folks like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are the puppeteers of politicians who sponsor anti-gay legislation in exchange for votes and campaign contributions.

They cherry-pick passages from the Bible and twist scientific research to get at their conclusion: that gay people are deviants who can be "cured."

Jeff Lutes, executive director of Soulforce, believes these religious leaders speak dispargingly about people they don't understand: "They were taught that being gay or lesbian is the sin of all sins."

Dobson has called gay people sick, has suggested that they accept pedophilia, and rails against what he calls a "gay agenda" bent on "destroying marriage." He suggests gay people can be "restored" if they undergo specialized therapy.

Gary Schneeberger, a spokesman for FOTF, said Soulforce has a larger entity to reckon with: God.

"Our views on (gay issues) are aligned with God's views," Schneeberger said.

It would be easy to blow off Dobson if he didn't have so much power, but the tentacles of Focus on the Family are huge.

It has an annual budget of $145 million. FOTF claims that 220 million people listen daily to Dobson's international radio and television programs. It has established "Family Policy Councils" in 32 states whose mission is to influence public opinion and push for anti-gay legislation. Not to mention that Dobson has strong ties to our president.

But just because Dobson has power and influence doesn't make him right. And it doesn't mean he won't one day change his mind about homosexuality being a disease.

"There was a time when Jerry Falwell was a segregationist and he wrote in his biography that it was a shoe-shine man who changed his mind," Lutes said. "He said the shoe- shine man asked him, 'When will my family be able to come to your church?' It was a pivotal moment."

Lutes said he doesn't expect the marchers to change Dobson's mind, but it could happen.

Beyond that, Lutes says it is an opportunity to empower those who feel they have been maligned by Focus on the Family's teachings.

He said, "For any oppressed group of people it is incredibly empowering to stand in front of your oppressor and say, 'Here I am. I am gay. I am proud to be gay. I demand equal rights. I will not stand by as you defame people like me.' "

The more people who show up, the more validating that experience will be.



The whole thing reminds me of a quote from Martin Luther: "If the devil were wise enough and would stand by in silence and let the Gospel be preached, he would suffer less harm. For when there is no battle for the Gospel it rusts and it finds no cause and no occasion to show its vigor and power. Therefore, nothing better can befall the Gospel than that the world should fight it with force and cunning."