Friday, November 22, 2013

Those who are convinced that American society is overrun with bullies, and that they need to be stopped at all costs, need to talk to these people, reported on by Tom Lambrecht of the evangelical United Methodist magazine Good News:
Acknowledging that “usual approaches … have failed to end the discrimination that is destroying our church,” the group “Love Prevails” has announced a new campaign to secure “the complete removal of all discriminatory language against LGBT people in The Book of Discipline.” In a flier distributed at the Council of Bishops meeting at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, advocates charged that “for longer than the Israelites wandered in the wilderness the United Methodist Church has systematically and categorically denied the full humanity of LGBT people.”
“[C]ategorically denied the full humanity of LGBT people” is, of course, lefty-speak for, “they won’t put their stamp of approval on our God-forbidden behavior!” And that really frosts these people’s backsides:
Love Prevails is proposing a three-part strategy “to abolish the policies of discrimination against LGBT people.” The strategy is to disclose(t), divest, and disrupt.
Disclose(t). The group promises to “speak out publicly about our lives, our families, our friends, and our ministries” and “claim equality for ourselves and our LGBT brothers and sisters.” They also plan to “no longer self-censor” when they conduct same-gender unions and weddings. They will thereby increase their public advocacy and disclosure of acts of disobedience, as well as continuing to forcefully lobby for a change in the church’s teaching on homosexuality.
Divest. In a break with tradition, Love Prevails pledges to “redirect our time and treasure to efforts aimed at ending discrimination against LGBT people,” forsaking their “loyalty to the institution.” In supporting the church with prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness, they believe they are “complicit with policies and practices [they] believe to be both un-Christian and unconscionable.”
Thus, they plan to withhold apportionments from parts of the church they deem to be discriminatory.
Disrupt. The final prong of the Love Prevails strategy is to “protest and disrupt local, national, and global events” and “undermine all policies that limit or deny the full participation of LGBT united Methodists in the life of the church.” “The time for polite persuasion has passed,” they believe. They plan to “stand in the way of business as usual,” including a pledge to disrupt the 2016 General Conference in Portland, Oregon.
They had an opportunity to put their temper-tantrum activism into effect this week:
The Connectional Table (CT) this week felt the first application of this strategy of disruption. As the CT began its meeting, members of Love Prevails sang and spoke over those who were leading the meeting. Love Prevails would not allow the meeting to continue until the CT had changed its agenda to create time for discussion on the issue of LGBTQ inclusion.
They “would not allow the meeting to continue”? Did the people running the meeting have no backbone at all? Did they have no problem giving into emotional and political blackmail? Is there no one willing to call these overgrown toddlers on their behavior? If agencies and organizations within the United Methodist Church are smart, they will start having some form of security at events like this, and be prepared to escort out those unwilling to comport themselves like something other than a frustrated infant screaming his lungs out because mommy won’t let him have a cookie RIGHT NOW!!!
I’m sure these people think they are being all righteous and speak-truth-to-powery and transgressive and whatever other buzzwords they cloak themselves in. What they actually come across as, however, is a bunch of victims of arrested development, adult-sized three-year-olds holding their breath until they turn blue and peeing on the living room rug because they haven’t gotten what they demanded. So when do the adults in the United Methodist Church decide enough is enough and give them the spanking they deserve?

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