How evangelicals won a culture war and lost a generation<\/a> by Rachel Held Evans in CNN Online.<\/p>\nThe Text:<\/strong> On March 24, World Vision announced that the U.S. branch of the popular humanitarian organization would no longer discriminate against employees in same-sex marriages.<\/p>\nIt was a decision that surprised many but one that made sense, given the organization\u2019s ecumenical nature.<\/p>\n
But on March 26, World Vision President Richard Stearns reversed the decision, stating, \u201cour board acknowledged that the policy change we made was a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supporters helped the aid group \u201csee that with more clarity,\u201d Stearns added, \u201cand we\u2019re asking you to forgive us for that mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So what happened within those 48 hours to cause such a sudden reversal?<\/p>\n
The Evangelical Machine kicked into gear.<\/p>\n
Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the decision pointed to \u201cdisaster,\u201d and the Assemblies of God denomination encouraged its members to pull their financial support from the organization.<\/p>\n
Evangelicals took to Twitter and Facebook to threaten to stop sending money to their sponsored children unless World Vision reversed course.<\/p>\n
Within a day of the initial announcement, more than 2,000 children sponsored by World Vision lost their financial support. And with more and more individuals, churches and organizations threatening to do the same, the charity stood to lose millions of dollars in aid that would otherwise reach the poor, sick, hungry and displaced people World Vision serves.<\/p>\n
So World Vision reversed course.<\/p>\n
Stearns told The New York Times that some people, satisfied with the reversal, have called World Vision headquarters to ask, \u201cCan I have my child back?\u201d as though needy children are expendable bargaining chips in the culture war against gay and lesbian people.<\/p>\n
Many of us who grew up evangelical watched with horror as these events unfolded.<\/p>\n
As a longtime supporter of World Vision, I encouraged readers of my blog to pick up some of the dropped sponsorships after the initial decision. I then felt betrayed when World Vision backtracked, though I urged my readers not to play the same game but to keep supporting their sponsored children, who are of course at no fault in any of this.<\/p>\n
But most of all, the situation put into stark, unsettling relief just how misaligned evangelical priorities have become.<\/p>\n
When Christians declare that they would rather withhold aid from people who need it than serve alongside gays and lesbians helping to provide that aid, something is wrong.<\/p>\n
There is a disproportionate focus on homosexuality that consistently dehumanizes, stigmatizes and marginalizes gay and lesbian people and, at least in this case, prioritizes the culture war against them over and against the important work of caring for the poor.<\/p>\n
Evangelicals insist that they are simply fighting to preserve \u201cbiblical marriage,\u201d but if this were actually about \u201cbiblical marriage,\u201d then we would also be discussing the charity\u2019s policy around divorce.<\/p>\n
But we\u2019re not.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Scripture itself teaches that when we clothe and feed those in need, we clothe and feed Christ himself, and when we withhold care from those in need, we withhold it from Christ himself (Matthew 25:31-46).<\/p>\n
Why are the few passages about homosexuality accepted uncritically, without regard to context or culture, but the many about poverty so easily discarded?<\/p>\n
As I grieved with my (mostly 20- and 30-something) readers over this ugly and embarrassing situation, I heard a similar refrain over and over again: \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m an evangelical anymore. I want to follow Jesus, but I can\u2019t be a part of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
I feel the same way.<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s over the denial of evolutionary science, continued opposition to gender equality in the church, an unhealthy alliance between religion and politics or the obsession with opposing gay marriage, evangelicalism is losing a generation to the culture wars.<\/p>\n
A recent survey from Public Religion Research Institute revealed that nearly one-third of millennials who left their childhood faith did so because of \u201cnegative teachings\u201d or \u201cnegative treatment\u201d of gay and lesbian people.<\/p>\n
Christians can disagree about what the Bible says (or doesn\u2019t say) about same-sex marriage. This is not an issue of orthodoxy. But when we begin using child sponsorships as bargaining tools in our debates, we\u2019ve lost the way of Jesus.<\/p>\n
So my question for those evangelicals is this: Is it worth it?<\/p>\n
Is a \u201cvictory\u201d against gay marriage really worth leaving thousands of needy children without financial support?<\/p>\n
Is a \u201cvictory\u201d against gay marriage worth losing more young people to cynicism regarding the church?<\/p>\n
Is a \u201cvictory\u201d against gay marriage worth perpetuating the idea that evangelical Christians are at war with LGBT people?<\/p>\n
And is a \u201cvictory\u201d against gay marriage worth drowning out that quiet but persistent internal voice that asks, “what if we get this wrong?”<\/p>\n
I, for one, am tired of arguing. I\u2019m tired of trying to defend evangelicalism when its leaders behave indefensibly.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going AWOL on evangelicalism’s culture wars so I can get back to following Jesus among its many refugees: LGBT people, women called to ministry, artists, science-lovers, misfits, sinners, doubters, thinkers and \u201cthe least of these.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019m ready to stop waging war and start washing feet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Article: How evangelicals won a culture war and lost a generation by Rachel Held Evans in CNN Online. The Text: On March 24, World Vision announced that the U.S. branch of the popular humanitarian organization would no longer discriminate against employees in same-sex marriages. It was a decision that surprised many but one that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/p>\n