About one week ago, evangelical pastor Louie Giglio rejected President Obama’s offer to pray at the presidential inauguration. The reason? Pressure groups made a big fat deal about some very faithful comments he made about homosexuality. He made the comments some time ago, but that is beside the point. He made them. The politically correct world hates them. He felt the pressure, and withdrew his participation. It is likely, I would suggest, that the Obama camp also had a say in his withdrawing, as they made a statement saying that Giglio’s views contravene the President’s on homosexuality.
There have been lots of insightful responses from various people, and I encourage you read at least one of them (see a summary and links here). The precedent being set in this decision is significant – there is a standard of religious orthodoxy which must be satisfied if you want to participate in the public square. Albert Mohler’s comments are telling:
“And there you have it — anyone who has ever believed that homosexuality is morally problematic in any way must now offer public repentance and evidence of having “evolved” on the question. This is the language that President Obama used of his own “evolving” position on same-sex marriage. This is what is now openly demanded of Christians today. If you want to avoid being thrown off the program, you had better learn to evolve fast, and repent in public.”
There is more to say, and no doubt more will be said. This sort of cultural and political shift seems to creep up on us. However, the warning signs have been there for a long time, and there have been some very recent examples of this trend here in Australia. Remember what Tony Abbott said about his daughters and their sexual purity? The firestorm that followed was only a sign of things to come. Buckle up.
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