Sunday, July 29, 2012

The Outing Of Jonathan Merritt




The Holy Spirit distinctly and expressly declares
that in latter times
some will turn away from the faith,
giving attention to deluding and seducing spirits
and doctrines that demons teach,
Through the hypocrisy and pretensions of liars
whose consciences are seared (cauterized),
Who forbid people to marry
(1 Timothy 4:1-3)

On Monday, July 23, 2012, blogger Azariah Southworth outed Jonathan Merrit. You can read his comments here.

Many have complained that Mr. Southworth should not have "outed" Mr. Merritt.  I fully believe that anyone who identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender should be entitled to their privacy and should be granted the same autonomy to reveal their sexual identity to whom they wish (and when).

There are some exceptions to this general rule of thumb, and while many in the LGBTQIQ disagree with me, I believe the outing of Jonathan Merritt is indeed warranted in this instance. 

Mr. Southworth appears to have been prompted by an article Mr. Merritt published on July 20, 2012 in response to the anti-gay comments of Dan Cathy, CEO of Chik-Fil-A.  I have included the text of his article, and my own comments for consideration by people on both sides of the issue.

The full text of Mr. Merritt's article can be viewed here.

Jonathan Merritt
In Defense of Eating at Chick-fil-A
July 20, 2012

Do we really want a country where people won't do commerce with those who have beliefs different than their own? 

Dan Cathy, president of one of America's largest express fast food chains, has been frying more than chicken filets this week. The Chick-fil-A executive infuriated gay and lesbian groups when he again defended his company's anti-gay marriage position in an interview this week with a Christian news outlet.

"We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit," he said. "We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that." 

Brother Brian:  Right off the bat, Jonathan selects the portions of Dan's comments that he wants to focus on, and avoids other difficult ones like:

"I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,' and I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to try to redefine what marriage is about," Cathy said in that interview, which can be heard here, and read here.

To me, Jonathan's selective parsing of the interview (which was available in the very same publication) already casts a shadow on Jonathan's true intent for publishing his own comments....not to mention how it can easily lead one to question Jonathan's motivations.  (Perhaps Dan Cathy contributes heavily to Jonathan's father's church, for instance).

Jonathan Merritt:  Not surprisingly, his comments were met with fury by those who support same-sex marriage. The company was labeled a "hate group" by many on Twitter and in the blogosphere, and drew promises of boycotts from notables including The Office star Ed Helms. Meanwhile, Americans who patronize the chain's 1,600 locations were left wondering what to do.

Brother Brian:  I take exception to this.  The only person who labeled Chik-Fil-A a "hate group" was Dan Cathy himself.  Not only did Dan choose of his own free will to grant the interview, but chose to focus his remarks on gay issues, and chose to publicly make his stance known.  NONE of those things were necessary.  To have contributed nearly $2 Million to other hate groups, I contend it was Mr. Cathy himself who so labeled his company, not those in the LGBTQIQ community who took him at his own word.

Jonathan Merritt:  Should they swear off the legendary chicken sandwiches to support gay rights? Or could they eat one of the filets anyway, knowing their dollars would be but a drop in the bucket for a chain that has more than $4 billion in annual sales and donated a pittance to groups they may disagree with?  

Brother Brian:  This is the most stinging portion of Jonathan's article for me personally.  After parsing down Dan's own words, to now suggest that because it was only $2 Million that somehow that doesn't really "count" as supporting hate groups, just smacks of spin to me, and we're only 2 points into the article.

Jonathan Merritt:  I'd argue the latter -- and this has nothing to do with my views on gay marriage. It's because Chick-fil-A is a laudable organization on balance, and because I refuse to contribute to the ineffective boycott culture that's springing up across America.

First of all, Chick-fil-A is not a hate group. In a statement released yesterday, company leaders made their commitment to equal service clear, "The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect -- regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender."

Brother Brian:  Describing a significant portion of the population as "inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,' and I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to try to redefine what marriage is about," indeed IS hate, regardless of what Jonathan would care to characterize (read: spin) it as instead.

Such language emboldens bullies who grow up to perceive LGBTQIQ kids in their schools as dangerous targets to be "justifiably" eliminated.  LGBTQIQ kids who grow up hearing this about themselves commit suicide at an alarming rate.  For Jonathan to demonstrate that his interests are more firmly aligned with shielding Chik-Fil-A from the full force of economic sanctions such as can be levied by boycotting them, (as well as Jonathan's own paycheck from writing this article), demonstrates to me that Azariah did the only right thing there was to do, by putting Jonathan's words in their true context, vis-a-vis Jonathan's own sexual orientation.

Jonathan Merritt:  As a native Atlantan, I've dined at the chicken chain more than I'd like to admit over more than two decades and even interacted with its leadership team. I've never witnessed any customer refused service or even treated differently. On the contrary, Chick-fil-A is known for offering world-class customer service to each person that walks through one of the restaurant's doors.

Additionally, the organization gives millions of dollars each year to charitable causes -- and not just to "pro-family" groups. It funds a large foster care program, several schools of a higher learning, and a children's camp. It has provided thousands of scholarships for Chick-fil-A employees to attend college and grow past the service sector where they got their workplace start. (On Friday, the company provided free meals for Aurora, Colo., policemen.)

Brother Brian:  So What?  It seems Jonathan hopes to bracket this little amount of hate by contrasting it against what he perceives to be a greater amount of good.  Of course he's welcome to do so, but that in no way takes away the hate, or its devastating impact on LGBTQIQ youth.  Nor does it prove that the other organizations Mr. Cathy donates to are anything more than facades for hate group supporters as well, disguised as orphanages and schools.

Jonathan Merritt:  And the company's leaders claim to do all of this out of convictions rooted in the Christian faith. Anyone who has even a cursory knowledge of the company should know that it does not hide its commitment to biblical values. Its corporate statement of purpose since 1982 has begun, "To glorify God..."

Brother Brian:  How does it "glorify God" to characterize even one of His children as "inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,' and I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to try to redefine what marriage is about'" ?  ANSWER:  It doesn't glorify God in any way.  It demonizes LGBTQIQ people, and it gives all Christians (and God) a bad name!

Jonathan Merritt:  Given this, that anyone was surprised by Cathy's statements is, well, surprising. Like many conservative Christians, he does not support gay marriage. 

Brother Brian:  Nobody is surprised that Dan Cathy doesn't support gay marriage.  We are surprised that Mr. Cathy felt it was a smart business move to publicly denounce a significant portion of the population as "inviting God's jugdment upon our nation" with a parsed out section of Romans 1 which actually addresses heterosexual married couples engaged in idol worship and adultery, and not LGBTQIQ people.  That may not be what the Church teaches, and that may not be what Dan believes, but that is what the Bible actually says.

For Jonathan to have missed this important point continues to cast doubt on his motivations for writing this article in the first place.  Coupled with recent political figures now taking their very public stance on the issue, I think it's becoming clear to all of us that Jonathan does nothing but hope to cash in on a political position that indeed addresses gay marriage specifically....all while pretending that he isn't gay himself.  IMHO, he's being paid to "spin" the story with this article.

And we're not even going to talk about how this whole thing with Chik-Fil-A has revealed just how they are being used as a point of reference to keep the gay marriage issue alive as a voter animating tool, or we wouldn't see so many politicians getting involved in Dan Cathy's blatant exploitation of the LGBTQIQ community for political means.  Of course he has that right to do so, and we have just as much right to boycott his business for doing so.  A 28% drop in customer rating over the past week tells me we are on the right side of this issue, even as Jonathan is being paid to beckon us to reconsider with this article.

Again I say it is hypocrisy that Azariah exposed here, not Jonathan's sexual orientation.

Jonathan Merritt:  I'm flummoxed that so many consumers are so quick these days to call for boycotts of any company that deviates from their personal or political views. For one thing, boycotts rarely cause actual pocketbook - rather than PR -- damage. 

Most consumers don't care enough to drive an extra mile to get the same product from someone else. And that's especially the case for companies as large as Chick-fil-A, which has prime locations on many college campuses where there is little head-to-head competition.  

But my bigger question is this: In a nation that's as divided as ours is, do we really want our commercial lives and our political lives to be so wholly intermeshed?

Brother Brian:  UGH!  Again, the LGBTQIQ community isn't the ones who need to be addressed if this is Jonathan's true concern.  He should be telling Dan Cathy to keep his political views to himself if he doesn't want our "commerical lives and political lives to be intermeshed"...and he should wake up to the subsequent political figures who are using this as a tool for political gain, whether Jonathan sees it or not.

Jonathan Merritt:  And is this really the kind of culture we want to create? Culture war boycotts cut both ways and are much more likely to meet with success when prosecuted by large groups of people, such as Christian activists, who are more numerous than gays and lesbians and their more activist supporters.

Brother Brian:  I don't think the success of boycotts can be measured solely in dollars coming directly in (or no longer coming in) to those being boycotted.  Boycotts send a signal to similar companies and puts them on notice that similar public comments or actions will be met with similar boycotts, and serve as a deterrent to similar comments or actions.  Further, boycotts  ensure (in this case) that at least some LGBTQIQ teens can be assured that they are not alone, and that the adults of our community are doing all we can to ensure a better life for them than what we have.  Saving the next billionaire who just happens to be a gay teen today from committing suicide, is an example of an economic measure that doesn't show up in the bottom line of companies being directly boycotted, but they are very real economic impacts just the same.

Jonathan Merritt:  Gay and lesbian groups were famously rankled when pro-family activists reacted against Kraft for posting a photo of an Oreo cookie with rainbow-hued filling last month in honor of Gay Pride Month, and also when similar groups protested JCPenney for announcing lesbian talk show host Ellen DeGeneres would be its next spokesperson.

So should the 45 percent of Americans who oppose gay marriage opt for Chips Ahoy! instead of Oreos? Should they begin shopping at Belk instead of JC Penny? If they did, it wouldn't make any more sense than the endless failed calls for liberal consumers to boycott Urban Outfitters, because its owner is a conservative and Rick Santorum donor, or to not order from Domino's Pizza, because it was founded by a Catholic conservative who helped fund anti-abortion causes.

On both sides of our latest culture war divide, we must learn to have level-headed disagreements without resorting to accusations of hate speech and boycotts. As Josh Ozersky argued on TIME Thursday, "businesses should be judged by their products and their practices, not by their politics."

Brother Brian:  Again, Jonathan's demonstrable detachment from reality is astonishing.  The examples he points to (Rick Santorum donors and the Catholic Church) have both made numerous public statements against LGBTQIQ people in ways that go far beyond voicing opposition to gay marriage.  They demonize and dehumanize LGBTQIQ people by conflating pedophilia and bestiality with being gay.  Jonathan may otherwise have a point, but choosing these well known anti gay examples is again, just astonishing.  It demonstrates both a failure to grasp the reality of the situation LGBTQIQ people face every day, and fails to demonstrate the sensitivity and level-headedness he says he wants folks to engage in.

Jonathan Merritt:  I agree: I don't care how my dry cleaner votes. I just want to know if he/she can press my Oxfords without burning my sleeves. I find no compelling reason to treat sandwiches differently than shirts.  

From a business standpoint, some might say Cathy's comments were imprudent if not downright dumb. But in a society that desperately needs healthy public dialogue, we must resist creating a culture where consumers sort through all their purchases (fast food and otherwise) for an underlying politics not even expressed in the nature of the product itself.  

Brother Brian:  Again, I would suggest it is not the LGBTQIQ community who needs to hear this, but Dan Cathy himself.  We didn't exactly tie his hands behind his back and get a tape recorder and tell him to explain his positions on gay marriage to us.  He went to the Baptist Press and shared his views out of his own free will ... for what turns out to have been revealed as for political purposes.  Likewise, he financially contributed to well known anti-gay groups.  The gay community didn't ask him to, and we should not be the ones being encouraged to back down on this.  IMHO.

Jonathan Merritt:  If white meat's not your thing, try the Golden Arches. But if you want a perfectly fried chicken sandwich, Chick-fil-A, will be happy to serve you -- gay or straight. In this case, those who boycott are the ones missing out.

Brother Brian:  The ones who miss out are the LGBTQIQ youth who find themselves with nobody to stand up for them when LGBTQIQ adults *don't* stand up for them, whether it's to boycott anti gay speech from a business owner, a politician, or a pastor....

....and in Azariah's case, I think he would include a pastor's son who just happen to be a gay man themselves, and who writes articles supporting anti-gay businesses and politicians, while blaming the LGBTQIQ community for their reactions and statements to said anti-gay speech. 

Yep....hypocrisy is what's being exposed here....I think the comments I shared in response to Jonathan's article shows that the hypocrisy runs deep in him.

It shows the conflicts, the willful blindness, the selective hearing and victim blaming that is all too common in our community....precisely because of businesses that perhaps should have been boycotted a long time ago.

Sad really.

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Dear Valued Readers,
This blog is a work in progress. As events in the Church impact previously published posts, updates will be published at the end of each post in order to provide the utmost transparency and clarity to all concerned parties as this new move of God progresses. Readers may email thebedkeeper@gmail.com to discuss or comment on any posting. Please note that while all feedback is highly valued and appreciated, it may not be possible to reply to each email.

UPDATE 03.05.13: GREAT NEWS! Regarding the 10.27.12 UPDATE: After new considerations have come to light, I confidently continue my full personal endorsement of Eagle Mountain International Church as a SAFE SPACE for LGBT people to worship, and am pleased to encourage you to resume supporting this vibrant ministry financially. Details here.

UPDATE 02.09.13: Listen in as Brian Anthony Bowen provides the NCK and Friends radio audience with valuable insights into Biblical support of Same Sex Marriage that the Church doesn't seem to want us to know!
 
Part One:
Part Two:

UPDATE 10.27.12:
Eagle Mountain International Church took an official position on gay marriage in a sermon on 10.14.12. While not in support of gay marriage, Pastor George reminds his congregation that "those considered to be gay" are equally worthy of love and compassion. Pastor Terri continues to consider being gay as "being caught up in bondage." Several passages of Scripture were quoted to support their views, but no mention was made of any Scriptures that disprove their view, such as discussed in Chapter One: Born This Way and Chapter Two: God Sanctioned Gay Marriage. While I am not rescinding my endorsement of Eagle Mountain International Church as a safe space for LGBT people to worship, I am officially recommending we no longer support them financially. It is clear we have a long way to go in educating the Church, and I remain hopefully confident that after the 2012 elections are over, we will have more opportunities to walk further into the new revelations from God's Word shared throughout this blog. I encourage all LGBT people and our families to continue to hold Pastor George and Terri up in prayer, so that the eyes of their understanding may be flooded with light, and they come to more fully understand the prophetic role that LGBT people play in the spiritual life of the Christian Church, and the return of Jesus Christ.
UPDATE 04.29.12:
My previous endorsement of Lakewood Church is hereby retracted due to this interview: wherein Pastor Joel Osteen declares that "being gay" itself is a sin. That is NOT what the Bible says, and I cannot support it, nor ask anyone else to. I explained this in a previous letter to Pastor Joel in response to his interview with Piers Morgan, which can be reviewed here. I apologize for the mixed messages my own comments may tend to manifest themselves as in this case, but it is an unfortunate result of Pastor Joel's own mixed messages, and his decision to tailor his messages to the audience to whom he is speaking at the time. Should he publicly apologize for his unScriptural comments, and declare he has come to understand the difference between saying "being gay is a sin" and "homosexuality is a sin" (to reflect Scripture's own narrowly defined context of married men who engaged in adultery on their wives to be with men...which has nothing to do with LGBT people), I hope to renew my endorsement of Lakewood Church at some point in the future....but not until then.

UPDATE 01.15.12:
Lakewood Church officially endorsed as a SAFE SPACE for LGBT people to worship! Details here.

UPDATE 11.22.11:
Eagle Mountain International Church officially endorsed as a SAFE SPACE for LGBT people to worship! Details here.

UPDATE 12.16.11:
Please also review the response shared with a debate panel regarding the Bible's position on homosexuality, that reveals the unScriptural stance "ex-gay" theology manifests itself as here.
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