Christianity,  Culture

Thoughts on Obama’s Remarks at the LGBT Reception

President Obama hosted hundreds of gay and lesbian leaders in the White House yesterday for a “LGBT Gay Pride Month” reception. I want to comment briefly on three excerpts from the President’s remarks and conclude with some final thoughts at the end.

“There are unjust laws to overturn and unfair practices to stop.  And though we’ve made progress, there are still fellow citizens, perhaps neighbors or even family members and loved ones, who still hold fast to worn arguments and old attitudes; who fail to see your families like their families.”

The President is not promoting toleration of opposing views on homosexuality. The President wants those who hold a heterosexual norm to be marginalized until their view becomes no longer tenable in our culture. The President envisions a future in which homosexual unions will be treated no differently than heterosexual ones. Obama aims to abolish “unjust laws” that institutionalize such distinctions. For him, social progress means overturning the Judeo-Christian norm of heterosexual monogamy.

“I want you to know that I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises I’ve made, but by the promises that my administration keeps. . . We’ve been in office six months now. I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration.”

This is a tip-of-the-hat to homosexual activists who believe Obama has been moving too slowly in advancing the gay-rights agenda. Activists think that Obama should have already ended policies like “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and that he should have already moved forward legislation to abolish the Defense of Marriage Act. Obama reiterates his commitment to address these concerns but that he will do so incrementally. He’s telling them to be patient. He will come through for them in the end.

“That’s the story of the movement for fairness and equality — not just for those who are gay, but for all those in our history who’ve been denied the rights and responsibilities of citizenship; who’ve been told that the full blessings and opportunities of this country were closed to them. It’s the story of progress sought by those who started off with little influence or power; by men and women who brought about change through quiet, personal acts of compassion and courage and sometimes defiance wherever and whenever they could.”

In this statement, the President reflects a view that is becoming more and more entrenched in our culture—that the fight for gay rights is the moral equivalent of the fight for civil rights for women and minorities in previous generations. The moral upshot of this view is that those who oppose gay-rights must necessarily be placed in the category of bigot.

This post is not mainly a complaint about the President (though I couldn’t be more opposed to his policies on this issue). My main observation is this. I don’t think that most people have fully appreciated the implications of the social change we are now witnessing. The ground is moving beneath our feet. For Christians, this means that we need to be aware that laws will be changing in the coming years, and there will be some new realities to adjust to. We need to be thinking about those in advance so that we can be faithful in the midst of an increasingly hostile culture.

6 Comments

  • volfan007

    Denny,

    How can anyone not see that this administration is an outward demonstration of what’s wrong with the USA today? And, will be what takes us down as a free nation?

    May the Lord be patient with us, and show us mercy.

    David

  • Joe Blackmon

    The sickening part for Christians is that Mainstream christians applaud these sorts of policies or if they’re not busy pushing this sick agenda they’re too spineless to stand up for what’s right and call sin what the Bible calls sin. I’ve read on other blogs how we need to lay off of our “culture war”. What these Mainstream christians don’t seem to realize is that Christians are involved not in a “culture war” but in a “truth war”.

  • Michael Metts

    In 30 years, that man will be the poster boy for case studies in psychology books. I do not think history will be very kind toward Barack.

  • Nick Hill

    As a Canadian, I am quite confused by Obama. He claims to be a born again Christian, but it seems many of his policies deny biblical morality. It would be like if I claimed to be an atheist, and I said: “God’s creation is stunning” and “Jesus is only way to God.” His actions betray his words.

  • Joe Blankenship

    If twenty years ago we could not have imagined the church embracing the perversions being embraced today, we better steady ourselves for what lied ahead on this front as well. It is the progression in Romans 1 that it appears the church is on. I believe Denny is exactly right when he says, “there will be some new realities to adjust to. We need to be thinking about those in advance so that we can be faithful in the midst of an increasingly hostile culture.”

    A.W. Tozer gave this warning 50 years ago: “Some things are funny, and we may well laugh sometimes. But sin isn’t funny; death isn’t funny…” and in another place: “the weakness of so many modern Christians is that they feel too much at home in the world. In their effort to achieve restful “adjustment” (connect) to unregenerate society they have lost their pilgrim character and become an essential part of the moral order against which they are sent to protest. The world recognizes them and accepts them for what they are. And this is the saddest thing that can be said about them. They are not lonely, but neither are they saints.”

    May God raise up prophetic voices like yours Denny to warn our generation of where it is headed.

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