Unpacking the Giglio Imbroglio

[cbayer]

http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/sarahposner/6760/unpacking_the_giglio_imbroglio/

January 10, 2013 2:57pm
Post by SARAH POSNER

If a blogger could fire up the Google machine and discover that Louie Giglio said, about 15 years ago, that the gay rights movement is one that seeks “to seize by any means necessary the feeling and the mood of the day, to the point where the homosexual lifestyle becomes accepted as a norm in our society and is given full standing as any other lifestyle,” why couldn’t the White House?

The entire sequence—from the Inaugural Committee’s announcement that Giglio would be delivering the benediction, to the Think Progress post, to Giglio’s letter withdrawing—was over in a flash. In that flash, we learned that Giglio didn’t really seem to see anything fundamentally wrong with his decade-and-half-old sermon. In fact, he really seems to still believe that the “agenda” (his word, not mine) is a selfish, self-serving one, a movement that would seek to “dwarf” (again, his word, not mine) his godly inaugural message.

Why, exactly, does Obama have this problem? Can’t he find an LGBT-affirming clergy, or at least someone who doesn’t have an online trove of sermons denouncing sexual sin, or, barring that, someone who has repented from homophobia, to put it in religious terms?


The answer is, of course, all those options are available to him (and many observers, including the Washington Monthly’s Ed Kilgore, have started making suggestions for Giglio replacements). Recall 2009, when Obama was faced with opposition to his selection of Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation. Obama tapped Gene Robinson to deliver the invocation at a concert. Why it wasn’t the other way around was also a question raised at the time.* But it’s really not the point. The point is that Obama thought that Warren was worthy, just as he thought Giglio was worthy four years later.

more at link

[1StrongBlackMan]

1. I understand the "disappointment"/Outrage ...

that having such a speaker would cause - believe me, as a Black man, I would be similarly upset should a klansman be tapped to speak; but I have a question (that seriously, I am too lazy to investigate):

I have read what he said 15 years ago; but what has Giglio said lately with respect to the GLBT community?

People evolve ... People have changes of heart. Byrd was a klansman; but spent the last decades of his life as a ardent su[pporter ofof civil rights for all ... Likewise, Wallace was a segregationalist, until later in his life. If I were to judge either of these men on what they once said, I would miss who they had become ... and that transformation tells a powerful story.

So ... has anyone heard what Giglio has said lately? Thanks in advance.

[trotsky]

2. See this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/121861907

[1StrongBlackMan]

3. Went there ...

saw nothing relevant to his current views/beliefs with respect to the GLBT Community ... just a summary of Passions' 1997 core values(?) and your comment that he seemed to continue in his intolerant ways, even though the summary is silent on the GLBT Community.

Not trying to give you a hard time ... just seeking information.

[trotsky]

4. The church's site is copyright 2011.

Perhaps you should contact them and ask if you want the absolute latest position on something?

http://www.passioncitychurch.com/2.0/#/connect/opportunities-6/contact-us-170/

[1StrongBlackMan]

5. Thanks ...

So I guess you only have 10 year old positions on Giglio ... nothing more current?

[trotsky]

8. I don't belong to his church, nor do I have any connection to the man.

I provided you with a current link, and a method to contact his church directly. Good luck.

[1StrongBlackMan]

9. Thanks n/t

[cbayer]

6. He has avoided saying anything on the subject. From his withdrawal letter:

Clearly, speaking on this issue has not been in the range of my priorities in the past fifteen years. Instead, my aim has been to call people to ultimate significance as we make much of Jesus Christ.

[1StrongBlackMan]

7. Okay ...

that gives me pause. Thanks.

[cbayer]

10. He's never backed off his original position and the committee who selected

him apparently did not do their homework on this.

[Fumesucker]

11. Is that what those wacky kids are calling it these days?

Cute title, so rich with double entendre.