News Tidbits

Associated Press: Man behind armed Oregon band says he's on mission from God

Baptist Press: Local impact goal of Evangelicals for Life

On Top Magazine: Former 'Ex-Gay' Head Wendy Gritter Rejects Conversion Therapy, Marries Gay Couple 

Entertainment Tonight: Judge Denies Josh Duggar's Motion to Dismiss Danica Dillon Lawsuit

LGBTQ Nation: Cruz’s Virginia campaign leader: Homosexuality is the ‘prevention of the seed’

World Magazine: Cruz endorsement sparks pushback

Washington Post: Ted Cruz asks Iowans for a favor: Prayer

The Advocate: Allstate and Gay Dads in Ad Under Attack by American Family Association

Christian Science Monitor: Czarist echo? Russian Orthodox Church drives to restore its political clout

The Guardian: Philippines axes contraceptive budget

The Local: 'We wrote our vows in blood', says Italian nun

Commentary Tidbits

Daily Xtra: Dallas gaybashings leave Toronto gay man shaken (Trigger warning)

Mother Jones: Ted Cruz's Dad Says It's "Appalling" to Have a Gay Mayor

Huffington Post: 6 Things You Should Know About Alabama's Chief Justice Roy Moore

Christian Science Monitor: Roy Moore: the Alabama judge who 'relishes' gay marriage fight 

Think Progress: What It’s Like To Escape Ex-Gay Therapy — And Then Defeat It

Right Wing Watch: Meet Marco Rubio's 'Religious Liberty Advisory Board'

Musical Interlude: "At the Center of All Infinity" by Yuri Gagarin

News Tidbits

NPR: Mormon Faith Serves As Powerful Symbol For Oregon Protesters

Associated Press: ACLU to school: No 'God bless America' after pledge

Religion News Service: Supreme Court Justice Scalia: Constitution says government can favor religion 

Washington Post: 2015 was deadliest year for domestic extremist violence in two decades, report says

Washington Post: Donald Trump will speak at Liberty University, where he finds a friend in Jerry Falwell Jr.

The Local: Spanish Archbishop blames domestic violence on 'disobedient wives'

Commentary Tidbits

PBS Newshour: Why the Bundy militia mixes Mormon symbolism with anti-government sentiment

Think Progress: The Bundy Family’s Odd Mormon Connection, Explained

Los Angeles Times: Meet the cast of colorful characters in the Oregon standoff

Slate: What It’s Like to Be an Ex-Mormon Lesbian

Metro Weekly: Conservative radio host: Where can I shop if everywhere is pro-gay?

OneThing 2015: Stuart Greaves and Empathy

To read about Mike Bickle's talk at OneThing 2015, click here.

The International House of Prayer (IHOP) hosted its annual OneThing conference on December 28-31 at the Kansas City Convention Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Stuart Greaves, a member of IHOP's senior leadership team, delivered a talk on December 31st entitled "Walking with Joy in the Midst of the Growing Crisis on the Earth". When I listened to Greaves, I heard a fundamentalist man who seemed to be struggling against his own empathy.

Greaves began by telling listeners about how he and IHOP prayed against same-sex marriage in 2015. When the Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, Greaves was filled with joy that he couldn't understand.

"Several months ago, in April, when the Supreme Court began the deliberations concerning the issue of same-sex marriage, at the House of Prayer we had set aside the whole day to cry out to the Lord, for the Lord to touch the judges with wisdom and the fear of the Lord, that the deliberations toward same-sex marriage would not take place. Of course, they started the deliberations and it would take several months before the conclusion would be made know.

As Mike [Bickle] mentioned earlier, I'm on the Night Watch, so I went to bed as normal and I woke up in the early afternoon, and my wife Esther, she happened to walk into the room. It's June 26th, and she tells me that the Supreme Court had come to a verdict and that they decided to legalize gay marriage.

And when she told me that, a very strange thing happened in my heart ... My heart was filled with joy, and it troubled me. I went, 'Wait a minute. I shouldn't be feeling joy right now. This is not good news. Why am I feeling joy in my heart?' And for a couple of days, I just didn't want to talk about it, because I did not know what to do with this joy in light of this horrific news about this very dark and evil decree that came from the Supreme Court.

As the days unfolded, I felt directed to go to John 16:33 ... Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace." He says, "In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

In other words, Greaves decided that his strange joy was a reminder that God will be victorious someday, even if "dark and evil" events are happening now. At the 7:26 mark, he elaborated on this belief.

"Our joy and our peace is rooted in our understanding of where this thing is going, that it's rooted in understanding of what it is that is in God's heart. Nations will rise and nations will fall, but under God's leadership, he is preparing a bride for his son and he's preparing his people to rule and reign with his son in the age to come."

I don't know Greaves personally. I don't know what triggered his unexpected joy, but have a theory. What if, deep inside, some part of him was happy for LGBTQ Americans? What if this joy was suppressed empathy for the LGBTQ people who had just won the right to marry? Was that empathy fighting to break through, in spite of his anti-gay beliefs?

Fundamentalism encourages people to suppress their empathy in favor of obedience to an infallible authority (in this case, the Bible). Obedience to that authority supersedes all other moral concerns, including respect for the rights of others (in this case, gays). Fundamentalism also erodes empathy by demonizing the "other". That other can be the apostate, the LGBTQ person, the abortion provider, the feminist, the Muslim, or any number of other targets. Demonizing a scapegoat allows fundamentalists to unite against a perceived enemy and envision themselves as righteous and superior.

However, this process is imperfect. Empathy cannot always be silenced. Sometimes, it asserts itself no matter how much dehumanizing rhetoric one has absorbed.

We see this process happening with the exodus of American "nones" from organized religion. More Americans empathize with their LGBTQ brethren and find the homophobia of some Christian churches offensive. Slowly, empathy is undermining bigotry. I hope that Greaves' strange joy was actually his empathy struggling against his homophobia.

Greaves said something else later in his talk that made me wonder if his empathy was warring with his fundamentalism. He talked at length about the book of Habakkuk, describing how God raised up the Babylonians to wage war on the nations. The prophet Habakkuk was horrified, crying out to God that "your eyes are too pure to look on evil!". Greaves used the story to remind listeners that they must defer to God, even if God's actions shocked them.

At the 29:35 mark, Greaves admitted that a passage in scripture angered him so much that he threw his Bible down in disgust. He quickly stifled the feeling and deferred to his God.

"Beloved, in this hour, as we struggle with God's leadership, we must assume though that his ways are right. Reminds me of a story several years ago ... I remember reading the scriptures and I came across a scripture that so bothered me that I literally grabbed my Bible and I threw it to the ground. I threw it to the ground! I said, 'NO! This is wrong!' ... As soon as I said that, I went, 'Ohhhh.' I said, 'I'm so sorry.' I just realized what I was saying, who I was talking to, and I said, 'I'm so sorry. Let me rephrase. Please let me rephrase.' I said, 'I don't agree. You are right. I don't understand. Help me understand.' And then I felt good again on the inside.

Beloved, that is the attitude that we must have. I say, 'Lord, I'm not even sure I agree with all of this stuff. I know you're the sovereign of all the nations, but I know you're good. I know you're righteous. I wouldn't do it that way if I was you, and I'm not you. You're you, but you know what? I'm wrong. Help me understand. Help me know your ways.'"

What passage disgusted him? Was it one of the many inhumane passages in the Bible? Did a passage about genocide or slavery or honor killing awaken his empathy? I don't know. Whatever passage it was, it triggered such strong emotion in him that he raged against his own holy book, if only for a moment.

I wish I could have told him, Stuart, that anger that shook you? That was your empathy speaking. Listen to it. It's part of what makes you human. You were outraged for a reason.

For those of us who oppose fundamentalism and value social justice, empathy is vital. We must cultivate it in ourselves and others, for it is a strong tool for dismantling oppressive systems. We must help fundamentalists listen to the voice of their own empathy instead of stuffing it down.

News Tidbits

Sacramento Bee: ACLU sues Dignity Health over Redding hospital’s refusal to perform contraception surgery

Christian Science Monitor: College evangelicals embrace unlikely cause: Black Lives Matter

Associated Press: States plan renewed debate on LGBT rights, religious freedom

On Top Magazine: Georgia Bill Would Protect Opponents Of Marriage Equality

New York Times: Donald Trump’s First TV Ad Focuses on Immigration

Sydney Morning Herald: Former Hillsong pastor Pat Mesiti faces domestic violence charges

Washington Blade: Santorum pledges to ignore ruling against DOMA

Nyasa Times: Kill Gays in Malawi, Demands Msonda: 'Devil Has No Rights'

Commentary Tidbits

Stuff That Needs to Be Said: The Greatest False Idol Of Modern Evangelical Christianity

Good: Anti-Gay Oregon Cake Makers Pay Huge Discrimination Fine After Refusing to Bake a Cake for a Same-Sex Wedding

HIV Plus: How I Conquered My Fear of God and Got an HIV Test

LGBT Weekly: NOM declares funding ’emergency’

Stonekettle Station: Sound and Fury

The Advocate: Ben Carson's Presidential Campaign Just Got More Radical and Antigay

Religion Dispatches: Cruz and the Evangelical Illusion

New Ways Ministry: Church Worker Rights a Key Concern for Year of Mercy

Daily Beast: Inside the Anti-Gay Church That Loves Kim Davis and Ted Cruz

Right Wing Watch: Scott Lively Begs For Money And Calls For Passage Of Russian-Style Anti-Gay Laws Around The World

OneThing 2015: Mike Bickle and Fear

To read about Stuart Greaves at OneThing 2015, click here.

The International House of Prayer (IHOP) hosted its annual OneThing conference on December 28-31 at the Kansas City Convention Center in Kansas City, Missouri. (More here and here.) IHOP director Mike Bickle delivered a December 30th talk entitled "Being Strengthened to Stand in Victory in the End Times", in which he warned worshipers that they were living in a "dangerous generation". Bickle instructed listeners not to be afraid during the chaos to come, only to devote much of his talk to paranoia.

Mike Bickle began his talk by citing Luke 21, claiming that the passage described this time in history. The people of this era are part of "a very glorious but very dangerous generation", he argued. Nations will be in distress and people will be afraid during this generation, but salvation will be very close. Spiritual dangers will be more intense than physical dangers if people drift away from Jesus during this time, he claimed. At the 2:48 mark, Bickle described what was allegedly to come.

"The enemy will rage, man will sin, but the Lord will overrule it all to bring his church to the greatest place of victory and power of any time of history, even far beyond what happened in the book of Acts."

At the 9:42 mark, he admitted that it was only his opinion that the current generation was the End Times generation described in Luke 21. In spite of this, he impressed upon the audience the importance of warning the next generation about impending End Times crises.

"It's my opinion [that] we're in the early days of that generation right now. I believe that Luke 21 is talking about events that some of you in this room will see in your lifetime, in the fullness of them ... It may be your children. Maybe it's their children, I don't know. Nobody knows the day or the hour. It could go longer, it could stretch out a little bit, or it could speed up, but either way it goes, it's not too early to start paying attention to these kind of passages from the lips of Jesus. ...

I don't know that I will see the fullness of it in my day. I'm sixty years old. I might, I might not. But I know one thing. I'm pouring out all of my life, strength and energy to prepare a generation in understanding to prepare the generation after them in understanding so they're not surprised by the escalation of negative crisis and they're participating with the Lord in the great harvest and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the End Times."

Bickle reminded listeners not to be afraid at the 6:02 mark, insisting that God would be with them during the chaos.

"Millions and millions of people will be overcome in fear as the distress of the nations increases. The problem is, many believers will be among those overcome with fear. And the Lords heart is, 'I don't want my people surprised. I don't want you losing perspective. I'm leading this whole plan! I'm the king! I'm the bridegroom king! You are my beloved bride. I am with you. Don't be afraid. I am leading the nations.'"

After urging his followers not to be afraid, Bickle proceeded to instill fear in the audience for the rest of his talk. As the "crisis in nations" intensifies, people will self-medicate with "immorality" and "drunkenness", he claimed. After reading a Bible passage about the distress of nations, he insisted that the world was about to plunge into a downward spiral at the 20:27 mark.

"This is not a distress like all the other nations. This isn't like--you know, there's five years of difficulty, then we go back to normal. We are never going back to how it was in the 1980s and 1990s. The world is going to get darker and darker and more hostile to the gospel."

Again, Bickle warned that fear and "internal defilement and confusion" would be dangerous in the coming dark times. At the 21:14 mark, he had this to say.

"Fear is dangerous because it will make people respond to Jesus' leadership in a really inappropriate way. When even sincere believers are overcome with fear ... they won't respond. They will be unresponsive to the Lord. And Jesus is saying that's not good. 'I am your only hope. I am the king of the nations.'"

2015 was a year of "seismic shifts" into darkness, he said, recycling some of the same fear-mongering claims he used at OneThing 2014. Predictably, Bickle blasted the "gay agenda", claiming that legalization of same-sex marriage in the U.S. was one of the events helping darkness escalate in the world. At the 31:22 mark, he claimed that June 26th, 2015 was a "day of infamy". (If that sounds familiar, it should.)

"Crisis event number one that I want to highlight [is] the Supreme Court decision to legalize gay marriage. That will go down as a day of infamy, one of the most disastrous, dangerous, destructive decisions in America's history ... Why do we care about what somebody does in the privacy of their bedroom? That's not what I'm concerned with, what someone does in the privacy of their bedroom. That's not at all what I'm focused on.

This decision, June 26th ... it will be one of the most significant dates in America's history for negative. Immorality was institutionalized in America. What do I mean by that? Because of that one decision, our entire culture and out legal system will demand by law, from that day forward, that the gay agenda is systematically presented in all the elementary schools across the nation, year by year. That's unbelievable! The negative consequences of that in ten to twenty years! Millions of seven and eight year-old boys and girls being presented with ideas that are normalized to them, that will cause emotional and sexual chaos to explode in our nation in the next ten to twenty years."

Bickle also disapproved LGBTQ progress in Scandinavia, depicting LGBTQ messages as toxic for children. "That will be in America before long, minus a miracle intervention of God," he warned.

Of course, Bickle denied that he was a hateful man, insisting that he loved gays at the 32:46 mark.

"I have a heart for people that are struggling in the issue of identity and gay agenda and all this. I have tremendous compassion and love for people that are gay. Tremendous love. I'm not talking about them. I'm [inaudible] embrace them and love them. I want them a part of what I'm doing. I want to know them and understand and talk with them. I want to show them the love of God and the way out of the confusion."

Yeah, you love them as long as they wallow in self-hatred, I thought. If LGBTQ people demand equality, then they're part of some evil agenda.

At the 35:50 mark, Bickle recycled another warning from OneThing 2014: outlandish claims of impending Christian persecution. Christians will be harshly penalized for their faith and will even have their children taken away, he ranted.

"The laws are being added, multiplied quickly that if you stand for God's word, what is says about marriage and sexuality and truth, it will be a hate crime with severe penalties, and those laws, they are just whispering right now. They're just slipping out of the gate. Ten years from now, without a major intervention ... they will criminalize believing and telling your five year-old that Jesus is the only way to heaven and there is a real hell, and there really are biblical values. Parents will actually lose their children, taken by state agencies for abusing their children by by teaching those doctrines. That's where this is going."

At the 36:54 mark, he tried to instill more fear in the audience by claiming that an impending economic crisis would trigger "chaos in the cities".

"The economic crisis. That is such a big subject. Beloved, we are in a place in the nation in 2015 [that is] very different from the crisis of 2008. There is no more bailout plan. Nations are going bankrupt, like Greece, or on the verge of it. Half of the states in America are on the verge of bankruptcy, but they're not legally letting them do it ... When the economic rubber band breaks, the entitlements are going to be withheld. [When] those entitlements are withheld, there will be chaos in the cities of America."

Bickle also denounced the Iran nuclear deal, maintaining that it would launch a "nuclear arms race" in the Middle East, place nuclear weapons in the hands of extremists, and endanger Israel. At the 38:42 mark, he had this to say.

"Terrorist groups, not just ISIS, they will end up with nuclear weapons. With a terrorist agenda, they will force Israel into a preemptive strike mode to save the nation of Israel, and then Israel will be presented in the nations as the aggressor of a world war.

The enemy is fueling anti-semitisim in the nations. And beloved, the people of God that understand the Bible, they're standing with God's purposes for the nation of Israel."

Bickle advised listeners to reject bitterness and the impulse to feel offended about not receiving the honor one deserves, which I found odd. Is there grumbling within IHOP? I wondered.

Now is the "worst hour in history to be bored in your prayer life", he insisted, encouraging attendees to continue praying to God. Christians should not isolate themselves during the impending "local disasters", but should instead bond with others in their communities and listen for God's solutions together. At the 54:50 mark, Bickle ended his talk by reminding listeners to connect with each other and "know the biblical narrative" in the days ahead.

"I don't want to be part of the confusion of that hour of history. I want to be with people that are part of the solution. I don't want to be a people overwhelmed with fear and confusion and offense. -- 'I thought you were a God of love! How dare you let this get to this place, God in the nations!' -- Many believers will be contributing to the confusion in the decades ahead. -- 'I don't know! I'm freaked out! Ahhh! Somebody help me!' -- I appreciate all that, but I want to be with people who can be part of the solution. I want to come and help people. I want to raise up young people that know how to stay connected to the Lord, connected to each other. They know the biblical narrative. They know what's happening. They're not retreating in fear."

Like so many of his Religious Right brethren, Bickle uses fear to steer his followers. Be afraid of the impending End Times! Be afraid of gays! Be afraid of economic collapse! Be afraid of terrorists with nukes! But pray and live as we say, and you'll be okay! Despite his admonishments to followers not to give in to fear, his talk was heavily laden with fearful warnings. As much as he projected fear onto future panicky bystanders and inadequate Christians, his own speech brimmed with fear.

I suspect that this fear is meant to keep followers close to IHOP. If young worshipers are fearful of external dangers and their own "internal defilement", they will cling to IHOP so as to avoid catastrophe.

The problem is, those catastrophes aren't coming. Gays aren't spoiling America. Economic collapse is not imminent. Jackbooted thugs aren't arresting Christians. Israel isn't going anywhere. The End Times aren't approaching. IHOP's followers must realize this. I hope they can rise above the fear that preachers are trying so desperately to instill in them.

Pro-Refugee and Anti-Refugee Demonstrators Gather in Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Among some Americans, fear of Islamic extremism continues to breed fear of Syrian refugees, and Pennsylvania has been no exception. Yet another anti-refugee rally took place this weekend in Pennsylvania's Susquehanna Valley, but its message did not go unchallenged.

On January 2nd, opposing rallies took place in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, one opposed to resettlement of Syrian refugees in the U.S., and another in support of refugees. The dueling demonstrations took place outside of Church World Service, which provides services to immigrants and refugees in central Pennsylvania.

According to Lancaster Online, the Facebook page for the "End the Influx of Refugees Rally" called Church World Service "a phony Christian group bringing refugees into our commonwealth" and claimed that "[t]heir only god is gold and they intend to get rich at our expense." One of the organizers of the End the Influx of Refugees Rally was Bridget Fisher of the Patriotic Liberty League. Fisher told Lancaster Online that the rally was not about xenophobia, but "tyranny", insisting that "our government is failing us" and "Americans have to come first."

Photos captured by Pennlive show anti-refugee protesters with signs that read "Vets B4 Refugees" and "Secure Our Border". Pennlive also reported that one man held a white flag with a red cross, a symbol of the Knights Templar.

Pennlive shared a video of John Rentschler, a co-organizer for the End the Influx of Refugees Rally, warning attendees about Islam, refugees, and extremism.

"They call us racist because we don't want bomb factories sprouting up in the house next door. They call us bigots because we don't want the problems associated with Islam in the Middle East being played out in our country. They don't see the harm and damage being done to Europe and Greece and Malta and all these other countries which are being inundated right now. How many more events like the one in San Bernardino, the one in Boston, the one in Fort Hood, and 9/11 do we need before we get real? How many Holocausts and [inaudible] do we need before we realize that tyranny is all the same, all evil?

Instead of blaming the ones that are responsible, like ISIS and terrorists, our White House blamed the NRA. They blamed people like you and I because we're evil white people."

On the other hand, the Lancaster Welcomes Refugees Rally expressed solidarity with refugees in the Susquehanna Valley. Hosted by the Seed (a Lancaster restaurant and community space), the counter-rally drew roughly 200 demonstrators, according to Pennlive.

"The reality is that individuals who come to this community have been coming for over thirty years," said Kevin Ressler, co-organizer of the pro-refugee rally and director of Lancaster Meals on Wheels. In a video posted by Pennlive, Ressler observed that resettled refugees are productive members of the community. "They significantly contribute to the local economy through a variety of means," he said.

I'm disappointed that some of my fellow Pennsylvanians are cultivating fear through xenophobic rallies. However, many other Pennsylvanians strive to help refugees and cultivate welcoming communities, which gives me hope. I applaud those who organized and attended the Lancaster Welcomes Refugees Rally. Syrian refugees who have resettled in the U.S. have already endured enough misery.