Short answer: I don’t know. For the long answer, read on.
Two weeks ago, Ray Boltz had his first concert in Abilene, Texas since he came out last September. Carol Boltz, Ray’s ex-wife, wrote about it on her blog the next day. It sounds like it was a great concert, if not greatly attended, with no protests or placards to be seen. Maybe we underestimate our opposition’s capacity to love, or at least live and let live.
How many people miss the mullet? It's not just me, is it?
Yeah, right. Enter fundamentalist preacher Mike Redden, and an article published in the Abilene Reporter-News.
I am concerned by the terminology used by Ray Boltz in describing himself as a “Christian homosexual” in a recent Abilene Reporter-News article, April 6. As a pastor for more than 40 years and a believer in an inspired, infallible, inerrant word of God, I find no such term in God’s revelation. Is being a Christian homosexual the same as being a Christian adulterer, Christian fornicator, Christian idolater or Christian liar according to the world’s standards? Billy Sunday, that fiery old evangelist, said, “Some people are going to miss heaven by 18 inches; the distance from their head to their heart.”
I always worry when someone decides that they get to be the arbiter of a person’s salvation, especially when they don’t even know the person. It’s a common tack when the Religious Right talk about homosexuality, and it’s done a lot of damage to a lot of people.
You don’t have a vote on someone’s faith, Rev. Redden. If a man says he’s a Christian, I take him at his word. That’s why you’ll never see me question the faith of Rick Warren or James Dobson. Though their brand is one that I can’t fathom, and I certainly question their goodness as people, I accept their word that they are Christians because I don’t have a say in it.
Yet Rev. Redden is so sure of himself. He’s read the Bible, and he believes in an “infallible, inerrant” Bible (that is, he’s a Biblical literalist). I’m reminded of a quote from Right Reverend Richard Holloway, one of the experts in the fantastic documentary For the Bible Tells Me So.
Biblical literalists are people who “know” the truth absolutely. So they’re not able to engage in a conversation—they’re only able to engage in a pronouncement
Rev. Redden makes a pronouncement in his article and though he’s absolutely wrong, any reasonable attempt to consider the matter begins and ends with him pointing to his interpretation of a few verses of the Bible.
The article goes on, but it’s pretty standard fare. He does throw in a few extra Old Testament verses (which I’d say could be pretty easily applied to Rev. Redden) for good measure. I encourage you to go to the newspaper’s website to read it for yourself.
And so I end today exactly where I began: When is a Christian not a Christian? I don’t know, and it’s not my job to decide.
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