Posted inLGBTQ, Religion

Preston Sprinkle Still Doesn’t Get It.

So Preston Sprinkle went into the overflowing hopper of Christians Who Think They’re Saying Something New and Exciting But Aren’t, and we all moved on. Then around Easter I caught wind of him proudly announcing that he’d written some more stuff on the subject and done a podcast or something, and I found myself groaning inwardly.

Posted inLGBTQ, Religion

Elevating the Meaningless Blather–I Mean, the Dialogue.

Christians’ bigotry has cost them countless adherents as well–adherents who take with them when they leave an inestimable amount of money, time, and support. Today I want to set our phasers to “deep-fat fry” and show you exactly why their newest tactic regarding LGBTQ outreach is nothing but a smokescreen meant to disguise how unpersuasive their essential message is.

Posted inLGBTQ, Religion

The Reframing Game in “People to Be Loved.”

Using very positive language to describe a very negative situation or feeling is a tactic at least as old as Christianity itself. People who have power use this sort of language to make the powerless folks they (want to) control more comfortable with being controlled–and to sell a product that nobody in their right mind would ever want to buy if its nature were accurately described. It is at its heart a very, very Christian form of dishonesty.

Posted inLGBTQ, Religion

A Cold First Option for People to Be “Loved.”

We’ve been talking for a while now about right-wing Christians’ culture war against LGBTQ people, using Preston Sprinkle’s new advice book People to be Loved as a starting-off point. I’ve alluded a few times to the life script options that Dr. Sprinkle has generously allocated for gay people in order for them to be acceptable to him–er, to his god–and today I want to touch on one of them.

Posted inLGBTQ, Religion

The really scandalous part of ‘People to Be Loved’

That’s quite a lot of deception both in and out of one person, but it’s really more out of his tribe rather than himself; he’s not advocating much that is really very different than what they as a group are coming to believe. But he thinks he’s presenting something very innovative and different, and today we’re going to talk about why–and what about the book really is scandalous.