Preston Sprinkle is trying to find the same have-it-both-ways middle ground between bigotry and acceptance that his “third way” peers are struggling to find. Today I’ll show you one suggestion he’s making to find that nonexistent middle ground.
Preston Sprinkle
Posted inLGBTQ, Religion
The False Third Way of People to Be “Loved.”
Preston Sprinkle is clearly trying to find a way to square himself with his tribe’s culture war in his book, People to Be Loved. I wanted to touch on what the “third way” is, how it came about, where he differs with it, and why the idea ultimately fails before I talk more about his various suggestions for Christians and LGBTQ people.
Posted inLGBTQ, Religion
Listening But Not Really to People to Be “Loved.”
The book is meant to be a tightrope walk between the evangelical tribe’s current antipathy toward gay people and full affirmation, all laced with Bible verses and lots of careful hermeneutics. In its primary suggestion to his fellow evangelicals, its foundational assumptions ultimately destroy whatever good might have been intended–or accomplished.
Posted inLGBTQ, Religion
People to Be “Loved” and the Failure of Literalism.
Preston Sprinkle brings a full set of assumptions to the party and refuses to let go of them, and ultimately those assumptions bury any good intentions he might have had. Today we’ll talk about those assumptions and why they’re wrong.
Posted inLGBTQ, Religion
Starting from Wrong Assumptions: People to Be “Loved.”
As we discussed last time, Christians’ condemnation of gay people is not only quickly becoming one of their core marker beliefs, but it’s also becoming one of the beliefs they’re fighting the hardest to protect–and arguably the belief that is costing them the most in terms of both adherents and credibility. I’d be hard-pressed to think of a single other belief for right-wing Christians that is costing them as much as this one is. Today I’ll touch on why this belief is so hard for right-wing Christians to shake–and why Preston Sprinkle, in his book People to Be Loved, is starting his quest for understanding by asking the wrong question.
Posted inLGBTQ, Religion
Rescuing a Sinking Ship: People to Be “Loved.”
If it wasn’t resulting in endless abuse and cruelty against innocent people worldwide, there’d be something comical about where Christians find themselves nowadays thanks to their ceaseless demonization and harassment of LGBTQ people. I’m sure they thought this was one culture war guaranteed to shock Americans back into churches nationwide; the people responsible for the hatred probably had no idea in the world that anything could go wrong with a smear campaign against that group. The whole thing probably felt like a total slam-dunk. And now it’s all gone hideously pear-shaped.
Posted inLGBTQ, Religion
Republican and Christian Leaders Are Asking Which Way Their Followers Went.
Someone needs to remind Republican voters and Christians alike that their leaders are trying to appeal to women, young people, LGBTQ people, and non-white folks, not insult and drive them away.