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Friday, April 15, 2005

Christian groups criticize “Day of Truth”

NEW YORK—Irked by the success of the nationwide Day of Silence, which seeks to combat anti-gay bias in schools, conservative activists launched a counter-event this week called the Day of Truth, aimed at mobilizing students who believe homosexuality is sinful.

Participating students wore T-shirts with the slogan “The Truth Cannot be Silenced” and passed out cards to classmates Thursday—the day following the Day of Silence—declaring their unwillingness to condone “detrimental personal and social behavior.”

The driving force behind the Day of Truth is the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group that has opposed same-sex marriage and challenged restrictions on religious expression in public schools. The event is endorsed by several influential conservative organizations, including the Christian ministry “Focus on the Family” and the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

Mike Johnson, an Alliance Defense Fund attorney from Shreveport, Louisiana, said organizers were unsure how many students would participate in the Day of Truth, but expressed hope it would grow in coming years as more people learned about it.

Johnson said the event is meant to be “peaceful and respectful,” but made clear it is motivated by belief that homosexuality is wrong. “You can call it sinful or destructive—ultimately it’s both,” he said.

“But in the interests of respectful pluralism and tolerance,” Johnson added, “I insist that people should have the personal choice as to whether they consider homosexuality sinful or destructive or both.”

The event has met with sharp criticism, however, from Christian activists who believe that it does not go far enough.

“Mike Johnson likes to say, ‘ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set ye free,’” said Leviticus Wright of “Focus Even Harder on the Family,” an organization that has opposed same-sex sex and has challenged the very existence of public schools.  “Well, that’s one full truckload of nonsense right there.  Truth alone never got anyone up off the couch.  What gay teens need isn’t the so-called ‘truth’—it’s a good healthy dose of fear.”

Wright pointed to studies that showed that only 84 percent of gay and lesbian high school students experience verbal harassment on a regular basis at school, and a mere 40 percent experience physical harassment.

“What kind of world are we living in, where 60 percent of gay and lesbian teenagers can walk the school halls with impunity?” Wright asked.  “Where 16 percent flaunt their lifestyles without being verbally mocked or ostracized on a regular basis?  That’s not the America I grew up in– and that’s not the America any Christian should want to live in.”

Accordingly, Focus Even Harder on the Family and its allied organizations, including Campus Jihad for Christ and the Opus Dei is for Everyone Foundation, have proposed a national “Day of Fear.” The “Day of Fear” is scheduled for Friday, following both the Day of Silence and the Day of Truth.

Participating students are being offered T-shirts with the slogan “Thank God it’s Fear Friday” as well as “Fear Factor” and “Fear This” cards to pass out to classmates.  “We’re hoping,” said Wright, “that by the time the weekend rolls around, the youth of America will finally be scared straight.  With God’s help, of course.”

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Post-satire alert, since this kind of thing has been misunderstood before:  the first five paragraphs of this post are taken almost verbatim from the AP wire.  Only the verb tenses in the second paragraph have been changed; the wingnuttery has not been tampered with.  It comes to you direct, in all its righteous wingnut glory, and the only thing I’ve done here is to make it a bit more explicit.

The Progressive Protestant has a more humane response.

Posted by Michael on 04/15 at 07:37 AM
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