Below is an excellent column by Joel Belz, founder of WORLD magazine, answering some of the current Christian gibberish critical of believers who fight for Truth in the public square. (Click HERE for the full column in WORLD.) While we’re at it, here are 20 more good reasons why Christians (or anyone) should never feel guilty about a single-minded focus in countering the homosexual/transsexual activist and pro-abortion lobbies:

1. Human Rights Campaign (largest pro-homosexual PAC);
2. National Gay and Lesbian Task Force;
3. Lambda Legal;
4. NARAL Pro-Choice American (formerly National Abortion Rights Action League, which cruelly defends even later-term abortions).
5. GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation;
6. GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network);
7. NOW (they manage to promote both lesbianism and abortion-on-demand);
8. MTV (obnoxious in its one-sided promotion of homosexuality, bisexuality, etc.);
9. Soulforce and other Bible-twisting, “queer theology”-promoting groups;
10. Radical, reason-challenged, pro-homosexual websites like young Jeremy Hooper’s Good As You blog, Wayne (“Anything But Straight”) Besen’s ‘ex-gay’-hating Truth Wins Out, and lesbian Pam (“Jeebus”) Spaulding’s Pam’s House Blend;
11. National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association;
12. EMILY’s List (a pro-abortion PAC)
13. Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (working to open up the military to homosexuals);
14. ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project;
15. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.)
16. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
17. Tim Gill (homosexual money-man)
18. Pro-homosexual activist groups like Equality Illinois fighting in all 50 states for radical legislation that undermines marriage;
19. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
20. PFLAG (Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians & Gays), a radical pro-homosexual group.

_______________________________

Belz writes for WORLD:

Stop Apologizing!
It’s not always wrong to be a “single-issue” advocate

It’s become an increasingly frequent reminder to us evangelical Christians not to let our cultural identity be framed by “single issues.”

It was a reminder implicitly included in the “Evangelical Manifesto,” a document whose basic content we at WORLD have applauded but whose political direction I questioned in our last issue. Why are the Manifesto’s backers so ready to join the cultural left in suggesting a guilt trip for those evangelicals who have been preoccupied with the evils of abortion and same-sex marriage?

And if some argue that the rising generation of younger evangelicals is a bit embarrassed by what they think is an out-of-balance focus by their elders, and thinks it’s time to get equally exercised over issues like racism, economic justice, and the environment—well, if that’s the case with our twentysomethings and our teenagers, then maybe we need to go to work and do a better job of explaining to them why we’ve put the emphasis where we have for the last generation and why we believe that it’s time not to lower our voices.

Evangelicals shouldn’t be embarrassed to say boldly and clearly: Abortion and same-sex marriage are uniquely heinous sins. They rattle the foundations of a civilized society. They take a culture in a dreadful direction. We haven’t been wrong to say so. We aren’t fanatics.

Click HERE to read Belz’ entire column in WORLD

The following is an article by Nathan Neighbor of the ChristianResearchNetwork.info website, followed by my response (which is adapted from a comment I posted on their site; see this link). I believe Nathan’s is a good representation of the (naive) attitudes of so many Christians regarding the “culture war” over homosexuality. Many Christians, appropriately desirous of winning souls to Christ, are non-confrontational in public policy (or simply avoid or even abhor it altogether) – while our “gay” activist opponents are aggressive, highly skilled, and often ruthless in the political and cultural campaigns that they wage.

Nathan Neighbor writes (emphasis added):

In this article by Ingrid, she links to this website: Americans for Truth about Homosexuality.

I am interested in hearing your thoughts on the website. I am trying really hard to figure out why Christians are so obsessed with letting the world know the truth behind homosexuality. If I felt like they were doing it because they cared deeply about the people who live the lifestyle, and want desperately for them to experience the life that God designed for them, I would not have a problem with all of it. However, that is certainly not the vibe I am getting from these sites. They are more concerned about winning their debate than facilitating life transformation in the hearts of homosexuals. It’s basically saying “we don’t care about you, but we want you to know that we completely disagree with your lifestyle.”

And why is it just homosexuality. They act as if that is the BIG sin in the scriptures, dismissing all other destructive behaviors and choices. So, I will faithfully be waiting for the following websites to emerge, if these people are really trying to get biblical truth out there:

Americans for Truth about Lying

Americans for Truth about Gossip

Americans for Truth about Bitterness

Americans for Truth about Slander

Americans for Truth about Poverty

Americans for Truth about Widows

Or maybe these groups are not at all concerned about people who are far from God connecting to, and living out the life that God dreams for them, but simply condemning those they disagree with. Unfortunately we are now warring over truth, and not warring for the hearts of people. I don’t think that’s what God was hoping we would become.

_________________________

AFTAH’s Response:

By Peter LaBarbera 

Dear Nathan, to turn your words around, I wonder if you are concerned at all about us (Americans For Truth and those who share our viewpoint). Perhaps you might have asked us directly why we do what we do — or accurately reported the many articles evincing our Christian care for the homosexual struggler — rather than merely offer your own (distorted) speculations as to our motives.

Yes, we are deeply concerned about people practicing homosexuality, which is why we offer people the loving Gospel of Jesus Christ, Who, we sincerely believe, has helped thousands of people overcome entrenched homosexual sin, just as He has helped people overcome — and be forgiven for — those other besetting sins you mention.

(Incidentally, I believe Christian “born again” conversions, despite being ridiculed by many gay activist and media cynics, are responsible for many more people leaving the homosexual lifestyle than ex-gay “reparative therapy”; however, the latter also has helped many change: see www.narth.com)

As to merely castigating gays, I have no basis for pride or a sense of superiority in that I — as one who struggles with my owns sins — am in need of the same grace of Christ as they are. Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17)

As to why we focus on homosexuality, the simplest answer is that we are trying to counter (albeit with considerably less resources) the huge pro-”gay” movement, which seeks to normalize and build acceptance for homosexuality in the culture. Here are a few of the homosexual activist groups, each of which focuses solely on promoting GLBT (gay, lesbian, bi, trans) issues:

Human Rights Campaign
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Lambda Legal
Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network
GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
PFLAG (Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)

The list goes on and on. Now I doubt you would deny that in a democracy, if these groups have a right to promote the acceptance of homosexuality — which we as Christians and adherents of other religious groups, and even many nonreligious people, believe is immoral — then we also have a right to organize and stand up for our point of view. It’s called the battle of ideas.

Moreover, the proliferation of groups rallying around the celebration of homosexuality is in marked contrast to the lack of groups devoted to the other sins you mentioned above. As far as I know, there is no Pro-Gossip Task Force, or even an Americans For Divorce Committee, so the homosexual agenda does stand out in that sense. (It seems the closest analogy would be the pro-abortion-on-demand and pro-pornography lobbies.)

Yes, we put out lots of articles defending historic Judeo-Christian norms on homosexuality, etc., but it pales in comparison to the information — we would call it misinformation — expounded by the overall GLBT movement.

We are simply trying to RESPOND to the other side’s crusade on this issue, just as pro-life groups are responding to Planned Parenthood, NOW [National Organization of Women], etc.. In other words, if we are “obsessed,” then our “gay” and “trans” opponents are all the more so, in that they spend far more time and money — specifically on the homosexual/transgender issue — promoting their ideology than the collective pro-family movement does opposing them. There are many, many more “pro-gay” activists than “anti-gay” activists — although I use that term advisedly in that we are ‘anti-gay’ only with regard to behavior. (We do not believe in “gay” personhood, i.e., as an inborn, natural or intrinsic identity.)

I personally believe that every homosexual “coming out” is a tragedy because it embraces the lie that “being gay” is “who I am.” Conversely, every “ex-gay” testimony is a wonderful sign of God’s goodness, His forgiveness, and His power. The growing “gay christian” movement denies the power of Jesus Christ to change lives, which is tragic in that we all know of people who have overcome terrible sins and addictions through Christ.

Funny how the same “gay” movement that gained such power and cultural acceptance through people communicating personal stories to others of their “gayness,” now spends so much time and effort questioning the existence of ex-gays.

To paraphrase Queer Nation (a very aggressive “gay” group in the 90′s), former homosexuals are “here, they’re no longer ‘queer,’ get used to it.”

As to your comment about “warring over truth, and not warring for the hearts of people. I don’t think that’s what God was hoping we would become” — what does this mean? We battle for truth in America and across the world. Christians seek to convert Muslims to the Truth of Christ’s Gospel, while Muslims seek to convert others to “their” truth. Both religions cannot be true; I believe Christianity and the Bible are true but, sadly, it seems many Muslims are more offended than Christians by sexual immorality. Our witness is tarnished.

In the same way, both the “gay” side and our side are in a struggle over truth, and how to define it. With the media mostly on the pro-homosexual side these days, groups like ours are in an uphill struggle, to be sure, but we are as convinced of our position as the “gay” activists are of theirs. And we shouldn’t be condemned for defending truth — God’s truth — in the public square.

The battle for Truth and the battle for men’s and women’s hearts is one and the same. We can do it in a spirit of the love of Christ — and that is what we try to do at Americans For Truth. Are we perfect? Far from it. But we’re trying to get some information out there in a culture where the media glamorizes sexual behaviors (homosexuality, sex outside marriage) that our Lord opposes as sinful. Perhaps we will step aside when the Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the other “gay” organizations fold up shop.  Best — pl

Peter LaBarbera
President, Americans For Truth about Homosexuality
www.americansfortruth.org 

“There are workplace situations — communal showers, for example — when the demands of the transgender community fly in the face of conventional norms and therefore would not pass in any Congress. I’ve talked with transgender activists and what they want — and what we will be forced to defend — is for people with penises who identify as women to be able to shower with other women.” –– Homosexual Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), back when he opposed including “transgenders” in the Employment NonDiscrimination Act (ENDA). Frank later relented but since has signed on to a watered-down version of ENDA (H.R. 3685) that dropped the “trans” language.

The “gay” activist movement’s partnership with the “transgender” cause is costing it votes for the expansive version of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), H.R. 2015, on Capitol Hill, so a new version of the bill (H.R. 3685) was floated that throws out the “gender equity” provisions. (H.S. 3685 also simplifies the bill’s religious exemption.) Now that version is being rejected by major homosexual and transsexual groups, led by the Human Rights Campaign (see letter below).

Over the years, homosexual activists including Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) (see quote above) have chafed at their alliance with a transsexual movement — knowing that it only makes their cause look even more radical to the general public. Yet the two movements have been intertwined and their partnership, as symbolized by the “GLBT” acronym (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender), has only strengthened in recent years. 

Transgender activists lobbied HRC to back a “trans”-positive ENDA and the leading homsoexual lobby organization eventually embraced it.

For the moment, the leading pro-homosexual groups are sticking with the  ”transgenders,” but word on the Hill is that ENDA’s ”trans” language — which AFTAH, CWA and other conservative groups have highlighted (we called ENDA the “Transgender Bathrooms for Business Bill”) — has cost H.R. 2015 key support, including among moderate Democrats.

The following letter (emphasis added) was sent yesterday by the liberal coalition Leadership Conference to Rep. George Miller (D-Cal.), Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor. Miller’s committee was scheduled to consider the watered-down ENDA (H.R. 3685) this morning until the hearing was cancelled following the “gay”-led coalition effort against it. — Peter LaBarbera

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

1629 K Street, NW
10th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20006
Phone: 202-466-3311
Fax: 202-466-3435
http://www.civilrights.org/

October 1, 2007

The Honorable George Miller, Chairman
Committee on Education and Labor
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Miller:

On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we write to express our opposition to the strategy and process by which the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (HR 3685) is to be considered in the House of Representatives. We ask that the markup in the House Education and Labor Committee, scheduled for less than 24 hours from now, be canceled.

For many years, we have worked to develop an employment non-discrimination bill that protects the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Our organizations support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act as introduced (H.R. 2015).

Although we believe that the bill’s sponsor, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), and the House Democratic Leadership have a sincere desire to protect the LGBT community from
discrimination, we believe the process and strategy that has been adopted is a mistake. That mistake is compounded by moving forward with a markup tomorrow.

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact Nancy Zirkin, LCCR Vice President, at (202) 263-2880 or Rob Randhava, LCCR Counsel, at (202) 466-6058.

Sincerely,

American Civil Liberties Union
American Friends Service Committee
Gender Public Advocacy Coalition
Human Rights Campaign
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Legal Momentum
National Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Centers
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Council of Jewish Women
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG National)
People For the American Way
Pride At Work, AFL-CIO
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
GLSEN – the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
The Woodhull Freedom Foundation
Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker
Representative Barney Frank
Representative Tammy Baldwin

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/2007/10/02/homosexual-transgender-alliance-tested-as-trans-inclusive-enda-falters-on-capitol-hill/feed/ 0 http://americansfortruth.com/2007/04/25/the-descent-of-feminism-cheers-for-rosie-as-she-talks-dirty-in-front-of-teen-girls/ http://americansfortruth.com/2007/04/25/the-descent-of-feminism-cheers-for-rosie-as-she-talks-dirty-in-front-of-teen-girls/#comments Wed, 25 Apr 2007 09:40:27 +0000 Peterlab http://americansfortruth.com/news/the-descent-of-feminism-cheers-for-rosie-as-she-talks-dirty-in-front-of-teen-girls.html  Check out this revealing account in yesterday’s New York Post of an appearance by crass lesbian Rosie O’Donnell to a group of VIP women in New York City. The story here is not Rosie’s mouth — the Big Apple’s sewers are cleaner than that – but the lack of outrage from the assembled powerful women despite the presence of a group of high-achieving high school girls in the room. But why are we surprised: after all, most of these women probably endorse the “Vagina Monologues,” a vulgar feminist play that has women discussing their private parts on stage as part of their assault on the patriarchy. (VM wants to take its subversive act from America’s colleges to its high schools — another atrocity for beleaguered parents to fight.) Note how one shocked observer didn’t want to give her name to the press. In other words, she was ashamed to publicly criticize O’Donnell. Meanwhile, we doubt that “shame” is even in Rosie’s vocabulary — which makes her, come to think of it, the perfect spokesman for modern, pro-partial-birth-abortion American feminism.– Peter LaBarbera

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04242007/gossip/pagesix/pagesix_u.htm

April 24, 2007 — ROSIE O’Donnell’s blue humor made faces red when she emceed the Matrix Awards in front of 2,000 feting New York’s most accomplished women in media at the Waldorf-Astoria Grand Ballroom yesterday.

The loose-lipped lesbian dropped the F-bomb as Barbara Walters lowered her head on the dais and covered her face with her hand. O’Donnell concluded a rant about Donald Trump by grabbing her crotch and shouting, “Eat me!”

O’Donnell also said she was sad when Trump called her “disgusting” and “fat” because, “it was always my dream to give an old, bald billionaire a boner.”

The annual luncheon of N.Y. Women in Communications – which honored Cindy Adams, Meredith Vieira, Joan Didion, Susan Lyne, Arianna Huffington and Lisa Caputo, among others – featured as presenters News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch [See photo, facing page], Joy Behar, Nora Ephron, and Martha Stewart.

Also on hand were 17 sweet-faced high school girls who won scholarships to pursue their dreams of careers in media.

“I was offended by how vulgar and common O’Donnell was,” said Robert Zimmerman, a Democrat active in progressive causes. “It was especially inappropriate with young people present.”

Brandon Holley, editor-in-chief of Jane magazine, said, “I wasn’t personally offended, but I thought it was fun to watch other people be offended.”

“I cringed and dove under the table when she said, ‘Eat me,’ ” said one woman attendee who declined to be identified.

Among those in the crowd were Judith Giuliani, her predecessor Donna Hanover, Judge Judy Sheindlin, Helen Gurley Brown, Sue Simmons, Geri Laybourne of Oxygen Media, Jane Friedman of HarperCollins, and Hearst president Cathie Black.

O’Donnell’s publicist, Cindi Berger, told us: “When you ask for Rosie, you know what you’re getting. She’s not a shrinking violet. She’s a stand-up comedienne. She says things that are provocative.”

N.Y. Women in Communications was evidently happy with O’Donnell. The group’s managing director, Beth Ellen Keyes, sent an e-mail to her handlers saying, “Rosie was fabulous. Please let Rosie know how much we appreciated her being there. She was just great.” [See Cindy Adams, Page 20.]

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/2007/04/25/the-descent-of-feminism-cheers-for-rosie-as-she-talks-dirty-in-front-of-teen-girls/feed/ 0 http://americansfortruth.com/2006/08/28/city-council-shames-itself-over-pride/ http://americansfortruth.com/2006/08/28/city-council-shames-itself-over-pride/#comments Mon, 28 Aug 2006 05:26:35 +0000 Sonja Dalton /corporate-promotion/city-council-shames-itself-over-pride.html Excerpted from City Council Shames Itself Over Pride, by Nicholas Owen, published Aug 2006, in San Diego News Notes:

By Nicholas Owen

…The July 29 parade lasted over three hours and included 185 contingents. Many entries featured scantily clad participants, mostly men, gyrating suggestively to loud, throbbing music. Float titles included “In Dmood for Decadence.” Simulated sex acts were performed in several entries, and many advertised gay bars, pornography vendors, and male prostitution businesses. A rider in the Rentboy.com convertible flashed the devil sign with his hand. Handouts to parade spectators included condoms, sexual lubricant samples, and literature promoting a pornographic web site. Numerous trash receptacles bearing the slogan “Got lube?” (advertising an anal sex lubricant) were placed along the parade route and in the festival venue inside Balboa Park.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a drag queen group in outlandish outfits parodying Catholic women religious, carried an “Asylum of the Tortured Heart” banner, mocking Catholic devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. At the Gay Pride festival, they provided crowd control and received an award for the “most outrageous contingent.”

A woman who was topless except for pasties walked alongside the parade. A man wearing a body thong covering only his genitals roller-skated by parade watchers in defiance of municipal code which prohibits nudity on public lands and defines it as being “devoid of an opaque covering which covers the genitals, pubic hair, buttocks, perineum, anus or anal region of any person, or any portion of the breast at or below the areola thereof of any female person.”

…Several law enforcement and government agencies participated in the parade or had a booth at the festival, including San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne, San Diego County Sheriff Bill Kolender, the San Diego Fire Department, the Chula Vista Police Department, the Oceanside Police Department, the Harbor Police, and the San Diego Regional Airport Authority.

…[S]ponsors included Hewlett-Packard, Wells Fargo Bank, Cox Communications, Viejas Casino, Sparkletts Water, Starbucks Coffee, Verizon, Sirius Satellite Radio Sempra Energy, iSOLD It, Great American Credit Union, Kaiser Permanente, Travelocity, Yahoo, Smirnoff, Bud Light, Avis Car Rentals, Glaceau Vitamin Water, and the Old Globe Theatre.

…Participating churches and synagogues included All Saints Parish and Saint John the Beloved Cathedral of the Catholic Church of America (not affiliated with the true Catholic Church); Dignity, another group using the Catholic label but not sanctioned by the Catholic Church; Christ Chapel of North Park; Saint Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral; Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad; Temple Emanu-El and the Metropolitan Community Church, founded by a homosexual “leatherman.” Participating schools included San Diego State University, UCSD, Cal State University San Marcos, and the San Diego Cooperative Charter School.

Continue reading in San Diego News Notes…

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