More Light Presbyterian message to GA: 'We're here, we're queer... deal with it!' By Paul Jensen The Layman Online Wednesday, June 23, 1999 FORT WORTH – "We're here, we're queer...deal with it!" proclaimed The Rev. Mike Brown, to a standing ovation at the Saturday evening Celebration Dinner of "More Light Presbyterians" before a sold-out banquet crowd of more than 200. Brown, pastor of Christ Church in Burlington, Vermont was in Fort Worth to receive the group's "Inclusive Church Award," and to help stage a demonstration the following morning in front of the Convention Center where more than 10,000 Presbyterians were scheduled to worship. Christ Church has been told by the presbytery of Northern New England that is not required to obey the ordination standards in the PCUSA's Book of Order. The 'infamous Amendment B' Claiming that he is "committed to Gospel values," Brown spoke at length about his fight against what he termed the "infamous Amendment B," and said that he had "prayed for guidance from Jesus Christ" and determined that he could not comply with the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church without hurting people. "We could be faithful to our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, or we could be a scandal to the Gospel." Thus, he said, his entire congregation, unanimously, voted to defy the church's mandate that ordained clergy confine sexual relations to marriage. He exulted that his presbytery, after first opposing Brown's militant stance ordering him "three times" to "be in compliance, or else," now has reversed itself. The dinner, attended also by the Rev. Jane Spahr, was held just before the Assembly elected is moderator. If support were measured by the wearing of buttons, the clear, if not unanimous, choice of those there to honor Brown was Freda Gardner, who hours later, would be overwhelmingly elected in the opening plenary session. Keynoter: 'we made' Jerry Falwell Following Brown's speech, the keynote address was given by The Rev. Dr. Mel White, of Laguna Beach, California, billed as a "former ghost writer for Jerry Falwell." White's address was in marked contrast to that of Brown's defiant homily, and was much more sedately received. White called upon his audience to abandon any efforts to "demonize" what he called "the misguided opposition" and instead to recognize that, "although Jerry Falwell looks to us like the village idiot, we made him, and he made us. We need him, and he needs us. If you don't see him, and Pat Robertson and Billy Graham, and others in the religious right as children of God, then you're wrong. If you see them as adversaries, this [fight] will never end." White went on to challenge the group that "[I]f you say we have 'more light' than others, you're saying the wrong thing, and you'll never come to reconciliation. We have to join with our sisters and brothers, and yes, even the village idiots, and look for 'more light' together." Repeatedly quoting Ghandi, White called upon the homosexual advocates to recognize that neither side had a monopoly on goodness. Changing Parker Williamson's heart White concluded by lauding a noted "opponent", the Rev. Dr. Lew Smedes, and quoted several passages from a new article by Smedes that White called "conciliatory." White challenged his audience to engage the "village idiots" in dialogue, saying that "we can't know each other by picketing." He said, "we need to call our worst adversaries and say to them, 'what do you want to tell me,' and then to truly listen to the response." He said that "we have to stop the rhetoric; we must get back to negotiation." In conclusion, he told his listeners, several of whom afterwards who would express surprise at White's remarks, that their opponents were "not evil – only misguided." He said in this way, conservatives would be more likely to listen to the message of "More Light." "Ask yourselves what would change Jerry's [Falwell] heart; what would change Pat's [Robertson] heart; what would even change Parker's [Williamson] heart?" The answer, White said, is to get them to recognize that we "all are children of God, seeking only to serve Him." |
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