Fulfilling the Great Omission

A coalition of faith and community groups recently sent a letter that was published in the op-ed section of the Miami Herald. The letter says in part:

We join a growing number of faith and community leaders from around the country in support of non-discrimination legislation that protects all people from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations, while also protecting important religious rights. No one should be denied these protections based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, and likewise religious persons and institutions should be protected in practicing their faith. Those of us from faith traditions believe that we are all created by a loving God who has commanded us to love each other. We are all also Americans with a long tradition of figuring out how to get along despite deep differences.

The letter, which you can read here, was signed by multiple LGBTQ advocacy, community, and religious groups. The signatories included representatives from the Methodist, Episcopal, and Unitarian Universalist churches, several synagogues, the Baha’i and Sikh faiths, two high-ranking local members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and an imam. At least one Christian pastor also has the title of CEO. He even lists “CEO” before “pastor.” Interesting.

There is a glaring problem with the missive. LGBTQ people are not being denied any rights in Florida. They can live where they wish (or can afford to, but that is a problem for many people right now), get married, work where they want to, have access to healthcare, and buy groceries. If LGTBQ people are being denied basic rights in Florida, somebody better tell Dave Rubin and his husband, because I don’t think they got the memo. Rubin is living pretty large in Florida, is good friends with DeSantis, and has pretty much become a de facto goodwill ambassador for the state.

Related: Miami Herald Warns That Christian Rhetoric Could ‘Mobilize Fringe Mobs’

As you well remember, the much-ballyhooed so-called “Don’t Say Gay” dust-up in Florida had nothing to do with whether or not gay people can buy a house, drive a car, go to the doctor, or eat a pizza. It didn’t even have anything to do with the word “gay.” It had to do with not sexualizing small children in the classroom and giving parents access to and a voice in the things these children were being taught. But of course, the Left made a point of saying that the bill was anti-gay. It is classic misdirection, as is this letter. The underlying idea is if you supported the bill, you must by default hate LGBTQ people.

And of course, there is an election coming up, and this is an effort to rally the troops and energize leftist voters while scaring conservatives into remaining silent and inactive.

I grew up Episcopalian. My family went to a church in the downtown area that was massive, with soaring walls, a magnificent organ, and seating for probably 200+ people. When I was a kid, that church was filled on Sundays. And yes, I can remember that church being active in the civil rights movement and outreach to the homeless and the poor. But it also focused on Jesus and the Gospel. As time went on, the church went woke and began focusing on LGBTQ issues, abortion rights, and CRT. And it began trying to shoehorn the Gospel into those things. I checked out the church’s Facebook page the other day; I was curious since I had quite literally grown up within its walls. I Iooked at the page’s pictures, which featured plenty of leftist messages and scenes, including one woman at an abortion rally wearing a vulgar t-shirt. I watched a few live feeds of the services and was able to count between 15 to 20 people in attendance at any given service. Plenty of rainbows. Very few worshippers. The building is still there, but the church itself appears to be dying.

Some will say that there has been a covert but concentrated effort by the Left to infiltrate churches and slowly gut them from the inside in the same vein as the “slow march through the institutions.” While I don’t think that there are left-wing sleeper cells who patiently await their orders while skulking in narthexes across the nation, I can say that, in an effort to make themselves more relevant and to enjoy the fruits of popular culture, churches have been pursuing the praise and the mammon of this world. As Christ said in Revelation 2:4, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”