King George The Divider

NYT Link

The struggle, mainly among black Protestants, is taking place in pulpits, church conventions, on op-ed pages and on the airwaves, and the president himself began his second term with a meeting in the White House with black clergy members and civic leaders who supported his re-election.

Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr., the pastor of the Hope Christian Church in College Park, Md., is part of a new breed of leaders who have warmed to the Republican stand on social values. He paraphrases Newt Gingrich as he stumps the country to promote a "Black Contract With America on Moral Values," whose top priorities include opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion.

"Historically when societies have gone off kilter, there has been rampant same-sex marriage," Mr. Jackson said in an interview. "What tends to happen is that people tend to devalue the institution of marriage as a whole. People start rearing kids without two parents, and the black community already has this incredibly alarming and, if I may say, this shameful number of babies being born without fathers."

He said he hoped to collect a million signatures of support this year.

Efforts like Mr. Jackson's have brought a sharp reaction from other black ministers, who bridle at putting their energies into fighting same-sex marriage.


"Oppression is oppression is oppression," said the Rev. Kelvin Calloway, pastor of the Second A.M.E. Church in Los Angeles. "Just because we're not the ones who are being oppressed now, do we not stand with those oppressed now? That is the biblical mandate. That's what Jesus is all about."

At the heart of the debate, church leaders say, is whether to stay focused primarily on issues like job creation, education, affirmative action, prison reform and health care, which have drawn blacks closer to the Democratic Party, or whether to put more emphasis on issues of personal morality, like opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage, which would place them deeper in the Republican camp.

"Historically when societies have gone off kilter, there has been rampant same-sex marriage," says Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr.

Pardon my skepticism, but I'd like to hear some examples of such "history."

Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn recently remarked that lesbianism was "so rampant in some of the schools … that they'll let only one girl go to the bathroom."

"Rampant" used to be reserved for describing the prevalence of things like disease and crime. Frank Luntz must have issued a proclamation imploring the fascist footsoldiers to always tie the word "rampant" to homosexuality.

Homosexuality simply is. Does Pastor King and Senator Tom Coburn really believe Jesus would spend one second condemning homosexuals? If so, they possess little understanding of the man whose teachings their religion purports to represent. But, then, that's hardly a new phenomenon, is it?

Related Commentary at Arvin Hill: Another Final Solution