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Top Evangelical Leader Calls Anti-Gay Nashville Statement ‘An Expression of Love’

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Albert Mohler says he and his fellow evangelicals have “been called upon to clarify … and specify what the Bible teaches about human sexuality, marriage, and what it means to be made male and female.”

One of America’s top evangelical leaders is calling a new anti-LGBT policy statement signed by 150 notable Christian far right conservatives “an expression of love.” Albert Mohler, the President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a highly-influential Christian evangelical leader, made his remarks in a Washington Post op-ed on published Sunday. 

The Nashville Statement draws a line in the sand against LGBT people, especially against those who are married to persons of the same-sex, and against transgender people.

“WE DENY that God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous, or polyamorous relationship,” one portion of the Nashville Statement, which is structured with affirmations and condemnations, says.

“WE DENY that any affections, desires, or commitments ever justify sexual intercourse before or outside marriage; nor do they justify any form of sexual immorality,” says another.

“WE DENY that adopting a homosexual or transgender self-conception is consistent with God’s holy purposes in creation and redemption,” reads one of the more offensive ones.

“WE AFFIRM that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness,” reads another.

Mohler, however, insists these are not words of hate, but of love.

“This past week I was part of an effort that put America’s theological and moral fault lines fully in view,” Mohler writes in the Post. “I was a signer of something called the Nashville Statement, a document adopted by a group of evangelical Christians seeking to reaffirm traditional Christian values on sexuality.”

He says “the vitriol in response to our document showed why such clarification is necessary.”

Without considering why so many Americans and people around the world are angry, upset, hurt, disgusted, or have just decided that the Christian right has lost any credibility it may once have had, Mohler does exercises the very un-Christian response and defends his work.

One of the most intense lines of criticism was that we, signers of the document, dismiss the pain and suffering of those who live outside those historic Biblical sexual norms. That we weren’t acknowledging the rejection they feel in the church and were making their sins appear more significant than our own,” Mohler admits. 

He also does not address why same-sex marriage, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people are his targets, along with those who support the right of a woman to choose to have an abortion.

Why not speak to divorce? Inequality? Immigration? Economic challenges? 

Why not speak to the historic Hurricane Harvey, which Mohler’s group was apparently unaware was ravaging Texas and Louisiana as they were releasing their statement attacking LGBT people.

In releasing the Nashville Statement, we in fact are acting out of love and concern for people who are increasingly confused about what God has clarified in Holy Scripture,” Mohler says.

In other words, he’s doing what evangelical Christians have been doing for decades: calling LGBT people sinners while claiming their “truth,” aka hate and condemnation, is love.

Jesus would disagree with them.

Mohler actually believes that he and his “generation of Christians” have “been called upon to clarify…and specify what the Bible teaches about human sexuality, marriage, and what it means to be made male and female.”

If you’re thinking it’s strange that with millions of Americans in Texas and Louisiana under water right now, millions of Americans facing possible loss of health care coverage thanks to the president and his GOP Congress, millions of Americans waking up each and every morning not knowing where breakfast is coming from – if it comes at all – millions of Americans working in jobs that don’t pay them a living wage, millions of Americans being forced to work two, three, four or more jobs just to keep their families fed, and millions of Americans affected by suicide and gun deaths each year, why this generation of Christians has been called upon to clarify and specify what the Bible teaches about human sexuality, marriage, and what it means to be made male and female – and not to focus on and help fix the real problems our society faces.

If Albert Mohler and his Christian evangelical friends believe this is their calling – to chastise good, hard-working LGBTQ Americans – so be it.

But they should know this: Americans increasingly see them and their ilk not as Christians, but as extremists, bigots, haters, and the word they truly fear the most: irrelevant.

For more on Mohler, here’s an interview with him from 2014:

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‘Brutal’: Trump Approval Tanks as Support Plummets Across Key Issues, Poll Shows

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Barely more than one-third of Americans approve of how President Donald Trump is doing his job, and on key issues, his support is underwater.

Just thirty-seven percent of Americans give President Trump good marks overall, while more than half the country, fifty-five percent, disapprove, according to the latest Quinnipiac University national poll.

The partisan divide is large, with 84% of Republicans saying he is doing a good job, and 98% of Democrats saying he is not. The majority of independents, 58%, agree with Democrats and disapprove.

Just less than three in ten women (29%) approve of President Trump’s performance, while 46% of men do.

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On crime, the majority (54%) disapprove of Trump’s performance, just 42% approve.

On the economy, fewer than four in ten (39%) approve, and 57% disapprove.

Similarly, on trade, just 38% approve, while 56% disapprove.

On his efforts to end the Ukraine war, a majority (52%) disapprove, while just 40% approve.

“Voters have little confidence in President Trump’s effort to broker peace in Ukraine, and most voters don’t trust Vladimir Putin to keep a peace deal if one were reached,” Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy wrote. “And though the president has ruled out putting U.S. troops in the war theater to keep the peace, four out of 10 voters would support it,”

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And two-thirds of Americans (67%) disapprove of his handling of the Epstein files.

According to the non-partisan group Political Polls, this is Trump’s lowest approval rating in this term.

Critics and strategists weighed in.

Mike Madrid, the top Republican Latino political consultant, remarked, “Brutal poll results for Trump. Just brutal.”

“Striking” is how The New Republic’s Greg Sargent described the poll’s finding on Trump deploying the National Guard, and he noted that Trump’s “overall approval on crime is cratering.”

“Predictably, Trump’s terrible overreach is again turning people against him in an area where he was previously perceived as strong, just as on immigration and the economy,” wrote Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA). “Per Quinnipiac, independents oppose his DC occupation 61-34. Overall: 56-41 against.”

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‘It’s Always a Young White Male’: Fox Host Urges Action After Deadly School Shooting

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A Fox News host is blaming mass shootings on access to guns and young white males, after the latest school shooting that left two young children dead and seventeen others injured during mass at a Catholic school. The gunman reportedly was in his early 20s and is now deceased.

“Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the shooter — armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol — approached the side of the church and shot dozens of rounds through the windows toward the children sitting in the pews during Mass at the Annunciation Catholic School. Police believe the gunman then killed himself,” the Associated Press reported. “The children who died were 8 and 10, and 14 other kids were among the wounded, the [police] chief said. Dozens of youngsters were inside.”

Trey Gowdy, a Republican former U.S. Congressman from South Carolina and a former federal prosecutor, stunned his co-host while speaking live on Fox News (video below).

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“Our system is reactive,” Gowdy lamented. “Something bad happens, we react to it. And what people are crying for now is, ‘How can we prevent this? How can we stop it?’ And the only way to stop it is to identify the shooter ahead of time or keep the weapons out of their hands.”

“And so we’re going to have to have a conversation of freedom versus protecting children. I mean, how many school shootings does it take before we’re going to have a conversation about keeping firearms out?”

“It’s always a young white male, almost always. I mean, did anyone this morning think, ‘I wonder if that was a female?’ Did any of y’all think that? I mean, there’s been one school shooting involving a female. One. Tennessee. But other than that, it is usually young white males.”

His co-host, off camera, protested.

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“Don’t we have laws on the books for these types of situations?” she asked.

“Like what?” he pressed.

“Well, well murder is what happened, and maybe the why is that you had a 10-year-old an eight-year-old praying in the pews. Were they targeted for their faith?” she asked.

Gowdy is not a liberal. On Tuesday, appearing on Fox News’ “Hannity,” he declared the left’s politics are “absolutely idiotic.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Duffy Slammed After Handing Trump Credit for Biden’s ‘Brand New Beautiful Trains’

 

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Duffy Slammed After Handing Trump Credit for Biden’s ‘Brand New Beautiful Trains’

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Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy is under fire for claiming credit for new Amtrak trains, as well as funding and improvements, all of which came from President Joe Biden’s landmark bipartisan infrastructure law — the nation’s largest infrastructure investment in more than half a century.

“Announcing the NextGen Acela!” Secretary Duffy declared on Wednesday. He touted the “brand new beautiful trains” delivered by U.S. DOT and Amtrak that will, he wrote, “increase reliability,” “lower ticket costs,” and “improve Amtrak profitability.”

“This is all part of @POTUS’ vision to Make Travel Great again,” Duffy claimed.

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But several critics were quick to point to President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) that was signed into law in November 2021.

CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere wrote: “as detailed on the Amtrak website, the improvements that Secretary Duffy says are all part of Trump’s ‘vision to Make Travel Great again’ are in fact from the Biden-signed bipartisan infrastructure act, and which were underway long before Trump took office again in January.”

The “information about the source of the funding for the ‘new era of rail’ — a priority for famously Amtrak-loving Biden — is up on the Amtrak site here,” he noted, pointing to this Amtrak website, which reads:

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Amtrak and passenger rail to play a central role in improving how people move and securing our economic future. This historic legislation provides $66 billion for rail, including: $22 billion directly to Amtrak over five years to repair or replace aging assets, modernize our fleet, improve station accessibility, and other capital projects and purposes defined under the law.”

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Also, Amtrak noted, “$44 billion for Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) discretionary grants to support various improvements to passenger and freight railroads.”

Others also blasted the DOT chief.

“Sean Duffy, surprising absolutely no one, taking credit for something brought to you in large part by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed by President Biden,” charged former chief Pentagon spokesperson Chris Meagher.

Watch the video below or at this link.

RELATED: Trump Expands D.C. Occupation, Will Seize Control of Union Station Operations


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