Creating fear and loathing of gay and lesbian Americans has proven, year after year, to be the most effective say for Dobson and the other fundamentalist Christian leaders to raise millions of dollars and recruit millions of volunteers to support their long-range campaign to take back America.
Mel WhiteThe words 'God is love' conclude a biblical warning, not a warm and fuzzy slogan. 'He who doesn't love [his neighbor] doesn't love God, for God is love.'
Mel WhiteWhen you stand with the outcasts, you stand with Jesus, and when you despise the outcast, you despise Jesus, as well. Becoming an activist is simply a matter of putting love into action.
Mel WhiteThere's something in the cross that says this is not just about my "salvation" but about the "salvation" of all those who suffer injustice and inequality.
Mel WhiteI am convinced that Christian fundamentalism is a far greater threat to this country than Muslim terrorists could ever be.
Mel WhiteDaniel Nahmod's music is addictive and contagious... and is equally comfortable addressing your spirituality, your co-dependence and anger, your hungry stomach or your loving heart. His songs run the gamut from meditative to wise-ass to joyful to everything in between, and he is particularly wonderful working with children (and the young-at-heart). When CDs 4 and 5 come out, you can feel totally comfortable buying them unheard and unseen -- all of Daniel's music is amazing.
Mel WhiteThe Scriptures have been misused to defend bloody crusades and inquisitions; to support slavery, apartheid, and segregation; to sanction the physical and emotional abuse of women and children; to persecute Jews and other non-Christian people of faith; to support the holocaust of Hitler's Third Reich; to oppose medical science; to condemn inter-racial marriage; to execute women as witches; to excuse the violent racism of the Ku Klux Klan; to mobilize militias, white supremacy and neo-nazi movements; and to condone intolerance and discrimination against sexual minorities.
Mel WhiteThe Bible becomes a dead idol when we call the words between its covers inerrant, infallible, to be taken literally. This is not a dead book. It is alive. Open it carefully because the new truth that might come leaping out at you could change your life forever.
Mel WhiteFundamentalist Christians are my sisters and brothers, my family and friends, my oldest colleagues and coworkers. But I fear their love for the nation has become an obsession to reshape it in their own image.
Mel WhiteDuring my time in the entourages of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, I never saw either of them attack and punish those who disagree, as Dobson does on a regular basis.
Mel WhiteJerry Falwell turned gay bashing into a very successful art form.... the first fundamentalist to exploit the fear and loathing of homosexuals to raise hundreds of millions of dollars and add millions of new donors to his mailing list.
Mel WhiteIf there is any one message the Bible delivers, it is the message that God loves outcasts and that Jesus was born into the world an outcast to rescue and renew outcasts from religion gone bad. He was born poor and died poor, yet the legacy of love he left us, the legacy of inclusion and acceptance and understanding, will endure forever.
Mel WhiteWe cheer the presence of an openly gay woman or man on television there are large numbers of people in Virginia and other states who see these public affirmations as another step towards the country's oblivion.
Mel WhiteGary Nixon and I have had a loving, committed, faithful relationship for twenty-five years (now over 30) yet we are denied more than a thousand rights and protections that go automatically with marriage.
Mel WhiteIt's beginning to feel like there is no room in America for anyone who is not a fundamentalist Christian.
Mel WhiteThe Bible is not a book of magic. It's a book of mystery. You can't just quote verses that support your prejudices or guarantee your health, wealth, and happiness and demand that God 'follow through' as promised. God is not limited to the words of Scripture. God is still speaking.
Mel WhiteIn my lowest moments, when I genuinely longed for death, I knew that Jesus would walk with me through that valley as well.
Mel WhiteLike the people of Israel who created a golden calf to represent God while Moses was away, fundamentalist Christians have built their own idols to represent God until Jesus returns. The religion of fundamentalism is idolatry.
Mel WhiteBecause of their excessive commitment to a literal Bible, fundamentalist Christians have fallen into the trap of biblioltry.
Mel WhiteIf I want to read S.J. Perelman's Chicken Inspector No. 23 for the third time instead of some anguished, politically correct saga of a girl growing up in a trailer park in Kingman, Arizona, with an alcoholic mother who makes her straighten her naturally curly hair and won't let her date a Navajo boy or pursue her goal of becoming (naturally) a writer, I will. And I will laugh like a lunatic while doing it.
Mel WhiteDoing justice, loving mercy, seeking truth...these are the issues [the Bible] is clear on.
Mel WhiteIt would be catastrophic if one day these fundamentalists Christians gain enough political power to enforce their literal understanding of Mosaic Law.
Mel WhiteAlthough I claim to be a Christian, I live at a moment in time when the Christian faith is being defined by fundamentalists who have dishonored Christ and are in the process of destroying His church. I refuse to wear the 'Christian' label without redefining it.
Mel WhiteA few years ago I switched to an entirely different kind of New Year's resolution. Instead of vowing to improve, I pledge to do a better job of accepting my bad habits - to stop worrying about failing to be the person I used to imagine I could be.
Mel White