There is an attempt to smear and then tie Martin Luther King’s name to the homosexuality movement inside churches. Of course the efforts to undermine the more conservative side of ‘black’ churches when it comes to marriage issues.
Despite the liberal tendencies of the ‘black’ churches they have remained more conservative on issues that the not so reverent Al Sharpton would now like to influence. What better way than to tie King to the more liberal view of gay marriage in an effort to sway the churches away from the last ‘conservative’ ground.
Read the approach of the SFGate.com site which reports on the daughter of King who attended a demonstration which denounced same-sex marriage.
The sight of the youngest daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. standing at her father’s gravesite Saturday with thousands of demonstrators to denounce same-sex marriage was painful… it’s not the first time that a King family member has sullied King’s name and legacy to torpedo gay rights.
Google Answers has some information about the topic even though King didn’t address the topic directly. Of course it wasn’t an issue the way it is now. It is certainly clear that his niece believes in traditional marriage and also believes that her view is the same as her uncle’s. Notice however that google answers doesn’t even quote her correctly. She never said God hates homosexuals .but rather homosexuality. A distinction the heterophobes won’t notice.
Whether they can play on portraying King as a supporter of the society Sharpton now wants to shape thoughts through the ‘black’ churches. They will most likely mis-portray Kings relationship with Bayard Rustin, a gay man who help organize the march on Washington with the motive of swaying ‘black’ churches from their Biblical roots.
“I come to tell you to be thermostats. Turn up the heat in the black church. Make these people sweat.”
Sharpton said his participation in the summit, as well as his desire to urge the black church to address homophobia, came from having a lesbian sister as well as his friendship with Bayard Rustin, a gay man who worked with Martin Luther King Jr.
Perhaps they garner strength since ‘white’ churches who have strongly supported churches have not lost many people or congregations over the topic. Once such article from Gay.com entitled Pro-gay-marriage church reports defections which reports that the United Church of Christ reported less than 1 percent of its churches have separate from the denominations. Whether ‘black’ churches will fare better or worse (depending on your point of view) remains to be seen.
Other blogs that tackle this topic:
Rebecca Harton: pro same-sex
Gay & Lesbian News blog: obviously pro-same sex marriage
Independent Conservative: pro heterosexual marriage
Evangelical Outpost: pro heterosexual marriage
Discussion welcome but keep it civil. Much appreciated.
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