{"id":415,"date":"2013-07-25T20:19:54","date_gmt":"2013-07-26T01:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leisaacweaver.com\/blog\/?p=415"},"modified":"2013-07-25T20:53:23","modified_gmt":"2013-07-26T01:53:23","slug":"east-91st-street-christian-church-boy-scouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leisaacweaver.com\/blog\/east-91st-street-christian-church-boy-scouts\/","title":{"rendered":"An Open Letter to the Congregation and Leadership of East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RainbowYesterday I viewed a story on WTHR, the local NBC affiliate, in which it was reported that your church is cutting ties to Boy Scout Troop #910, a troop East 91st Street Christian Church<\/a> has sponsored since 1996.\u00a0 Your church made this decision because the national Boy Scout organization has voted to no longer discriminate against LGBTQ children and youth.<\/p>\n

The online report<\/a> included this quote from the Elder Council Statement,* “This decision comes through much prayer and seeking the Lord’s direction in this matter as we humbly seek to be a church that loves all people with the love and truth of Jesus Christ.”<\/p>\n

Wait.<\/p>\n

You say “loves all people with the love and truth of Jesus Christ” at the same time you are explaining why you decided it was important to punish children (Boy Scout troop #910) for a decision made by their organization’s leadership?\u00a0 A leadership they have no control over?<\/p>\n

Wait.<\/p>\n

It sounds eerily similar to the argument that is constantly made by some other “Christians” in Kansas.\u00a0 They act in ways that hurt innocent people too, and they say it’s because they love them.\u00a0 I’d be interested to hear how you think punishing children is a compelling example of Christ’s love.<\/p>\n

Let’s be honest here.\u00a0 That’s all anyone is asking for.\u00a0 For you to be honest with us, the LGBTQ community, but most of all, for you to start being honest with yourselves.<\/p>\n

Stop the “love” talk.\u00a0 When it starts to come out of your mouth, just shut it.\u00a0 This is not about love.\u00a0 If you loved the children who are in the scouting program you sponsor, you would not be taking this action.\u00a0 There’s no love in this.<\/p>\n

What we’ve got here is fear.\u00a0 You see LGBTQ equality coming down the tracks. \u00a0And you see that train barreling down on your families, your church, and your particular version of Christianity (the version that says God wants the Boy Scouts to be made up of only straight boys).\u00a0 And you have made this move to cast out this group of boys in a futile, fear-based attempt to derail the train before it gets to your house, before it gets to your church, before it gets to your heart.<\/p>\n

And, yeah, I’m a little stirred up.\u00a0 Because you aren’t being honest with yourselves when you say you are “a church that loves all people.”\u00a0 I can’t help but think if you were actually honest you would say, “We are a church that loves all people, except gay people.” \u00a0And since that wouldn’t feel right coming from your lips, you would try to love better.<\/p>\n

Once you surrender, once you open your heart, once you walk through the fear of the fictional “gay agenda,” the fictional “gay lifestyle,” the fictional downfall of civilization that we LGBTQ people are somehow powerful enough to cause, all you’ll find is more love<\/i>.\u00a0 Not the end of the world as you know it, not the end of your faith.\u00a0 Just more love<\/i>.<\/p>\n

And that time will come for you, and for your church.\u00a0 I know it.\u00a0 And I want you to know that when you are ready to be honest with yourselves about what “loves all people with the love and truth of Jesus Christ<\/a>” really means, there are so many of us waiting for you, right here, ready to share and celebrate the precious and expansive love that your God has for you, and me, and those 75 kids.\u00a0 All people<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

* In the post as it originally appeared, I incorrectly attributed this statement to East 91st Street’s spokesperson, Jamie Shafer. \u00a0She was kind enough to send me clarification and I have changed the post to reflect the information she provided.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And, yeah, I’m a little stirred up. Because you aren’t being honest with yourselves when you say you are “a church that loves all people.” I can’t help but think if you were actually honest, and said, “We are a church that loves all people, except gay people,” it wouldn’t feel right coming from your lips and you would try to love better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,6],"tags":[52,55,56,53,48,54,57],"class_list":["post-415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-spirit","tag-boy-scouts","tag-christianity","tag-east-91st-street-christian-church","tag-gay","tag-lgbt","tag-lgbtq","tag-love"],"yoast_head":"\nEast 91st Street Christian and Boy Scout Troop 910 - Marg Herder's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An open letter to the congregation and leadership of East 91st Street Christian Church regarding their decision to stop sponsoring a Boy Scout troop.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/leisaacweaver.com\/blog\/east-91st-street-christian-church-boy-scouts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"East 91st Street Christian and Boy Scout Troop 910 - 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