On Monday, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson joined Mike Huckabee and some other conservative Christian leaders in blaming Friday's shootings on God who, Dobson said on his radio broadcast, "has allowed judgment to fall upon us."
Our country really does seem in complete disarray. I'm not talking politically, I'm not talking about the result of the November sixth election; I am saying that something has gone wrong in America and that we have turned our back on God.
I mean millions of people have decided that God doesn't exist, or he's irrelevant to me and we have killed 54 million babies and the institution of marriage is right on the verge of a complete redefinition. Believe me, that is going to have consequences, too.
And a lot of these things are happening around us, and somebody is going to get mad at me for saying what I am about to say right now, but I am going to give you my honest opinion: I think we have turned our back on the scripture and on God almighty and I think he has allowed judgment to fall upon us. I think that's what's going on.
And uncounted legions of people yearning for a spiritual home and connection to the God of love, justice and compassion are given yet another reason to "pass" on Christianity -- because if Christianity is about a God who would kill children because He's angry about gay and lesbian people building families together then who wants any part of that God? Not me, said the Episcopal priest. Not me.
This would be the same God who "intends" a rape victim to bear the child of her rapist and who supports a bill that advocates killing gays in Uganda. Just to name a few.
Well, I don't have a radio show. But I have a blog. And I have news for Dr. Dobson: that God isn't irrelevant to me -- He is anathema to me. That God has nothing whatsoever to do with the God of love, justice and compassion who "came down at Christmas" incarnate in the Prince of Peace who became one of us in order to show us how to love one another.<
And if we let Dobson -- or Huckabee or Buchanan or any of the other followers of that hateful, hurtful, homophobic, judgmental God with an anger management problem -- speak for Christianity, then we fail to counter the toxic theology masquerading as the Good News of God in Christ and we fail to stand up, stand up for Jesus.
And we can do better than that. So let's do it. Seriously.