Street Prophets

Jay Bakker Speaks Out Against Homophobia

by pastordan

Fri May 16, 2008 at 01:20:28 PM PDT

We haven't heard much recently from Zack Exley's  Revolution in Jesusland blog, but this bit from Sarah Posner should serve as a reminder of the appeal of some of the Emerging Churches:

This past weekend, Jay Bakker, son of the televangelist Jim Bakker and the late Tammy Faye Bakker, visited Joel Osteen's Lakewood megachurch in Houston, Texas, in an effort to enlist the church's participation in the civil rights organization Soulforce's effort to foster dialogue between churches and LGBT people. Bakker, who pastors his own Revolution Church in Brooklyn, New York, became an openly "gay-affirming" pastor three years ago. Revolution Church's website proclaims, "As Christians, we're sorry for being self-righteous judgmental bastards."

In Houston, Bakker chatted with Osteen and other church officials after the Sunday service, and although he described Osteen as "very genuine" and "welcoming" of LGBT people into his church it became clear that Osteen wasn't going to take any big stands on LGBT rights. Bakker chalks up much of the resistance to fear of losing influence and financial support. When he took his stand, Bakker added, he lost big donors and speaking engagements.

I seem to remember hearing about Bakker's move to welcoming gays and lesbians and its attendant fallout a couple of years back. In any case, it doesn't surprise me a bit that he's run into some flak for his stance. That's not a slam at Evangelicals, by the way - he could have had the very same problems in any number of mainline denominations.

But yeah, "we're sorry for being self-righteous judgmental bastards" pretty much gets to the heart of Christian problems these days, doesn't it?

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Tags: Jay Bakker, Church, Homosexuality (all tags)

Permalink | 16 comments

  • Props to Bakker... (13+ / 0-)

    Recommended by:
    lam2b2g, Richard Bowser, vgranucci, grada3784, Sadie Baker, Sarea, StarWoman, Marko, MaryKK, colloquial, linkage, Absit Invidia, Jose Cheung

    ...anyone who left his church because he wanted to welcome the LGBT community is a poor excuse for a human being.

    That said, now I'd like to focus on the positive.  I just went to Bakker's site, and wow, that is a beautiful thing, man.  It was so refreshing to see the message of love and inclusion that I was almost moved to tears.

    I'm moving back to NYC in just a couple of months, and I think I will stop into that church to tell them I think what they are doing is awesome.

    Sad that Osteen is choosing money over kindness - but isn't that pretty much always the way for these TV evangelists?  I hope people stop and think, before taking him seriously, that he was offered a chance to do a beautiful and kind thing to spread compassion, love and acceptance, and instead chose money.

    by Jimmy the Saint on Fri May 16, 2008 at 01:40:00 PM PDT

    • Jimmy: Re. "Sad that Osteen is choosing money". (1+ / 0-)

      Recommended by:
      MaryKK

      While watching a Documentary, on the History channel this week, about a Greek engineer
      named Heron who lived in Alexandria, Egypt some 1800
      years ago I was astonished to hear ( I paraphrase now)a blatant comment to the effect that money is the lifeblood of the church.

      This came up because many of Heron's inventions were
      used by Houses of Worship, of that time,to extract
      Drachmas from parishioners who were hoodwinked into believing that they were witnessing miracles brought about by the Gods.

      I reflect now on a Street Prophets commenter who has noted that," Just because it can be explained doesn't mean it isn't a miracle."

      1800 years gone by and peoples thoughts & House of Worship proceedures haven't changed a wit in some essentials, have they? And just to think,real scientists today really believe in that there Theory of Evolution.

      by kleinem on Sat May 17, 2008 at 05:37:14 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  • I didn't realize (9+ / 0-)

    Recommended by:
    lam2b2g, vgranucci, Sadie Baker, Sarea, Marko, colloquial, linkage, Absit Invidia, Icelander
    that Jesus had all those big donors back 2000 years ago.  I always thought He was wasting His time as a carpenter; should have gotten into plastics on the ground floor.

    This time, can we elect a President? Please, not another clown.

    by grada3784 on Fri May 16, 2008 at 01:54:57 PM PDT

  • Yay for Jay! (5+ / 0-)

    Recommended by:
    Richard Bowser, Sarea, colloquial, Absit Invidia, Jose Cheung

    Gets to the heart indeed.

    Perhaps it was sharp enough to let a little light in.

    "Only boring people get bored" - Mary E. Hirschler

    by Marko on Fri May 16, 2008 at 03:36:02 PM PDT

  • Once in awhile... (2+ / 0-)

    Recommended by:
    grada3784, Absit Invidia

    It's good to see that sometimes the apple DOES fall far from the tree.

    by tomkeez on Sat May 17, 2008 at 10:21:45 PM PDT

    • not THAT far from the tree (4+ / 0-)

      Recommended by:
      txredd, wiscmass, grada3784, Absit Invidia

      In 1996, Tammy Faye Bakker co-hosted a daytime talk show with openly-gay actor  Jim Bullock, titled "The Jim J and Tammy Faye Show".

      a link to a blog mentioning some of her support for the gay community

      and an interview where she talks about her gay fans

      These are two gay friends of yours?

      [Tammy] Most of my friends are gay. I’m not kidding you.

      You’re a fag hag?

      [Tammy] Most of my good buddies are gay. I like a lot of them. Many of them have stayed at the house. They come through to see me. I’ve got so many gay friends that I write to and who I’ve adopted. I’ve got one young man who I’ve unofficially adopted. He calls me mom. I try to help him through some of the things he’s going through in his life right now. I’ve kind of unofficially adopted several young gay men. I’m just there for them as mom. They all call me mom. I answer to that name happily and with great humility. I preach to a lot of gay people.

      Does your love of gay people alienate certain Christians?

      [Tammy] There are a lot of Christians in the gay community too. Some of the nicest people I’ve met in my life ever are gay and my husband agrees with me.

      Being gay can be tough.

      [Tammy] I know it is and that makes me sad. Your life shouldn’t be any tougher than anyone else’s. I have a special love in my heart for the gay and lesbian community. I have these two lesbian ministers that I go preach for all the time.

      [Tammy] They have a wonderful church. I’m happy because for a long time the guys would fill my one-woman shows. We’d have a ball together, but very seldom would the girls come. Now they’ve opened up their hearts towards me too. To me people are just people. I don’t care what they do in their bedrooms. That doesn’t make any difference to me.

      Many Christians state homosexuality goes against their beliefs.

      [Tammy] That’s their beliefs, but the church is suppose to love everyone. I think it’s terrible what the church has done to the gay community. We should at least agree to disagree and live in harmony. I want to be part of the church that helps bring us all together. I want to welcome the gay and lesbian community into the church.

      It sounds like Jay Bakker has carried out his mother's wishes.

      "A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort." -- Herm Albright

      by Jose Cheung on Sat May 17, 2008 at 10:55:39 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      • that dear lady (2+ / 0-)

        Recommended by:
        grada3784, Jose Cheung
        I fell in love with Tammy Faye in the last months of her life.  Her unwavering faith that God was going to heal her cancer was both mystifying to me and enormously endearing for some reason.

        She had another interview besides the one you quoted, where she talked about the fact that after the scandal and the collapse of her marriage and her church, she was embraced by the gay community and that their love and acceptance were part of what helped her get through that period.

        Underneath all the makeup, she was pure love.  Bona fide.

        by txredd on Sun May 18, 2008 at 05:54:36 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

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