Christian protests against Dallas Pride June 3rd 2023 -- Part I: The Predators. Update 1.
Counter protestors were there. Stonewall wasn't. What tactics work and what doesn't. Update with information about the Wells Church.
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UPDATE 1: Information about the Wells Church and a baby that died.
https://www.ktre.com/story/18659226/babys-death-draws-attention-to-wells-religious-group/
https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/church-of-wells-sawmill/
https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/church-of-wells-sawmill-inspection/
https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/catherine-grove-leaves-the-church-of-wells/
Introduction
There were three distinct types of groups. There was Protect Texas Kids (PTK) and the New Columbian Movement, but there were also street preacher type groups out handing their leaftlets.
Though PTK and the New Columbian Movement are a concern, I don’t think it is appreciated how these leafletting Christians are a problem and also, it was really clear LGBT don’t know how to deal with them.
This report will just deal with the Christian leafletter street preachers.
Christian Street preachers.
They were handing out this leaflet to anyone that would accept it.
This is their website which was on the back side of their page.
www.youmustbebornagain.org which redirects to the Church of the Wells website. Note: The webpage no longer exists.
https://www.thechurchofwells.com/ It appears to be a Calvinist faith. They says they originated in Arlington, Texas, but are now in Wells, Texas which is in East Texas way out in the country. Likely they still have members in the DFW area.
This is their page on “Homosexuality.” It is the same text as what was on the leaflet.
http://www.putoffthyshoes.com/are-you-saved/homosexuality
They went through the parking lots. I found this on the drivers side of my car.
I looked and they had done this to almost all the cars in the parking lot.
Another anti-LGBT Christian group.
There was this group after you walk in from Gate 5. I think they were a different group.
Christians as effective predators
The initial response might be to just laugh off this effort. Surely out of 1,000 leaflets 999 of them went straight into the trash if not a higher percentage.
What needs to be understood is not all of them went into the trash.
Not every LGBT person is having a happy life. Some of them are dealing with mental health issues. Other LGBT might have degrees of alienation from the Gay community. The Gay community can be lacking in support systems for Gays. There are isolated Gays which lack for friends. Often there are Gays who are still processing internalized homophobia or their anti-homosexual religious upbringing. It can be that their situation involves more than one of these issues.
What do these Christians offer? Note, Christian evangelists always tell people Christs loves them. Joining a group like this, a dejected Gay person is immediately offered a support network of friends, and since they are now ex-homosexuals, they are a hero in a drama of salvation and redemption and most importantly someone loves them. They might be showcased and get special attention.
What does the Dallas Gay community offer to counter this. Often a lot of snotty Gay people which are very status oriented. Not always, but it is a distinctive aspect of the Dallas Gay community. There used to be social clubs for Gays but these have died out as far as I know.
Christian evangelism in non-Christian societies works from the bottom up. They get their first recruits from the bottom of those societies and work upward. Those who are marginalized are offered the intoxicating joy of being special in the Christian drama.
Ex-Gays doen’t fall out of the sky, these tactics work.
We need to take these Christians coming to Pride events and to Gay neighborhoods seriously.
Counter-measures
[1] Always, take the leaflet. Everytime one was offered, I took it. I got four of them.
[2] Someone should check the parking areas, and collect all the leaflets and then there should be a video of burning them. I am 71 years-old and I had to walk across the entire length of Fair Park to the main entrance and back again in the heat. I was seriously exhausted, and didn’t have the strength. I am going to discuss with some groups about doing this.
Burning the leaflets will be a symbolic rejection of their efforts. You burn evil things. It will make these particularly unappealing Christians the face of anti-homosexual Christianity and help discredit anti-homosexual Christianity.
It will also be a rejection of that particular type of Christian Gay who is begging for acceptance. We need to establish in a symbolic way the contemptibility of homophobic Christianity. [Note I used the word “particular,” I am not talking about all LGBT Christians.]
[3] It would be helpful to recognize and discuss Christian predatory tactics. This would make LGBT more conscious of how they work and recognize that these tactics are being used on them. We need to use the word “predatory.”
[4] We need to use tactics that psychologically disable them. Christians thrive on persecution. Martyrdom is a major focus, because it is very convincing to others that your faith is real when someone dies for it or suffers. When you curse them or hurl insults they thrive on it. They are suffering for their faith. They imagine they are heros.
The counter-protestors at the PTK and New Alliance protest I am sure felt like they were doing the right thing, but in actually they were empowering the anti-Gay Christians.
I had the following sign at the event. The Gate 5 group of anti-Gay Christians were ranting and raving and when they saw this, they were stunned and were quiet for minutes. They took photos. I also showed it to the New Alliance and PTK. They noticed and took photos.
Hopefully the opposition will post pictures of this sign elsewhere. This sign not only shows the inanity of PTKs accusations, but it also points out that Christianity has its own weird elements. Transubstanation, the believe of the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox church holds that the the communion wafer and the wine is actually the body and blood of Christ and merely has the appearance of bread and wine. Even if it was totally symbolic it is creepy.
This meme will be in their heads when they leave the protest.
I think that there are otherways of psychologically disabling them. Usually those attracted to evangelical faiths do so to fill psychological needs. They are marginal in the modern economy and living in our modern society without community. Christianity provides them with community, emotional support, and they can be someone in their church. That is why churches offer so many roles. There is drama of them saving the world and lots of activities where they can have experiences which they find meaningful. That is why they are having “crusades” all the time to save souls, they escape their otherwise meaningless lives to be these extraordinary characters in a great heroic spiritual drama. If they get cursed, all the better for the drama. Basically evangelical faith is nothing more than fentanyl Jesus.
Not understanding what drives these homophobic Christians and thinking that reason works is one reason the LGBT isn’t effective against anti-LGBT Christians.
Also, Christianity is undergoing historically rapid rates of decline in America. They have alienated a large fraction of the public. They are vulnerable. I think we need to critically comment on them. Also, there nothing wrong with saying, “If a faith is anti-Gay it is a stupid faith.” This is true, and we shouldn’t undermine our own defense because a few whiners in the LGBT might complain.
What not to do
DO NOT ARGUE THAT THE BIBLE ISN’T ANTI-GAY.
You are making our right to exist contingent on the outcome of a entangled theological debate and some of you aren’t really good debaters.
We have a right to exist regardless of what the Bible might or might not say.
The anti-LGBT Christians know all the arguments by LGBT asserting that the Bible isn’t anti-Gay. Further, when you say this, you are confirming their belief that LGBT are to be judge by the Bible. You are validating their belief that LGBT are not to be treated according to the standards and methods of a secular society, but instead by their understandings of the Bible.
It is a total waste of time to argue with anti-LGBT Christians about the Bible. They are likely anti-LGBT and merely searching for a religious justification. Or they are intoxicated with their crusade. They really don’t care what you might have to say. They are deeply emotionally committed to their anti-LGBT Christianity. There are likely other arguments which would work, like telling them, “I guess hating Gays makes you feel like you are some great crusader,” or some thought out psychological phrase, but debating the Bible isn’t going to get you anywhere. They will thrive on debating the Bible’s meaning.
The Bible was written ancient times and not in a modern rationalistic world. It is a contradictory text written with stories to advance ideas. Arguing about what the Bible says about homosexuality is a quagmire. Given that currently the great majority of Christians around the world are anti-Gay, and Christianity has been engaged in persecution of Gays for the last 20 centuries, we get the word faggot from Gays being burned at the stake, it is likely that for all time the great majority of Christians will be anti-LGBT. Let’s stop empowering our enemies.
It is okay for LGBT to argue that the Bible isn’t anti-LGBT with friends and potential Christian allies. I want to make this clear. Reducing the number of enemies of the LGBT is a good thing. However, LGBT Christians need to understand that resolving their own personal conflicts with their particular religion is their issue, not the issue of the LGBT in general.
This is a link to all the anti-Gay groups that have been researched so far.
I'm in one of the pictures of the 5 there was some preachers who were calvinist but I don't identify as a calvinist I'm non denominational. Believe in Jesus and repent of all your sins you are aware of. God's calling you and he welcomes you! Jesus loves you! John 3:16, Hebrews 5:9, Hebrews 10:26-28, 1 corinthians 6:9-11