Rev. Ken Hutcherson [Pictured] said, "'I consider myself a warrior for Christ. Microsoft don't scare me. I got God with me.
"'I told them that you need to work with me or we will put a firestorm on you like you have never seen in you life because I am your worst nightmare. I am a black man with a righteous cause with a whole host of powerful white people behind me.'
"Mr Hutcherson's office is decorated with the heads of deer, elk and a buffalo – 'when I run into animals, I kill them and bring them home and eat them' – as well as invitations to the White House and signed pictures of himself with President George W. Bush."
[For the full article, see here.]
This is an example of what my friend, Bishop Leland Somers refers to as "thug Christianity." People like Hutcherson is aligning himself with those who exhibit the same kind of thinking that supported (and in some circles still supports) White Supremacy; many of his presumed allies, that "whole host of powerful white people behind me," would probably not even associate with him if he didn't support their homophobic agenda.
And he and other homophobic Black pastors may not be intelligent or sensitive enough to realize the fact that racism and homophobia partake of the same hate and exclusion that created, and still creates, the grinding oppression and humiliation of Afro-Americans and LGBT people in this country!
And don't be fooled by those homophobic Black pastors, and some others in the Black community, who argue that there is no similarity between White Supremacy and homophobia! They both partake of hate, oppression, exclusion and, to put a finer and more tragic point on it, both appealed (and still appeal) to the Bible to justify that oppression, humiliation, and the lack of the conferring of dignity to Afro-Americans and LGBT people that befits all human beings made in the image of God!
I had occasion to make the following comment in regard to a post on Bishop Somers' excellent blog, entitled, Musings of a Progressive Bishop, that seems appropriate to place here as well:
"This rapidly encroaching fascism, imperialistism, and jingoism is supported by many people who call themselves, 'Christian'; much of the American electorate suffer from what Marx called, 'false conscousness,' where they act and vote against their own rational best interests; most of the American electorate lack critical thinking skills, where they vote into office those who tickle their ears the best and are well-groomed; statements regarding God are frequently uttered in the service of naked self-interest; much, if not most, of people’s spirituality is circumscribed by churches that have aligned themselves with the State and with the status-quo that favors the wealthy; a watered down gospel which is no Gospel is frequently preached, that is designed to not offend any church member, has gained ascendancy lest church membership and money dwindle that maintain careers and edifices that frequently hinge on deficit spending; Christianity being identified with the false gospel of legalism, perfectionism, and exclusion and, therefore, not taken seriously (and even resented) by many intelligent, sensitive, and decent people; many professing Christians equating 'love' with silence against others’ oppression and against the corporate sins with which we are dealing, have helped fuel this pathetic and dangerous state of affairs in which we find ourselves in the U.S. And I don’t see anything changing anytime soon!"
Rev. Hutcherson, and those who profess to be Christians and preach against and vilify LGBT people are no different from the White Supremacists against whom the Civil Rights movement for Afro-Americans was directed! How many white clergy, do you think, preached in favor of Segregation in the 1950's South? Put another way, "How many white Southern Clergy in the 1950's preached that whether we be Black of white, we are all children of God and must be treated equally, have full integration, and share full and equal civil rights?" Unfortunately, to ask the question is to answer it!
Rev. Hutcherson and others like him are suffering from "false consciousness" and a seemingly willful amnesia, not recognizing that their vitriol, their preaching of the false gospel of exclusion, partakes of the very same dynamics that caused untold grief, humiliation, indignities, and oppression to their ancestors. And the same would be now occurring to them were it not for those who fought for civil rights for Afro-Americans!
Yet, the Ken Hutchersons of the world are not willing to fight for the civil rights of LGBT people and, instead, vilify them, and do so in the name of God, no less!
When will they ever learn?
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