Voters in Springfield, Missouri, spent much of their summer debating whether or not to expand their town's non-discrimination policies to LGBT people. At the height of the back-and-forth, a local reverend named Phil Snider appeared before the city council to deliver what is being described as a "fiery sermon" about gay rights.
"I worry about the future of our city," he said last August. "Any accurate reading of the Bible should make it clear that gay rights goes against the plain truth of the word of God. As one preacher warns, man in overstepping the boundary lines God has drawn by making special rights for gays and lesbians has taken another step in the direction of inviting the judgment of God upon our land.”
Then, toward the end of the nearly three minute remarks, Snider, who preaches at the Brentwood Christian Church, is on Twitter and has a blog, flips the script, admitting that all of his speech had been lifted from racist speeches calling for segregation.
I'm sorry, I brought the wrong notes with me. It turns out what I've been reading to you this whole time are direct quotes from white preachers from the 1950s and the 1960s all in support of racial segregation. All I have done is simply take out the phrase 'racial integration' and substituted it with the phrase 'gay rights.'
The non-discrimination measure was tabled, unfortunately, but Snider's incredibly clever appearance lives on in video form AFTER THE JUMP.
Before that, though, read this blurb from an essay he posted on his Facebook page last July, before his appearance. The essay is called "What Does the Bible Really Say About Homosexuality? – Part I":
The question, it seems to me, is not based on whether we have uniformity of interpretation but rather integrity of interpretation. Whatever our personal beliefs might be, we are charged with interpreting the Bible with integrity, to ask how it serves as a guide for our beliefs, which demands understanding it to the best of our ability, in relationship to its original context, and in light of the teachings of Christ.
Alright, find the August video of the august pastor AFTER THE JUMP.
