Stranger at the Gate: To be Gay and Christian in AmericaFew issues divide our country more dangerously today than does the question of homosexuality and the conflict between the concept of family values and the individual rights of gays and lesbians. Families are divided, careers are ruined, lives are lost - all in the struggle between beliefs founded in tradition and those based on personal freedom. Spearheading the fight against the increasingly vocal homosexual community are the leaders of the so-called "religious right", men and women who denounce gays and lesbians from their pulpits and encourage their followers to enact laws against them. Perhaps no one is better qualified to write about these issues and the conflicts they engender than Mel White. He was born into a conservative Christian home and educated in conservative Christian schools and churches. He met his wife there, and together they raised their children to believe in God and to follow a Christian lifestyle. He worked within the church as a filmmaker and writer, and eventually became a ghostwriter of books, autobiographies, and speeches for such noted figures in the religious right as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Billy Graham. But all that time Mel White had a secret. He was gay. In this remarkable book, Mel White looks at his own life in the church and details the struggles he went through to deny and overcome his own natural sexual desires. And in ways sure to anger many of the people he used to know best, he provides a firsthand look at the teachings and workings of the religious right today, showing how they use their power first to politicize their followers and then, using these politics, to spearhead fund-raising efforts. Most specifically, he examines the methodsthey use to create a campaign of hate and fear against homosexuals. It is a deeply personal story of torment and triumph, as well as a frightening examination of the anti-homosexual tactics of the religious right and a prophetic look at where they might lead our nation. Both autobiography and personal manifesto, Stranger at the Gate is the eloquent and deeply spiritual story of a gay Christian American determined to tell the truth as he experienced it. |
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Page 276
... Jim , and the rest of the radio and television religious personalities rushed to condemn the president . But Jim Kennedy - perhaps because he was in more desperate straits than the rest - outshamed them all . In his August 3 , 1993 ...
... Jim , and the rest of the radio and television religious personalities rushed to condemn the president . But Jim Kennedy - perhaps because he was in more desperate straits than the rest - outshamed them all . In his August 3 , 1993 ...
Page 312
... you faithfully . All I ask in return is a chance to be heard . In Christ's name , Dr. Mel White , P.O. Box 35466 , Dallas , Texas 75235 Letter to Jim Kennedy After Another of His Antigay Fund 312 / Stranger at the Gate.
... you faithfully . All I ask in return is a chance to be heard . In Christ's name , Dr. Mel White , P.O. Box 35466 , Dallas , Texas 75235 Letter to Jim Kennedy After Another of His Antigay Fund 312 / Stranger at the Gate.
Page 313
To be Gay and Christian in America Mel White. Letter to Jim Kennedy After Another of His Antigay Fund - raising Letters ( May 26 , 1993 ) MEL WHITE Jim Kennedy , Senior Pastor Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church 5555 N. Federal Highway Ft ...
To be Gay and Christian in America Mel White. Letter to Jim Kennedy After Another of His Antigay Fund - raising Letters ( May 26 , 1993 ) MEL WHITE Jim Kennedy , Senior Pastor Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church 5555 N. Federal Highway Ft ...
Contents
FOREWORD | 5 |
Six Letters to the Religious Right | 289 |
Authors Notes References and Resources | 318 |
Copyright | |
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