Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) leaders termed “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson, suspended by A&E for controversial anti-gay statements in a magazine interview, the latest casualty in America’s culture war.
“[T]he controversy over Duck Dynasty sends a clear signal to anyone who has anything to risk in public life,” Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., commented in a blog Dec. 19. “Say nothing about the sinfulness of homosexual acts or risk sure and certain destruction by the revolutionaries of the new morality. You have been warned.”
“This is ridiculous,” SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) head Russell Moore said in a comment on Twitter linking to a Variety story headlined “‘Duck Dynasty’: Phil Robertson Suspended Indefinitely Following Anti-Gay Remarks.”
Robertson, patriarch of the Louisiana clan featured in the most popular reality show on cable TV, sparked controversy with an interview in GQ Magazine offering his definition of what is sinful.
From the magazine: “Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he says. Then he paraphrases Corinthians: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers — they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”
GLAAD, formed in 1985 as the “Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation" to pressure media to stop promoting anti-gay stereotypes, called Robertson’s comments “some of the vilest and most extreme statements uttered against LGBT people in a mainstream publication” and said they were “littered with outdated stereotypes and blatant misinformation.”
"Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil's lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe," said GLAAD spokesperson Wilson Cruz. "He clearly knows nothing about gay people or the majority of Louisianans — and Americans — who support legal recognition for loving and committed gay and lesbian couples. Phil's decision to push vile and extreme stereotypes is a stain on A&E and his sponsors who now need to re-examine their ties to someone with such public disdain for LGBT people and families."
The network released a statement Nov. 18 reading: "We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson’s comments in GQ, which are based on his own personal beliefs and are not reflected in the series 'Duck Dynasty.' His personal views in no way reflect those of A+E Networks, who have always been strong supporters and champions of the LGBT community. The network has placed Phil under hiatus from filming indefinitely."
A&E released a statement from Robertson saying in part: “I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity.”
(ABP)
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