In 1999, Jerry Falwell issued a warning, through a magazine he oversaw, that Tinky Winky might be a gay role model. According to his National Liberty Journal, "[Tinky Winky] is purple — the gay pride color; and his antenna is shaped like a triangle — the gay pride symbol…. These subtle depictions are no doubt intentional and parents are warned to be alert to these elements of the series."
There was the usual mocking, of course, by the liberal press. Here's a typical article, this one from Salon, an on-line magazine: "Homosexuality obviously excites the man, as it did the North Carolina minister who accused Bert and Ernie of being gay companions a few years ago. Now he's … worrying that little boys across the country are running around with purses. It's a ludicrous charge, but one he surely knew would land his name in the papers and on TV once again."
But the charge wasn't ludicrous: Falwell was citing reports, many in the gay media, from the previous two years since the show was first aired in Britain. The same sort of liberal mocking occurred recently when another conservative Christian offered another warning against another potential gay role model. James Dobson is the head of Focus on the Family and in January warned that SpongeBob SquarePants is gay. Here's a typical media response to Dobson: "If the folks from Focus on the Family are right, it could make you, your children or maybe your furniture gay. Or tolerant."
This is from a statement by the United Church of Christ in the States: "The UCC welcomes SpongeBob in the wake of laughable accusations by Dobson that [he is] crossing 'a moral line' by stressing tolerance… It is Dobson who is crossing the moral line for sending the mistaken message that Christians do not value tolerance and diversity as important religious values. While Dobson's silly accusation makes headlines, it's also one more concrete example of how religion is misused over and over to promote intolerance over inclusion. This is why we believe it is so important that the UCC speak the Gospel in an accent not often heard in our culture, because far too many experience the cross only as judgment, never as embrace."
Those are strong words but they aren't about Christianity, the right, the left, or even about homosexuality and tolerance. They are demarcations, staking of position, closing of conversation — they are a hidden statement that marks the difference between, what are known post-election, as 'red and blue states'. The language is no different in Canada: the one group towards which the left, either Christian or secular, feels absolutely comfortable being intolerant is the right. The same is true of the right. Little conversation, or ideological ecumenism, exists between these divides.
'Tolerance' is a leftist key-word, the way 'biblical' is a rightist key-word. These are both attack words, the way the two sides take shots at each other. Focus on the Family, just like the United Church of Christ, is an ideological institution. Both Christians, both on the extreme end, both claiming Christ, both pious and self-righteous. Each side is constantly on the defensive and on the attack.
This is from Focus' press release: "While words like 'diversity' and 'unity' sound harmless — even noble — enough, the reality is they are often used by gay activists as cover for teaching children that homosexuality is the moral and biological equivalent to heterosexuality."
That's a direct hit from the right at the left — diversity and unity are bad. The attacks are semantic; note the subtle parsing of meaning. And, the left is no different. While embracing SpongeBob UCC decides to take a sideswipe at the right. "Meanwhile, the UCC's recently released 30-second paid television commercial — produced to underscore the denomination's belief that Jesus didn't turn anyone away — has been rejected by two major television networks for being 'too controversial.'
"Resistance to our message is formidable because we're cutting against the prevailing grain of a society that is afraid of the stranger, suspicious of difference and easily seduced by narrowly defined theological boundaries."
What nonsense. North American society is hardly any of those things. What UCC is doing is exactly the same as Focus on the Family: creating paranoia within which to sell its rhetoric. Moneychangers crowd the temple from both the right and the left of the Christian and political arena. They should all be ashamed. Nothing is gained. In fact, the only winner here is a poriferan who lives in a pineapple under the sea.
