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Loading ...A Response from the God Has a Better Way campaign
You guys will never believe who my new pen pal is.
As you may have seen in the comments on my piece on the plans for “God Has a Better Way” to show up at Charlotte’s Pride event on Saturday, Dr. Michael Brown checked in and asked me to contact him directly through his website.
I did, and quickly received a short reply to let me know that Brown had received my e-mail. He later sent a longer one – very polite – mentioning some issues he had with the piece.Brown was courteous and respectful during the entire exchange, not to mention surprisingly good-natured about the part where I called his video creepy.
I have promised to be fair in return.
Brown took issue with some of my reporting. (He says he has also contacted the Box Turtle Bulletin with objections to their article as well.) He started off by clarifying his group’s use of the word “surround,” which I took for my article from the God Has a Better Way video:
“…we’re gathering more than 1,000 believers to surround the gay pride event in Charlotte with worship, prayer, intercession, and the message of the love of God.”
I interpreted that to mean that Brown and his followers planned to ring the park, but Brown says that I have misinterpreted. From his e-mail:
“Actually, the Pride Charlotte event is on private party in a courtyard surrounded by buildings. Our event will be taking place across the street, and our plan was to ‘surround’ their event with prayer and worship – a spiritual concept that those unfamiliar with the Pride Charlotte logistics took as a literal threat to physically surround their event.”
Upon doing a Web search, I see that the phrase “surround with prayer” is in common use in some Christian circles in a figurative sense, for example in asking a community to pray for someone with an illness.
My misinterpretation does make the GHBW event sound more threatening than it is, and I apologize for the error.
Brown next objects to my statement, in referring to the Box Turtle Bulletin article, that Brown’s group had prayed with the help of “a powerful sound system.”
Brown says, “We had no powerful sound system (in all my years of involvement in the events, we’ve never had a loud sound system).”
According to a May 8, 2005 article in the Charlotte Observer on the Pride event in question, “…Christian music blared from the sidewalk…” so I guess half-points all around. I was incorrect in saying that Operation Save preached through a sound system, but it does look like one was in the mix.
Given the context, that sounds mildly less intimidating to me, but not a ton.
Brown also took issue with the idea that anyone in his group behaved in an unkind or intimidating manner: “UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DID ANY OF OUR PEOPLE DO SUCH A THING. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DID THEY COMMUNICATE WITH THE CHILDREN WHO WERE THERE, AND UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DID THEY TELL THEM THAT THEIR PARENTS WERE SINNERS GOING TO HELL, AND UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DID THEY HARRASS PEOPLE”
I do believe Brown when he says that those were the instructions to his followers. But I also know that you can’t fully control who shows up at your rally or how they behave when you’re out of sight. I don’t know how he can guarantee that no one stepped out of line.
Brown has quotes from anonymous sources on his side who say they weren’t doing or saying anything hurtful or intimidating; Box Turtle has anonymous sources who say they were intimidated.
The same Charlotte Observer article reports some tense interactions, and notes one named source who says she was told she was going to hell.
I believe Brown’s intention was to avoid overt harassment and belligerent phrasing, but I’ve been to a few rallies in my day and I think I know who I believe about the actual results.
In my e-mail response to Brown, I explained to him why I believe a large group of people protesting a Pride event is in and of itself intimidating, and that the many poor ambassadors before him have made it nearly impossible for such a presence to be interpreted as anything but hostile. This, to his credit, was his response:
“I do not want to trivialize your comments re: LGBT culture, but I actually share these very things with churches to tell people how your community is commonly treated and how you view us. I have read every moving story of abuse and hatred suffered by GLBT’s that I could get my hands on, often with much pain. Believe it or not, as an outsider, I do understand…
…So, despite the seeming contradiction in all this for you, I absolutely recognize the extreme rejection you have had to live with – including the “hell” pronouncements – and that’s one reason that I have worked so assiduously here in Charlotte for the last five years to establish a precisely opposite picture to that of the horrific Fred Phelps types of figure.”
So far, we were getting along just swell. Based on his e-mails, Brown is a likable guy.
This man scares me. Why? I watched his video, the updated response as well as the game plan his group will agree and sign, outlining their conduct during the Gay Pride event in Charlotte. As a spiritual person raised with Christian values, that are very contary to his, what comes to mind to me is to beware of the coming of the beast, the Anti-Christ who will cause pain and chaos, spread hate and bigotery while masked with words like “In the name of God, Jesus, and Love.” Any sane minded individual like myself can see right through him. Eveyone knows that the Bible, like the Coran, the “Word of God”, was written by man and then re-written and twisted to meet the idea of the day. Religious ideologies have no place in the political agenda of equal rights for all through and by the Constitution of the United States. The founding fathers knew that when they mandated that there WILL be a separation of Church and State must have seen into the future, using the knowledge of the past, that the freedoms established will be equal for all in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
His oomment reguarding any lewd expression of some people by no means define every LGBT person. Neither does every straight Christian thief, murderer, pedifile, etc. does not define every good church going Christian. Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Because of this evil threat against the LGBT community in Charlotte, myself and several gay and lesbian couples with children will be car-pooling and caravaning from Florida to Charlotte just to be in attendance and support the Charlotte Gay Community. I hope others who are within a decent driving distance will try also to attend and lend their support. Their 1000 love-in supporters will be way outnumbered by the loving and caring members of the LGBT community and hopefully we will show them what understanding and LOVE really is.
Thank you Ali for a very reasoned response to Dr. Brown. I just read his letter to the Charlotte community and I have these comments:
Brown writes:
“Many of you speak of your devotion to Jesus and tell us that if we were true Christians we would accept you as you are, and we do not doubt your sincerity. But Jesus did not simply accept us as we are. He died to change us! That is the greatest expression of sacrificial love. It is true that he says to us “Come as you are,” but His invitation is always to come and be changed.”
When Brown writes ‘many of you’ he is actually tossing off an insult to the LGBT community who consider themselves Christian. He is saying that one cannot be Christian and LGBT because he rejects the notion that anybody but him and his followers know what God wants and that they are only the ’sincere’ ones,to use his words.
I find it fascinating that Brown would agree with the point that Jesus accepts people as they are but negates that point by saying in the first place that his way is God’s way. Yes, it’s arrogant, but moreover as this guy is supposedly an academic scholar, such a statement is unfounded considering that he has no evidence that his way is indeed God’s way. All he has is his experience and his belief.
If it is true that Christ wants pepole to come to him as they are and be changed, it would stand to reason that Dr. Brown should be looking to be changed. Sure he was once a heroin addict and isn’t anymore, but surely if he actually believes we all have sins, what are his now. He’s unwilling or unable or unbelieving that he has sins to address what his sins might be.
As an academic this paragraph by Brown completely negates his entire message because of the contradictions, but if that isn’t bad enough, consider this paragraph:
“We do not look down on you or despise you, since for us, the ultimate issue is not homosexuality or heterosexuality. All human beings fall short of God’s standards in many ways, and all of us – heterosexual and homosexual alike – need God’s mercy through the blood of Jesus. All of us need forgiveness, and all of us need to turn from our sins and ask God for grace to lead a holy and virtuous life.”
If Brown didn’t despise the community, why would he need the community to change unconditionally. According to his website, he changed his heroin addiction because he came to despise himself as an addict. He if didn’t despise the LGBT community so, he wouldn’t ask the LGBT community to effectively despise itself. If the ultimate issue wasn’t homosexuality and heterosexuality, then why would he even be doing what he is doing. I think the ultimate issue may not be homosexuality “and” heterosexuality but it is for Dr. Brown homosexuality “vs.” heterosexuality. If this wasn’t Brown’s ultimate issue, even he would have to agree that there are other issues concerning a follower of Jesus. Jesus was about ministering to those not accepted, and he did (if one is a believer) sacrifice himself for everyone; he didn’t single out a particular group while on the cross and clearly no where did he ever even discuss sexuality as Brown insists he must discuss sexuality while living out God’s “better” way.
I invite Dr. Brown to read the bible a little more closely and to re-read the New Testament; before extending God’s transforming love to me I would ask Brown to understand that the transforming love of Christ actually would suggest that Brown is wrong in his insistence that his (Brown’s) way is God’s way.
Mr. Brown may have a pleasant demeanor but he is anything but good or kind. If anything Mr. Brown shows himself to be more of the snake than of God. I am a Christian who is gay. By that i mean that i believe my salvation lies with Jesus, not with the sensibilities of a particular church or group. I know that Jesus lives in me, as is written that He promised to all who would let Him live in them. I read the bible because that is what God has guided me to do as he has with all people of faith. And when i read the bible with God’s guidance, i learned that God loves us all and invites to let Him love us so that we may love others. So to me for every Christian what should be fundamental is our relationship with God, and from that relationship, we learn to witness to what God is doing in our lives to inspire others to reach out to God. I grow weary of the efforts by various churches to disenfranchise GLBT people, isolating them from God with their claims of love. They are not nice people any more than the Christians who used the bible to reject blacks or block multi-racial marriages, were nice people. These are people who seek to create a personal self righteousness our of their fear of LGBT people. Where they should use the bible to teach everyone, including LGBT people, that God is Love and that Jesus is Life itself come to restore us to His kingdom, they are using the bible as a weapon to project their fear of LGBT people. And as a consequence they are confusing LGBT people about God so that they will turn from God based on the actions of these churches. Jesus criticized teachers of the [first testament] law for creating burdens that they themselves could not lift but which they placed onto others. Jesus also warned these teachers that their condemnation would be far worse because of it. And so Mr. Brown, for each LGBT person who you drive away from God or on whom you drive to crushing failure with your push to the illusion of conversion, i believe scripture makes clear that burden will fall on you. May God bring you to repentance for your sake, the sake of those in your church that you are misleading, and the sake of those whom you have hurt so terribly.
I think We know what this “gentleman” means when he disparages the Phelps clan. He means “We don’t hate gays THAT much.”.
Now what u all say if I told you that brown is a liar and a rapist… How many times did he attack and have fun with us boys when he was on drugs. well maybe never because he never did it when he was on drugs he knew what he was doing even though the little boys didnt. He is a flaming boy player that will go down. and I hope he gets this message
Excuse me! I’ve just watched the video; my dear Ali Davis, if you think this man is “a likeable guy”, please think again. He’s nothing but a scumbag!
This is a response to the various postings on this page.
As long as these people keep seperate to themselves and away from as they say a private area amongst buildings where Pride Charlotte will be.
I think however a police presense should be between them and the Pride celebration to prevent potential trouble.
This way everyone’s rights are preserved. His group’s right to present a message (yes, free speech and democratic way to say what is on your mind cuts both ways and is not going to please everyone) and the GLBT’s right to Pride Charlotte as well.
Both sides have their own mythologies as well. Both the atheist side and the religious side. I cannot stand the it’s either our way or its no way attitude from both the the hyper religious and the atheists.
The disrespect from both opposite ends of the faith spectrum have me questioning both the atheism and the faith side. Both sides have displayed an arrogant and we know best attitude. Neither side or end of the belief spectrum knows what best for everyone.
I am a centrist, while I can’t get bogged down in the Bible, I am not willing at the same time to embrace a God does not exist philosophy. I’ve tried that and that has not worked for me. God has to do with heart, mind and soul, with an inner life of peace of mind, of love and ocncern for others, of keeping a mind and a heart clean of profanities and of a need to bash others even it’s tempting to do so.
But trying to stop others from enjoying a bar etc is not loving. People need to live the way their understand best.
But both sides are equally wrong if they want to stop either atheism or faith.
Everyone is on their own journey a noone has the right to tell people to either quit bars or to quit church.
Both evil and good has been done in the name of faith and in the name of atheism.
I read his letter. My response is quite simple. I don’t want your love, I don’t need your love. You are killing us with your love. Please take your love and go away.
Thank you.
Since their belief system is based upon nothing more than mythology disguised as “faith” and promoted through indoctrination that more closely resembles brainwashing – his views don’t carry any weight. Belief systems come and go. Roman, Greek etc. The Christian, Jewish, Islamic belief systems will fade in time as well. In the meantime, “well intended” but nonetheless dangerous people like this guy – need to have a close eye kept on them. A lot of evil is done in “the name of God”.
Ali… why dont you ask ‘brown’ about WHY his ‘organization’ uses the word “MILITANT” all over its website?
And he’s soft and cuddly and full of ‘love’.. My ASS he is and his “soldiers”..
I agree that we all should have rights, and I think that GBLT individuals should group together and have conversion groupings outside of these folks’ churches to hope/pray/meditate/etc. that these Christians will no longer be “against” us.
This is a response I posted on his website, on his response to your response…. Yes i think the conversation has progressed this far.
I used to identify as a Christian. I no longer use identifiers, but I am still a spiritual person. I don’t believe in the concept of original sin – at least not one that is centered on a sort of spiritual debt. I have a degree in theology and a degree in physics. I am not surprised at any of the curious ways people describe this universe. Religions and theories rise and fall with the ages. We now have more knowledge about the universe than ever before (as far aw we can tell). Billions of star systems – and only “G-O-D” knows how many forms of life. I understand that you have experienced a miraculous conversion process that shapes the way you see the world and that for you this entails certain “convictions.”
I only have one thought to chew on. When Jesus first began to cast out demons, he was accused of doing it with the power of Satan. Scripture says that Jesus knew what was in their hearts and said “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” As someone who is not a Christian, and yet not a complete outsider, that the finest examples of “Christians” I have met in my life have been openly gay people. I have benefited from their generosity and kindness in times when I had little but my frustrations to offer the world. I do not think that this was done outside of the will of “G-O-D.” These individuals were in monogamous relationships and I believe that I benefited from their relationship with Jesus.
I only say this, because I believe that your “house” might be somewhat larger than you expected. I knew some people that owned an old house in TN. After years of living there there was a flood and work had to be done reconstructing various portions of the house. What they found was a sealed room that before had been unknown to them. Judging from the history and location, they believed that it was used to help runaway slaves in the underground railway. For all those years, there was a part of their home that was locked away from them and unattended. Indeed they had even purchased the house believing it to have approximately 200 fewer square feet in it than it actually contained. When they had they house appraised and insured, they did so without these extra feet in place. You could call it a “conviction” of sorts. After all, once you measure a house, its not the sort of thing that tends to grow (unless of course you live in a tree). The extra footage was found at just the right time – they needed additional floor space for storage and would have expanded the house on another side had they not found that they had no need to.
Let me share something with you – I do believe we are in miraculous times. Gay people are being counted in a way that has never before happened. In time, when I find the right person to spend my life with, I plan on adopting. My uncle and his partner have adopted two children and in doing so I have witnessed a sort of “miracle.” Four lives have been completely transformed by a conviction they all share – “love.” Right now there are thousands and thousands of children in my own state that are without parents – the problem is experienced in American soil, but the need is even greater in countries in Africa that have been ravaged by the AIDS epidemic. I believe that now is the time when our convictions must grow. Our houses must expand – or rooms must be found – so that Children are not abandoned to starvation and death.
Pure lies from Dr Brown. I went to Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, FL as a teenager (force by my parents). This was approx from 1999-2002. During the early years Dr. Brown was heavily involved with BRSM (Brownsville Revival School of Ministry). There was a large Pentecostal ‘Revival’ going on at that church at the time. Eventually disagreements between the leaders led to split in which have the students of this school stayed with BRSM which stayed under Pastor Kilpatricks & Steve Hill’s control while Dr. Brown started FIRE. The deal eventually lead to Dr. Brown agreeing to move FIRE to another state.
Why is this all lies. I know that the church and espeically both BRSM and FIRE students targeted gay bars in the Pensacola Area. They also targeted other bars on the beach. Later after I left the church due to my coming out etc I remember running into these people. I though it cool at the time to use Bible verses to stump them.
But they were anything but curteous. Their plan was intimidation and constant intimidation. Imagine going to the bars and every week you would see people mocking you, trying to make you feel down, and try to destroy your good time out. And no I won’t blame Dr. Brown for every week as alot of Churches in the area from Baptists and other Pentecostals did out reach. But it was annoying with annoying signs and approaching people as they tried to enter or leave bars in an attempt to discourage them for entering that bar by telling them they are on their way to hell. It is trying to force religion on people and its wrong. I imagine big law suits if I stood outside FIRE and distributed pamphlets on why I was a pagan or why Jesus is a copycat of a Persian religion including the 12 disciples etc…
Unfortunately most gay bars don’t have this money, nor do they have much legal standing if the people stay on public roads/property (such as boardwalks).
These ministries have alot of money. In fact Steve Hill (part of the Brownsville Revival) had enough money to buy a whole hour of Prime Time television back in the day to push his message. I remember my mother tuning in for the hour.
If Dr. Brown wants to be courteous. Than leave us alone. If we are interested in God or Dr. Brown we can approach him or his website.
This guy’s a real piece of work. That’s really all I can think of to say right at this moment, and I’m rarely so dumbfounded by someone’s hypocrisy that I’m at a loss for words to describe it.
Just having these people be anywhere near the parade is disgusting. To me they are arrogant people who believe everyone should believe like the do. People are born gay so I guess they are saying God was wrong when he created gays. ARROGANT