Confused Ethics and Evil Library Displays in Pennsylvania

Northwestern Pennsylvania has been the site of a recent controversy that is starting to appear in some national media outlets. A school board member referred to a pro-sodomite library display as evil and as you might imagine this generated a significant backlash prompting both support and calls for his removal.

His family is well known in the larger area. I don't know this person nor live that close to where the ruckus is taking place but I know many others who know this family and count them as friends.*

I have been aware of them for many years as they are politically active and some were involved in the protests at the state capital – an event in which Christian banners flew alongside American flags and militia men carrying assault weapons. Needless to say these are people that have drunk deep from the poisoned well of Trumpism and while they proclaim Scriptural fidelity the sad fact is their ethics and entire framework for understanding the Christian faith is far removed from the New Testament and the teachings of the apostles.

That said, we must agree that the library display is in fact evil. There's no doubt about it. It's a celebration of sin and an attempt to vindicate wickedness and promote it in the school system. Are we surprised?

But here's where the Evangelical school board member falls short and loses his way.

In this same public school system and maybe even in the same library it's not uncommon to find displays which depict murderous US soldiers as heroes and which perpetuate the propaganda concerning America, its so-called values and the 'sacrifice' these soldiers make. No Christian rooted in the New Testament would buy it for a minute let alone support it and yet these same folks will wave the flag and support evils such as Trumpism (and Americanism in general) which confuses and conflates a host of non- and even anti-Christian values with the Biblical faith.

It is equally deplorable that these same schools allow military recruiters to hold assemblies (i.e. recruiting drives) but the Right-wing supports this as I'm sure this school board member does as well.

If this man is a Christian then my question to him is – why are you on the school board? Get your kids out and have nothing to do with it. It's a Babel-temple meant to indoctrinate and teach assimilation. It is a vehicle for cultural idolatry. Of course it's going to promote evil. What do you expect?

If the Holy Spirit induced fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom then there's no hope the public school system would ever be something appropriate for Christians. Only by watering down the Christian faith can one hope to 'Christianize' such an institution. And frankly that kind of veneer-Christianity, that kind of re-working of the gospel in order to include the larger society and culture is frankly a more dangerous and immediate threat than the parading of sodomites. The perversity in our culture is unpleasant to be sure (as it was in the Hellenistic world) but it does not pose a threat to the Church – unless we let it. However, there are growing numbers of Christians (like this school board member, his family, and circle of friends) who confuse and conflate flags, guns, and gold (and the ethics they produce) with the essence of the gospel. That to me is evil and a grave threat to the Church.

For many of them it has led them to embrace an evil man and treat him as if he were something like a messiah.

The sodomites are evil but so is this kind of pseudo-Christianity. But it tickles ears and at the moment dominates, leaving the Biblically faithful with almost nowhere to turn.

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*I'll put it this way – if I was into Facebook and had an account and 'friended' all the church folk I know, then these people would be coming up as friend recommendations as our 'circles' overlap.