It's all about presentation and language

I very rarely get comments opposing my blog so I was surprised when I got this one today:

You write: "These lectures are not about establishing a dialogue. These lectures are about scaring people, people who are ready and willing to be scared..."

Have you been to the lectures? I think you should come to at least one of the lectures before you make such a statement... These lectures are ALL about dialogue! And so far we have had some good ones... Come tonight (thursday) at 7 or tomorrow (Friday) at 7 :)

The commentator was talking about a post I wrote on February 14th about a group of Charlotte church leaders getting together for a lecture series about the Human Rights Campaign.

Now in all honesty, he did have me at a miniscule point. I hadn't been to any of the lectures, but I have a good reason to believe that they are not about establishing a dialogue due to the press release issued about them:

Charlotte Church Leaders to Discuss the Radical Agenda of Homosexual Activists at Weeklong Lecture Series

News Conference: Thursday, February 15, at 10:00 AM in front of the Booth Playhouse at the corner of Trade and Tryon

Contact: Kris Bennett, Coalition of Conscience, 704-782-3760CHARLOTTE, Feb. 14 /Standard Newswire/ -- Three years ago, the Human Rights Campaign, the world's largest homosexual advocacy organization, moved its annual Carolina's dinner to Charlotte. While local gay activists have applauded the HRC's presence in Charlotte, not everyone is pleased with this development.

Dr. Michael L. Brown, director of the Coalition of Conscience and a nationally known Christian leader and best-selling author, is convinced that now is the time to speak up."We have no desire to enter in a rhetorical battle with the HRC. We simply want to raise public awareness about who the HRC really is and what the HRC really stands for, demonstrating that they cannot legitimately be called the 'Human Rights' Campaign."

Does this sound like an attempt to establish a dialogue? Hardly. Seems to me if you are trying to establish a dialogue, you would approach the party you want to dialogue with rather than issuing a vitriolic press release.

Also, in new issue of One News Now (the publication taking the place of Agape Press) is the following article:

The director of a pro-family group says it's time for Christians in America to stop being complacent when it comes to threats posed by homosexual activists, and stop tolerating what he calls the "moral freefall" taking place in the U.S.

Michael Brown is director of the Coalition of Conscience, a network of churches, pastors, and business leaders who work for moral and cultural change through the gospel. He says homosexual activists are gearing up for a major assault on pro-family values this year.

"It's already happened in limited form here in America," says Brown. "[As Christians] we're to simply speak what the Bible speaks is true, without attacking people or calling for violence against people or without being bigoted hatemongers -- simply speaking the truth of the Word." But he cautions that one could "potentially go to jail for that."

While he acknowledges that Christians should be willing to risk everything for their faith, Brown says they do not have to be silent about efforts to silence believers' voices. "There's no reason for us to tolerate what's happening in society -- except that we have preached a man-serving, complacent gospel for so many years," says the Coalition leader. That, he contends, has resulted in self-centered believers, a barely existent call to commitment and sacrifice in the Church, and an attitude that says "we just don't believe things are going to get any worse."

Brown is hosting a weeklong series of lectures in Charlotte, North Carolina, about the true agenda of homosexual activists. The Coalition of Conscience is based in Charlotte.

Again I ask the question, does that sound like an attempt to establish a dialogue?

I stand by my comments in the February 14th post. The lecture series in Charleston is not about establishing a dialogue. It's about gay bashing.

And I find that comment from Mr. Brown about being thought of as a bigot as very ironic as well as Freudian.

A word to the wise, Mr. Brown, if you don't want gay people to think of you as a bigot, then you shouldn't make phony claims about gay people.