Church of the NALTs

Briallen Hopper wrote an amazing sermon that columnist Dan Savage posted. From there I went to her blog and learned about the Church of the NALTs.Are you a NALT?

Sex columnist (and atheist) Dan Savage writes about what he calls NALTs, which stands for Not All Like That. NALTs are Christians who insist that they’re moderate, that they don’t hate, that they are for social justice and human rights, and that they follow a loving, joyous, peaceful Christ. Dan Savage is annoyed because, he says, NALTs apparently exist in large numbers, since they email him in droves every time he calls out the Church for a new example of extreme bigotry, but despite their large numbers, they’re disturbingly silent on the big issues. NALTs are not visible in the current political, theological, and cultural arenas, and Dan Savage wonders why.

It shames me as a Christian to realize that people are looking at me and my beliefs and asking why are you not speaking up? Why are you not fighting for your beliefs? Why have you stayed idle while cruelty and pain took center stage? Why did you let the people who hate and hurt us take power? It should be very humbling to us all that an atheist sex blogger was the one who reminded us what our God really wanted from us, and who expressly asked us to be Christ in the world on behalf of the persecuted.

My dream is a Church full of NALTs. The NALT Church. The Church of NALT. A group of people actively working to right wrongs in the world, to build God’s kingdom, and to live in love, joy, and peace with all people. A people who wrestle Christ’s filthy reputation away from the sowers of hate and violence.

Sounds good to me. I think more people are becoming vocal, but too many are only vocal in church. We need y'all to be passionate and loud OUTSIDE too!