Rev. Phil Snider, Brentwood Christian Church, Missouri – Jonathan Turley image
We’ve heard it all before. Truly, “there is nothing new under the Sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1.9)
Debates on policy, in and before legislative bodies, would run much better if the people involved truly had a sense of history, of what had been said before, by whom, and what the outcomes of those speeches were. When we hear a speech, is it the flowery oratory of Cicero, or the exhortatory commands of Demosthenes? (You recall Plutarch’s comparison of the famous Roman orator, and the famous Greek orator, of course.)
Just a word of caution: Before your bile rises, before you find the comments box, be sure you listen all the way to the end of this short speech.
According to Advocate.com:
When the Springfield, Mo., City Council was considering an LGBT rights ordinance this summer, the Reverend Phil Snider of the Brentwood Christian Church delivered a surprising message to council members.
That was August 2012. The ordinance was tabled for “further study.” Rev. Snider blogs, as it turns out; you may want to read more of his thinking there. One of my correspondents wanted a transcript; I haven’t found that, but it turns out the speech in the video was based on a two-part sermon series he did earlier, “What does the Bible say about homosexuality?” You can see both sermons on his Facebook site, Part I, and Part II. Much of the quoted historical material appears in Part II.
The text of the proposed ordinance (amendments to the city’s human rights resolution) found here.
What sort of evidence would one use to contradict the long view of history? Please discuss in comments.
More:
- A Preacher Gives a Familiar Speech Against Gay Rights, but With a Surprising Twist (patheos.com)
- Grace under pressure: Rev. Phil Snider Speaking “Against” The Inclusion of LGBT Into Springfield’s (Mo.) Non-Discrimination Ordinance (Jonathan Turley’s blog)
- Transcript of Rev. Snider’s remarks at Daily Kos
- Phil Snider, Missouri Pastor, Gives Anti-Gay Rights Speech With Surprise Twist Ending (huffingtonpost.com)
- Pastor’s Timeless Gay Marriage Speech (drudge.com)
- Gay Rights Speech with a Historical Twist! (hankeringforhistory.com)
- Missouri Pastor Speaks Out About His Viral Speech on Gay Rights (gawker.com)
- Stephen Fry accuses Church of ‘caving in to extremists over gay marriage’ (standard.co.uk)
- A preacher, Christian fundamentalism, and gay rights (Eideard)
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
Thanks for the link! I think I used to follow you…but somehow I unfollowed several blogs. :-\
Glad to be back though! Keep up the great work.
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