My first encounter with a large iguana in Costa Rica. Why am I showing this? It speaks to what we are addressing here, encountering what is not our normal circle of friends and the ways it can go horribly wrong. Just like even then I know better than to mess with an iguana because of the nasty bites and foreign bacteria they carry, and so I know to even slightly criticize corporate authoritative Christianity can go the same way. You can get bitten, it can fester and snowball into something much worse.

In the last eight weeks it has on so many levels and happenings. Right now I have seen no less than three of these ridiculous non-event nothing burgers blown up into something monstrous and wrong.

Where it all started. Early in March of 2023 The Gospel Coalition started promoting a book by author Josh Butler titled “Beautiful Union” In that book Butler took the rather off-putting position that semen was sanctifying, and vaginas exhibit hospitality. My quick and nasty interpretation.

Myself and others protested this toxic take on body parts and theology over that week. Here’s a video I did at the time.

Our words on why we find Butler’s book insulting, vile and childish aren’t what I’m even speaking of here. I am speaking of the demeaning and dehumanizing language that the guys at places like The Gospel Coalition and Midwest Christian Outreach are tossing at those of us that disagree. In the matter of a few days they went from discribing those of us disliking the language and ideas in Butler’s book as “bitter jealous feminists” to “twisted old prudes” and every insult in between. Without any real discussion on the problems with the book, or seeking to understand what the problem was. Just like they did for happenings two and three.

Second thing was when the Evangelical crowd, the non denominational high demand organization folks, started to claim that ‘no fault’ divorce needed to be removed from every state. Why, what were they using as their rationale? The divorce of conservative YouTuber Steven Crowder. Crowder claimed there was no logical reason for his divorce, and that his wife was able to obtain it merely because of the no fault option he could not fight. They seized upon his divorce as the poster child of covenant marriage only.

I kept trying to point out to those around me that ending no fault divorce was one very bad idea just for one reason alone. It removes an important safety net for those being abused by their spouses. Instead of a long, draw out court battle where their abuser may fight them, where they may have to allocate to the abuse and face more possible abuse.

No fault allows those among us in abusive relationships to tiptoe away and say in court ‘the marriage is irretrievable broken’ without assigning blame, or agitating an abusive spouse even more. It preserves the life and the dignity of the abused spouse.

Several days later a journalist uploaded a Ring camera video of Steven Crowder apparently emotionally abusing his heavily pregnant spouse. I’m not linking to the video because it is disturbing. I am just thankful their children and his ex wife got away in one piece, which happened only because of no fault divorce.

But at the same time many of those calling for the end of no fault divorce shifted focus to those who pointed to the video as reasons this type of divorce is needed. Again, the same tired name-calling ensued without any genuine discussion of the best ways to preserve marriage, but allow a safety net of no fault to stay in place.

At least the first two are genuine problems, even if we were all called demeaning names and minimized yet again. The last of the three battles in Evangelical Christianity is raging right now and it’s a doozy of pettiness. There is fighting between several ministries and supporters with yowls of plagiarism and worse over the fact that they all used Times New Roman font in their statements.

What all three of these things have in common is the sheer stupidity of the response, how those criticized immediately uses the type of language of dehumanization in an attempt to make those that disagree seem othered, like nothing of any consequence. This is such an awful response because it seeks to make everyone else into less than human, and if you are less than human that you can be silenced.

The one phrase I keep hearing bandied about throughout these things is “Woke Mob,” as if it’s the worst thing one can imagine. I don’t care if you call me “Woke” because I’d rather be wide awake and paying attention when these horrible things enter discussions. It’s the “Mob” part that is the problem. There’s a certain news network that has made bank adding both of those words to our national lexicon, and it always goes back to dehumanizing, silencing and dismissing others. A disingenuous lie.

We won’t be silenced. We’re not going to accept mistreatment for calling out the abusive behavior of others!