Prominent Antigay Evangelical Blogger Outed as Gay

[cleanhippie]

Cross posted from Religion. I hope this is appropriate for this group. I will delete if this is the wrong place for this.

Jonathan Merritt, the son of famous evangelist James Merritt, has become a prominent evangelical blogger, writing for, among others, USA Today and The Atlantic (where he most recently wrote about his support of Chick-fil-A). Turns out he's, as Queerty puts it, also "a deeply conflicted gay man" who just got busted for canoodling with gay blogger Azariah Southworth.

James Merrit, the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, is currently the pastor at an Atlanta mega-church, had promised that his son would join the church this weekend for a special announcement, but no word on whether this was what they had planned. Southworth outed Merritt in his blog this week, so Merritt responded by admitting his "inappropriate" actions to evangelist blogger Ed Stetzer.

Joe.My.God’s Joe Jervis posted a rundown of the relationship between Merritt and Southworth that occurred in 2009. Merritt says he and Southworth began emailing and sexting each other after Merritt wrote an article saying "that Christians must love people who experience sexual brokenness." The sexting led to a meet up and "as we were saying goodbye, we had physical contact that went beyond the bounds of friendship. I was overcome with guilt, knowing I had put myself in an unwise situation. We never saw each other again and we ceased contact after a period of time."

Merritt says he saw a Christian counselor to sort through his childhood and "what I believed God wanted for me. I also began to acknowledge to myself that I have sin in my past, sin for which I accept responsibility. Inappropriate texting, inappropriate actions are inappropriate no matter who the other party is. These were my decisions and no one else’s. It’s from my brokenness, that I feel I can now be transparent, honest, and authentic about these accusations. Those close to me know I have actually been planning to share the story of my brokenness for some time. Because it is part of my spiritual journey. And because it underscores the power of the Gospel to transform lives.”

http://www.advocate.com/society/coming-out/2012/07/27/prominent-antigay-evangelical-blogger-outed-gay

[dballance]

1. Score another point for the opinion that many of those that doth protest too much are actually gay.

I'm not saying they all are and as a gay man who spent his first 30 years in life in the closet I actually feel some sympathy for him and regret the shitstorm he's about get.

[HillWilliam]

2. From Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian:

"This would be funny, if it weren't so predictable and sad. The anti-gay gay recounts his lapse: 'As we were saying goodbye, we had physical contact that went beyond the bounds of friendship,' which is just a preciously coy way of saying: 'Satan slid my friend's YKW into my YKW, where I furiously rebuked it until Satan finally removed it some ten or twenty minutes later.'

Something like that, Betty. Something like that, I'm sure, indeed.

[WillParkinson]

3. So if I read this right, what he's saying is...

He's going to be a lot more circumspect the next time he sucks a dick?

[joeybee12]

5. He means he'll never boink someone who sucks and tells...

What a mess he is.

[Zorra]

4. James...you're gay. Just accept it. God couldn't care less. Run with it. Be free. Be happy. nt

[backscatter712]

6. Another LGBT equivalent of Uncle Ruckus...

[RKP5637]

7. Yep, often the same or similar story ... n/t