Jonathan Merritt is a well known writer and author whose books include Green Like God and A Faith of Our Own. Among younger evangelicals he is a leading voice, having written more than 300 columns on topics ranging from environmentalism, politics, civil, discourse and gay marriage in places are varying as USAToday, HuffPo, and The Washington Post. Most recently, an article he wrote for The Atlantic, “In Defense of Eating at Chick-fil-A,” really stirred the pot. In response to a proposed boycott of Chick-fil-A by gay marriage supporters, Merritt opposed the boycott culture, saying,
Things took an unexpected turn when a self-proclaimed “gay former-evangelical” blogger appeared out of nowhere accusing Merritt of hypocrisy, claiming that Merritt himself is gay.
Prominent evangelical leader, Ed Stetzer, has interviewed Jonathan on his blog today. This interview dropped just now. It truly is worth the read.
A few questions for thought:
1) How should we respond when believers are accused?
2) Do we tend to be more suspicious of those accused of “gay” sins over those actually guilty of “hetero” sins?
3) How public does a sin need to be when it is between two people?
4) When will the church begin to treat all other sins (lying, greed, cheating, adultery, fornication) with the same amount of disdain we now reserved for the sin of same sex activity?
