Carrie Underwood and the 'gay friendly' Christians

I'll admit it. When I find out some actor, singer, or novelist I like is a liberal and/or supports what I oppose, I'm a little disappointed. And I'm disappointed a lot. Even if I try not to care, I care. But what bothers me most is when Christians, well known or obscure, openly approve what God condemns and sound as if they've never cracked open a Bible.

In an interview with The Independent published last Saturday, Carrie Underwood, professing Christian, country singer, and star of the movie Soul Surfer (I'm not a youth pastor, but I play one on TV.) came out in favor of redefining the word "marriage" to include two people of the same sex. While Underwood doesn't say, "I support same-sex marriage," the implication is clear:

"As a married person myself, I don't know what it's like to be told I can't marry somebody I love, and want to marry. I can't imagine how that must feel. I definitely think we should all have the right to love, and love publicly, the people that we want to love."

So it's that simple. Two men should have the right to redefine not a mere word but an entire institution and call themselves "married." Otherwise, we're interfering with their right to "love." Who is stopping homosexuals from "loving" one another? Homosexuality no longer is illegal, and the American Psychiatric Association bowed to pressure more than a generation ago and removed it from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. They can even adopt children, for crying out loud.

Underwood continued:

"Our church is gay friendly. Above all, God wanted us to love others. It's not about setting rules, or [saying] 'everyone has to be like me'. No. We're all different. That's what makes us special. We have to love each other and get on with each other. It's not up to me to judge anybody."

By "gay friendly," does Underwood mean that homosexuals who engage in the behavior (as opposed to those who've repented) are comfortable in her church and receive approval and validation of their continuing sin?

Underwood, like other immature or misinformed or willfully ignorant Christians, throw Bible-believing Christians under the bus, condemning "people who use the Bible for hate," and added, "That's not how I would want myself as a Christian to be represented."

Does Underwood believe that sharing the Gospel and telling the unrepentant what God requires of them is hateful? Never mind Paul's unequivocal teachings on homosexuality. If we quote him, if we quote Christ himself, if we call out sin, we're hateful. Or is just the sin of homosexuality that's off limits? Would Underwood and other "gay friendly" Christians refrain from condemning the habitual liar or the brazen adulterer? "Our church is adulterer friendly!"

To some unbelievers (and too many Christians), the Gospel is a free-love-can't-we-all-just-get-along guide to life instead of that which gives life. Christ's call to repentance and obedience is incompatible with a "gay friendly" anything.