Christianity Today managing editor denounces gay group’s exploitation of its name

The managing editor of Christianity Today denounced a so-called gay and lesbian Christian group last week for its commandeering of the magazine’s name to give an appearance that the evangelical monthly approves of its views of homosexuality.

The managing editor of Christianity Today denounced a so-called gay and lesbian Christian group last week for its commandeering of the magazine's name to give an appearance that the evangelical monthly approves of its views of homosexuality.

Mark Galli, CT's managing editor, expressed surprise at the use of the magazine's moniker by Evangelicals Concerned Inc. (ECI) to tout the keynote speaker at an upcoming event.

Randall Balmer, one of several at-large editors for CT, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at ECI's Connections 2004 event June 4-6 in eastern Pennsylvania. The group's website describes ECI as a "national network of gay and lesbian evangelical Christians and friends."

"I had no idea Randall was speaking to this group until you contacted me," Galli said in a telephone interview with CBMW.

"We would have been very much opposed to anyone speaking to a gay and lesbian group under the CT name. It seems to me Randall has lent his name to this in the name of Christianity Today…and the organization is exploiting his connection to CT to legitimize their views and their cause … none of which we support."

Galli said Balmer did not clear his participation in the ECI event with CT, adding that at-large editors speak at numerous functions without giving magazine editors a heads-up. Galli said CT does not monitor the speaking engagements of its at-large editors and admitted that there could be proper motives for a CT writer to speak to a group such as ECI.

However, Galli said he does not favor Balmer's participation with ECI under the CT banner.

"We definitely do address it when it occurs and we will address this," Galli said. "It seldom occurs with our writers. There is an obvious difficulty when somebody decides to speak and participate [in an event like this] to know how much it will be exploited by the group.

"In this case, ECI has had the upper hand and has exploited the use of our name. They should know that CT would never put its imprimatur on such a venture … This is not the secret side of CT coming out."

At-large editors have a distant relationship with the magazine Galli said, contributing only a couple of articles per year. Balmer's topic for the ECI address is "Religion in America at the turn of the 21st century."

Balmer, who also serves as chairman of the department of religion at Columbia Barnard College, says he doesn't think a CT censure would be commensurate with the magazine's commitment to Christian love.

"I don't make any conscious effort to disassociate myself from anyone," Balmer said in an e-mail interview.

"I'm sure that my employers here at Columbia don't agree with everything I have to say, but they've made no attempt to censure me. If Christianity Today wants to censure me or to remove me from the masthead, that's their prerogative-though I don't think that would be consistent with the kind of Christian charity they espouse."

Balmer, who labels himself an "evangelical feminist," says he is still working through his views on homosexuality. He said evangelicals are often hypocritical in their strong condemnation of homosexuality and relative silence on divorce. Balmer argues that Jesus never condemned homosexuality but clearly forbade divorce.

While Balmer referenced the apostle Paul's teaching on divorce, he did not comment on the apostle's clear condemnation of homosexuality.

"I'm still working through my views on homosexuality," Balmer said. "It's noteworthy to me that we have nothing from Jesus himself on the topic, although Jesus had a great deal to say about divorce-and none of it good.

"Among evangelicals it's difficult for me to see beyond the hypocrisy of countenancing divorced individuals while condemning homosexuality…If evangelicals wanted to oppose the appointment of Gene Robinson, for instance, they might have done so not so much because of his homosexuality as because of his being divorced, for Paul states clearly in his letter to Timothy that church leaders should be held to a higher standard.

"If evangelicals want to take a hard line on homosexuality, shouldn't they condemn divorce with even greater fervor, given the provenance and the relative frequency of biblical statements on the two topics?"

Balmer said he needed no rationale as a Christian to speak to a group such as ECI other than the fact that he has been invited to speak on a topic for which he has some expertise.

"I guess the larger issue for me is that I made a commitment when I went to graduate school 24 years ago that I never wanted my work to become so recondite that I couldn't communicate with the larger public.

"For that reason, I have tried to maintain the discipline of writing magazine features, op-ed pieces for newspapers, and lecturing to public audiences, whether it be church groups, Chautauqua, the Smithsonian Associates, or, in this case, Evangelicals Concerned."