I
debated my long-time nemesis Dr. Michael Brown, one of America’s leading
Christian scholars, with whom I have a warm and mutually respectful
relationship. It was the best of the twenty-odd debates we did: scholarly,
contemporary, fiery, and on both sides ferociously-argued (you can see the
debate at www.shmuley.com).
The subject: Is Homosexuality America’s Greatest Moral Crisis? Our audience was
nearly all Evangelical Christian, and here is where they lost me.

I
argued passionately that Evangelicals had become obsessed with homosexuality.
They took a single prohibition in the Bible and elevated it to single moral
standard besides which all else pails. I pointed out how in 2004, amid President
George W. Bush being the most hated man on earth he still won the election
because of Evangelical support. The reason: as the polls showed, 22% of all
voters had voted for values. But now, just one night before the mid-term
elections, the Tea Party had completely usurped the place of the Evangelicals.
The only thing being discussed in this election was jobs, money, the size of
government, and the national debt. In other words, the economy and money. Not
one major values-based issue was even on the table. Why? Because the people who
talk about values and are a large voting block – primarily Evangelical
Christians – had utterly marginalized themselves with their obsession over
homosexuality. Forget about the fifty percent divorce rate, the growing
sexualization of young teens (Miley Cyrus is now pole-dancing), the collapse of
the American economy because of addiction to shopping, no, all the problems in
America can be laid at the feet of gays. And if we stop the gay agenda,
 then America will suddenly be transformed into a family-friendly,
spiritually rich, Eden-like Shangri-La.

I
could not move them. Try as I might, my audience would not budge. Even when I
told them that I came down to Charlotte not primarily for a debate but to plead
with my Christian brothers and sisters to recapture their relevance, they stood
their ground. They were proud of it. No compromise with sinners. We’ll go down
with the ship if that’s what Jesus wants from us. By hook or by crook, America
will be moral. Homosexuality will be stopped.

But
didn’t Jesus say ‘Judge not that ye not be judged’? Did he not say that all our
sinners? And was I not saying that they have a right to regard homosexuality as
a sin but not to tell gays and lesbians that they have crossed some imaginary
line and now can have no relationship with G-d? Did not the same Bible that
labeled homosexuality as being in contravention to the divine will not also say
that ‘It is not good for man to be alone,’ and should we not be telling gays
and lesbians who have no attraction to the opposite sex that there are hundreds
of commandments in the Bible left for them to keep? No, homosexuality
represented the fall of American morality and the breakdown of common decency.

The
point of no return was when Dr. Brown said that in terms of sinfulness
homosexuality was the same as bestiality, incest, and pedophilia. I should have
been thrilled at the comparison. Dr. Brown spends most of his time trying to
convert Jews to Christianity and I should have welcomed this act of
self-immolation. Instead, because he is a friend and, amid our profound
disagreements, a refined gentleman, I pleaded with him to come back from the
brink. I repeated over and over again that this debate was being recorded for
posterity and he would irreversibly damage his credibility with thinking people
everywhere if he made the insane comparison. But rather than relent, he instead
asked the audience members to raise their hands if they agreed he had come
across as an extremist. Amid hundreds of people, only three hands went up. My
heart sank. This is a community I admire. I lecture to Christian groups all
over the world. We need their voice in the American values debate. Religious
Christians are people of inspiring faith. But by supporting the comment that
homosexuality was akin to pedophilia and bestiality they too had crossed a
line. And it would be difficult to come back.

What
is needed are Evangelical Christian leaders who finally change the subject and
focus us on what really can be done to save the American family, namely,
strengthening marriage, reducing the divorce rate, increasing male respect for
women, and pushing for a congressional bill to make marital counseling
tax-deductible so that couples who need help can afford it and keep their
families intact.