Introduction: A Hyperbolized Moment
A few months ago I was visiting my hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I attended a local church on a Sunday night. This church helps a lot of people, and the messages there have often inspired me during crucial periods of my life. This particular night was only about one week after the historic Supreme Court ruling that finally granted gay people the equal right to marry, something that should be an obvious option in a secular democracy. I was feeling somewhat down that day, and I expected to hear an inspirational sermon.
What I actually sat through was a 50-minute rant from a constitutional “expert” the church hired to speak. He outlined how America had entered an age of destruction typified by the Supreme Court’s “disastrous” decision. I won’t get into his political arguments here, but I will share how he dramatically ended his sermon: in one hand he held up the Bible, and in the other hand he held up the Supreme Court ruling. With a gesture of passionate defiance, he threw down the ruling, and lifted high the Bible to the rapturous cheers of the audience.