Pro-homosexuality foundation pours millions into Catholic and mainline Protestant dissident groups
April 8, 2011 by MethodistThinker
This post is by the Rev. David Fischler, a church planter in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and the founder of The Reformed Pastor blog.
David Fischler
A New Jersey native, David was born of Jewish parents and became a Christian in college after reading the Bible for the first time.
He holds degrees from Rutgers University and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Wake Forest, N.C.). He is currently a Doctor of Ministry student at Trinity School for Ministry near Pittsburgh.
This post first appeared in a different form at The Reformed Pastor. Links below have been added by MethodistThinker.com — Ed.
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At CatholicVote.org, Thomas Peters recently wrote about the effort by homosexual billionaires to change the Roman Catholic Church’s position on homosexuality by funding dissident groups within the church. Peters catalogs funding to the tune of almost $600,000 to various Catholic groups through something called the Arcus Foundation.
After reading Peters’ article, I went to the Arcus website and discovered that it isn’t just Roman Catholic groups this foundation is funding. Money is also going to many dissident groups in mainline Protestant denominations.
Here are some of the grants listed for 2010 alone:
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- Central United Methodist Church (Detroit): $50,000 for The Reconciling Project, “a reconciling education and advocacy initiative to positively transform attitudes and beliefs about LGBT [Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgendered] people among United Methodist congregants and pastors in Southeastern Michigan.”
- Christian Community: $300,000 (over two years) “to increase support for and advocacy on behalf of LGBT people of faith in mainline Protestant congregations across the U.S.”
- Emory University (United Methodist affiliated): $100,000 (over two years) for continued support for Religion Dispatches, “a progressive online magazine dedicated to analysis and critique of the role of religion in public culture, with a focus on LGBT justice issues.”
- Intersections International: $100,000 for the Believe Out Loud campaign, “which seeks to move moderate people of faith to publicly advocate for LGBT inclusion within their mainline Protestant faith communities.” (The Reconciling Ministries Network in the United Methodist Church is integrally involved with the Believe Out Loud campaign.)
- Lutherans Concerned: $90,000 for “two convenings to advance the full inclusion of LGBT people of faith by convening pro-LGBT denominational leaders from the Episcopal Church USA, the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutherans of America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the United Church of Christ, and by convening nationally recognized pro-LGBT Lutheran theologians.”
- Methodist Federation for Social Action: $93,120 “to advance the full inclusion of LGBT people of faith within the United Methodist Church through a coalition of progressive justice organizations working within the UMC.” (MFSA used these funds to hire a coordinator for the Common Witness Coalition, an alliance of progressive groups that will press the UM 2012 General Conference to vote for “full inclusion of all people in UMC membership and leadership”—PDF.)
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In 2009, the Arcus awarded the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) in the UMC $300,000 (over two years) to support “a comprehensive strategy to advance LGBT inclusion within the United Methodist Church that includes passage and implementation of pro-LGBT denominational policy regarding Church membership, ordination and same-gender [sic] marriage.” (In 2007, Arcus awarded RMN $100,000.)
Also in 2009, Arcus gave the communications firm of Douglas Gould and Company a grant of $194,200 to provide communications support to both the UM Reconciling Ministries Network and Lutherans Concerned to assist their efforts “to advance the full inclusion of LGBT people in the United Methodist Church and in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.”
Here are several other Arcus grants from last year:
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- Church Divinity School of the Pacific: $404,351 “to develop official rites for the blessing of same-gender relationships within the Episcopal Church.”
- More Light Presbyterians: $75,000 “to support the ratification of denominational policy that permits the ordination of partnered LGBT persons within the Presbyterian Church (USA).”
- The Gay Christian Network: $73,018 “to develop, test, and refine a pilot program that prepares young adult evangelicals to support pro-LGBT dialogue within evangelical communities.”
- Truth Wins Out: $40,000 “for general operating support to enable Truth Wins Out to continue to challenge the ex-gay movement and monitor the anti-LGBT efforts of the religious right.” (Truth Wins Out is the group behind pressuring Apple to drop apps developed by the Manhattan Declaration and Exodus International.)
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Despite the lack of stated religious connections on the part of its staff or its board members, the Arcus Foundation has a “Religion and Values” program, the goal of which is described this way:
[Our] goal is to achieve the recognition and affirmation of the moral equality of LGBT people. To accomplish this goal, the program supports the efforts of religious leaders to create faith communities in which LGBT people are welcomed as equal members; it also supports civic leadership to promote the moral and civil equality of LGBT people at state, national, and international levels.
The two-part “measurable program outcome” for the Religious and Values program is stated this way:
Goal 1: Ensure that denominations and faith-based institutions affirm LGBT moral equality and support LGBT rights;
Goal 2: Support pro-LGBT faith-based leaders who form, sustain and drive the movement or LGBT moral equality and civil rights.
In his article at CatholicVote.org, Thomas Peters notes that the total given by the Arcus Foundation since 2007 to groups operating within Catholic and Protestant churches is $6.5 million. That’s a lot of scratch.
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The questions raised by this attempt to influence church doctrine and policy are enormous. Arcus certainly has every right to fund organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD that are working for homosexual rights in the political arena. But by what right does a secular foundation, operating from principles at odds with historic Christian faith, seek to influence Christian churches to abandon aspects of that faith?
From LGBTfunders.org
Liberals have been claiming for years that there is something insidious, if not downright evil, about support the Institute on Religion and Democracy has received from conservative foundations.
That funding is dwarfed — in both scale and breadth — by the money given out by Arcus.
It’s also the case that the IRD supports the traditional stances of the churches to which it speaks. It is not seeking to bring about radical change in historic teaching and practice.
In the current issue of First Things, George Weigel of the Ethics and Public Policy Center has a fascinating article about the infiltration of the Catholic Church by various agents of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies during the post-World War II era. The aim was to influence church policy with regard to the Soviet bloc, and to seek to garner support for the bloc’s foreign and domestic political agendas.
What the Arcus Foundation is doing may be more public, and may involve using money to fund others rather than using their own “agents,” but make no mistake: this is just as much about infiltrating the churches to push a political agenda.
Related posts |
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Why the United Methodist Church cannot condone homosexuality |
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Breaking the covenant: Why aren’t ‘Reconciling’ churches being held to account? |
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Riley Case: Retired bishops’ statement is a sign of UMC’s sickness |
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Renewal & Reform Coalition responds to retired bishops’ call to alter UMC’s sexuality standards |
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In embracing homosexual marriage, Foundry UMC rejects UM boundaries, breaks with 2 millennia of church teaching |
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Riley Case: The future of the United Methodist Church is at stake |
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Judicial Council overturns bishop’s ruling on sexuality statement |
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Maxie Dunnam: Amendments outcome reflects ‘sense of the faithful’ |
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Judicial Council says no to same-sex marriage |
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Billy Abraham on United Methodism: ‘There is no common faith among us’ |
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Bill Bouknight: The good news from General Conference ’08 |
Related information |
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MFSA hires coalition coordinator with grant from Arcus Foundation | Methodist Federation for Social Action (Dec. 15, 2010) |
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Road to General Conference 2012 (PDF) | The Progressive Voice, MFSA (Fall 2010) |
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Brochure for “Building an Inclusive Church” (a training workshop sponsored by RMN, More Light Presbyterians, Lutherans Concerned, et al and supported by the Arcus Foundation) (PDF) | Institute for Welcoming Resources, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (2010) |
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Eros defended or eros defiled — What do Wesley and the Bible say? | Ben Witherington, The Bible and Culture (Patheos.com) (Feb. 14, 2011) |
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Christianity elevates sexual morality (a historical overview of the Christian church’s teaching on sexual morality) — Chapter 3 of How Christianity Changed the World | Alvin Schmidt (Zondervan, 2004 — via Google Books) |
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What the evidence really says about Scripture and homosexual practice: Five issues (PDF) | Robert A. J. Gagnon (March 2009) |
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Slavery, homosexuality, and not being of one mind | Riley B. Case, via The Sundry Times (July 1, 2008) |
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How churches can refine message on homosexuality | Robin Russell, United Methodist Reporter (May 19, 2008) |
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United Methodists uphold homosexuality stance | Robin Russell, United Methodist News Service (April 30, 2008) |
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Judicial Council Decision 1032 and ecclesiology (PDF) | William J. Abraham, General Board of Higher Education & Ministry Consultation on Decision 1032 (February 2007) |
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The church and homosexuality | Bishop Timothy W. Whitaker, e-Review (Florida United Methodist News Service) (July 12, 2006) |
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Methodists strengthen stand against homosexual practice | Christianity Today (May 5, 2004) |
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Resources list: Ministry for and with homosexual persons (requested by the UMC’s 2004 General Conference) (PDF) | United Methodist Publishing House |
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Homosexuality and the Bible (PDF) | R. Albert Mohler Jr., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary |
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Homosexuality and the Great Commandment (an address to the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh) | Peter C. Moore (November 2002) |
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‘Good News’ says push to accept homosexual practice threatens to split United Methodist Church | United Methodist News Service (May 6, 1997) |
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The problem faced by the UMC and many other churches if of their own making. Whether in an attempt to be “politically correct” or an attempt to save membership, the process in flawed because it is not Biblical.
The question of whether the church should have homosexual leaders is really not up for debate, according to the Bible. I understand that there is pressure from groups and individuals within the UMC to accept a more liberal policy toward homosexuals in leadership. Those who continue in this anti-Christian, anti Biblical behavior need to be removed from their leadership positions.
It’s time for the UMC and many other churches (you are not alone) to stop trying to be all things to all people. Ultimately, the church is not here to please people but to please God and to be God’s instrument to save people and help them along the narrow path. Even the consideration of condoning homosexual behavior accomplishes the opposite of the church’s purpose on earth.
One final statement: It doesn’t really matter if denominational rules are broken. What counts are God’s rules, and He has made them easy to understand.
God bless you,
Arnie Petrosino
Maybe we should try to reduce the temperature a little. The table is a little misleading because there is transfer between different groups and not all the money from the Ford Foundation (for example) goes to LGBT issues.
It would probably be a good thing if IRD or even Good News was as transparent as Arcus about their funding and grants.
We can find plenty of things to argue about or we can try to work on issues we agree upon. If we were a business, we would say that we have plenty of problems at our sprawling headquarters, plenty of problems at the regional offices and plenty of problems at the local franchises.
Either we work on fixing the big problems or we won’t have much left to argue about.
Editor’s note: According to LGBTfunders.org, the funding table (from the 2010 report, “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Grantmaking by U.S. Foundations”) shows only funds that went to “[support] LGBTQ organizations and projects.” Further, “[p]rivate foundations awarded $7,258,273 to public foundations for regranting purposes. To avoid ‘double counting,” these awards are not included in the total figures.”
For years, I never thought much about the money trail and how funding is used by some to propagate certain interests and even manipulate the Church. Cynically, I have occasionally mused to myself over the issue of “who Biblically sold out, and why?” or “who curried favour with that person?” But this article makes complete sense: it takes money to free individuals to become tireless lobbyists, and to create pressure-groups.
Now, the real question is: who are these “benefactors”, and why are they packing this agenda of seduction?
Those of us who have monitored this issue for years are not surprised by the huge amounts of money being pumped into promoting the LGBTQ agenda by activist organizations (looks to be somewhere north of $40 million just in this accounting!). LGBTQ activists are hell-bent on forcing society to accept their sexuality (which they too-closely identify with the essence of their being). Society must not merely tolerate, they must endorse.
Big money and rabid activism have reaped major benefits for these activists — just look at the judicial/ecclesiastical/political decisions that have gone their way in recent years. Forty years ago people said this would never, ever happen. Money talks. Who knows where we’ll be 40 years from now?
The rank and file membership of mainline denominations generally don’t agree with normalizing alternative sexual lifestyles, but they are ignorant of what’s really going on behind the scenes (thank you, Methodist Thinker).
Many think those of us concerned about this growing cancer are blowing it way out of proportion. By the time they wake up, it may be too late.
I can see where religious folks would be all up in arms over this. After all religious folks have spent many times this amount fighting against equality. But this really isn’t news since the religious community is simply repeating the response they had to slavery, women’s equality and African American equality.
Religions have no problem looking past biblical verses that promote and instruct slave masters, or speak to women being silent in the church (or even discussing religion with men), etc. Religions refusal to look past questionable (at best) verses about modern day homosexuality is simply a repeat of old entrenched ideals.
Sadly, some houses of religion are causing themselves more harm than good.
Religion can evolve with society or be left behind.
It is their choice.
Editor’s note: The commenter is the founder of Seattle-based Queer Public Radio.
For a full-length historical treatment of how the Christian church has been influential in moving societies and cultures toward greater respect human rights, see How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin Schmidt (Zondervan, 2004), available here via Google Books.
It does not matter how much money they pour into supporting a lie. God knows the difference and they will be judged if they don’t repent.
Didn’t anyone ever tell them, “You can’t buy your way into Heaven” or do good deeds to get into Heaven? It’s all about a relationship with Jesus Christ — and if you don’t have that you have nothing.
I find it amazing (for lack of better word) the evolution of the Church through the ages. Even more amazing: the different churches in John’s day (Rev. 2-3) seemed to be going through the different stages that the Church as a whole would go through over the centuries.
Following this idea, it seems the Church of Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-22) is becoming more and more prominent.
I guess it is true money does talk. Perhaps the reason some churches don’t preach the truth that homosexual sex is a sin is that they know they will lose money.
I am so happy that I don’t go to one of those churches. We preach what the Bible says.