Unfair to the theo-cons

I had a person approach me and say that I was undermining the basic message of my sermon series (charity and compassion) by "attacking" Mark Driscoll and a few others for what I felt was bad behaviour.  Interestingly, I leveled a similar charge again Gary Dann for his lecture at UVic a while back on fundamentalists and politics.

Underlying this remark (I think?) is the sense that somehow more conservative Christians are being used as an easy and politically correct target in society at large, when most of our targets have evaporated.  Should we not allow these folks their opinions while we have ours?

Well, there's a yes-no answer here.  Yes, theo-cons (a great term coined by Stephen Harper himself to describe socially conservative voters with a theological justification for their social conservatism)  have a right to make their points heard.  They are right to put them out their as their opinion on various matters.  But, my feeling is that these are not merely private or personal opinions that they are advancing, but rather these opinions have implications for people who hold opposing viewpoints (e.g. restoring the Judeo-Christian heritage of Canada).

And because these opinions implicate you, I and others, I believe we have a right and an obligation to challenge them.  I am trying to do that in a respectful way by asking some questions and appealing to our shared Scriptures.  But, nonetheless, I think there is better and worse ways of approaching these issues and I have as much a right as anyone to advance my thoughts on the subject.  And yes, as a preacher, I am paid to implicate others in my suggestions.  And, I hope that others will also weigh my own words with the same level of respect by exchanging reasons and appealing to the Scriptures with intellectual vigour.