Louis Giglio was disinvited to pray at President Obama’s second inaugaration (either that, or he withdrew his acceptance). Tim Tebow was invited to speak at a very prominent Baptist church, only to later cancel. Albert Mohler nails it in this CT article:
No statement short of celebrating and affirming the normalization of homosexuality will be found acceptable to those now demanding an answer. Writing for Yahoo! Sports, Jay Busbee stated what is now obvious: “Whatever the reason for his cancellation, Tebow is fast approaching the point where he’ll need to make more definitive stands on his own. There are plenty of people needing him to speak up for one reason or another; he’ll need to decide how public to go with his perspective on Christianity. He has the power and potential to be an influential voice for his religion, but he’ll need to decide how much of that religion he wishes to demonstrate.”
I’m not here to judge Tebow’s motives in canceling the invitation–I’m perfectly willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. The point is that sooner or later Tebow, and the rest of us, will be called upon to say what we believe, to go on the record. Kevin DeYoung has a great suggested speech, concluding “at some point…Christians need to simply take it on the chin, not back down, affirm the truth, put in a good word for Jesus, and keep on smiling.”
Amen and amen. It’s not intolerant to politely and graciously state our firm convictions–while also affirming the rights of those who disagree to do the same. This has been the historic understanding of tolerance until the last 10-20 years or so!