Bradlee Dean and Jake MacAulay are the main personalities in a non-profit called You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, International. There are several sub-groups under this main umbrella, one of which is their radio show. Their tax information describes the show as a:
Weekly radio program, School of Hard Knocks, on AM 980 KKMS every Saturdays (sic) from 1-3PM. The program uses both a preaching and interview format to share the truth of Jesus Christ to the Minneapolis Area.
A quote from the May 15, 2010 airing of this show caught our attention. In response to a caller’s rather strong assertions that sodomy was still against the law in Minnesota, Dean made the following statement:
[audio:knocks_5152010.mp3]Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America. This was just released yesterday and it shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination.
It’s not an easy thing to wade through, but listening to the rest of that show will help the reader understand that this statement is in perfect context. The gratuitous hate and conspicuous lack of any kind of empathy or compassion present in the (mostly) monologs is not a pretty thing. One is reminded of the same sort of rhetoric coming from anti-gay voices in Uganda where they are trying to pass the “kill the gays” bill, right down to bogus statistics about gays being predators of the young.
At least from this writer’s understanding, there didn’t seem to be any trace of orthodox Christian theology present — just constant worship of a nebulous idol called “the law.” These are the extremes of our age, and Dean in particular seems never to have met a conspiracy theory too wild to be considered seriously.
What makes this worse is the fact that schools are letting this group in to speak in what appears to be a “scared straight” style assault. Again, from their tax records:
Church ministry to several local area churches creating cooperation to reach and influence area youth. Presented five school wide assemblies in IA, MI, NE, and TN.
One of these visits to “reach and influence area youth” involved the youth ministry, “Driven Senior High,” at Living World Christian Center just outside of Minneapolis. MacAuley was the featured speaker on March 25, 2009.
LWCC is an Exodus affiliated ministry, and Janet Boynes, a self-proclaimed ex-gay, is listed as their contact person. One would hope that, if Exodus were aware that LWCC were hosting such hostile groups, they would at the very least express public disagreement and condemnation of their methods and message. Ideally, they would drop their affiliation.
This is a very real concern because Exodus refers others to LWCC for what they claim is a safe place for gays and lesbians to, as they put it, deal with their “struggle” honestly. How could anyone gay or lesbian, whether they want to be or not, feel safe in a place that subjects them to this kind of message?
Edit: (7pm) It appears that the radio show is now called “Sons of Liberty.” Details are here. Some unhelpful attitude was also removed from the end of the post — this is a volatile issue.
Update: (11:42pm) Exodus has responded to Bradlee Dean’s statements, but nothing about their affiliate. What do you think, is that sufficient?
Of course, Exodus won’t say anything. Alan Chambers has all the moral fiber of a milquetoast, and Randy Thomas is too self-absorbed to care.
Now… if this story made major media headlines, one of them might say something. But only to protect Exodus’ image. They would never deal with the underlying bigotry, because these people share their religious and political worldview.
It’s just that simple.
I’ve noticed an increased effort by Alan and company to put on a pretty face so Exodus appears to be more in step with what we have come to call the “bridge building” efforts of others (Gritter/Marin, for example). Not to say that they don’t let their true nature peek through at times, but they clearly want to appear less like the change monster we all know and clean up after. But that’s the problem with duality, it’s hard to keep at least one of the images from coming back to bite you in the butt.
Of course, it doesn’t help that Randy Thomas is the predominant online face of Exodus. Without diverting off into a tangent about Randy, it is safe to say that putting him in that position is incredibly bad management. I wouldn’t be surprised, however, if they put out something on this.
Alan will write something half-way sincere. Randy will make sure it doesn’t look like they did anything as a response to “the gay activists” (heaven forbid they be accountable to anyone they don’t like). And then whoever replaced Julie Neils will remove anything sincere or meaningful that might have made it in, and replace it with some plastic slogans she brought with her from her old job at Focus.
Bold leadership in ministry, it’s a thing of beauty.
Note: Exodus responded but with no mention of their affiliate.
Dean and McMillian have had more to say (reported by MnIndy):
I’ve not heard of the Rwandan legislation. Last of any legislation I heard of there, Bob Hunter had lobbied against it and it was dropped. But I don’t doubt Dean and McMillian might be making it up as they go along.
“The serious problems of the day can’t be solved by the consciousness that created them.” -Albert Einstein
Those that created anti gay bigotry, or helped to maintain it, cannot defend gay people. The opposite profits them.
What they should have known from the beginning is that such activity carries serious threat to gay people. There is violence directed at gay people globally AND in America.
To pretend now that such an outcome was unknown to them, or that denouncing it would have any effect is precisely the reason why they shouldn’t have done ANYTHING that criticizes, challenges or involves gay people existing.
Cowards will run, deny, obfuscate. As we see.
And the anti-gay crowd once again demonstrates that to them, “morality” only exists in terms of what other people do in their bedroom. The thing is, that’s not morality at all. That’s moralism, which is often the antithesis of true morality.
yeah, I think Alan’s statement was sufficient.
Using their past performance as a scale to attenuate my expectations, I would call their response much better than normal. As mediocre as “sufficient” might be in such issues, I still don’t know that I could use it to describe their response.
I agree with Timothy that I think Exodus’ response was sufficient. They came down very harshly on Dean and his group and made no bones about disagreeing.
The YCRBUCH speaking engagement with the Exodus affiliate was well before these comments made it out. I really can’t see how Exodus can be held responsible for the booking given that. It’s possible that until this story broke they weren’t aware of the appearance. I can’t imagine they know everyone that is speaking with every one of their affiliates.
Given that this news did come out, I’m encouraged by their quick and decisive response.
As I said, Exodus’ response was uncharacteristic and that’s a good thing. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them react that fast in the 7 or so years I’ve watched them. However, I think it is worth asking why any affiliate of theirs would expose a youth group to this kind of “ministry.” I am making the assumption that YCRBYCH did not become this caustic over the course of a year, but was similar when LWCC invited them in March 2009. I believe there is material out there to support that assumption, and we are trying to get it.
I have no hesitation, however, in saying that LWCC’s response was weak and smacked of CYA more than Christian accountability. I will admit to some zeal here, but as I said before, Exodus refers GLBT people to these churches with the promise that they will be safe places for them. One can disagree about their purpose in doing so (and I would) but “safe” should be self explanatory. Listening to not just a few blurbs but hours of material from Dean and MacAuley, I can’t imagine exposing anyone to them on purpose. It does make me angry and I admit that.
But yes, I have to agree, hours instead of months to respond is a nice change. Thanks for commenting, Brady.
Speaking of executions, whatever happened to Bryce Faulkner?