Joe Carter Out: Who's Going to Coordinate Justice Narratives Now?
MAKE NICE TO YOUR GAY NEIGHBORS, FOCUS ON FAITH AND WORK, COMMON GOOD AND VOTE LEFT OF CENTER. THE MESSAGE OF ACTON'S JOE CARTER TO EVANGELICALS.
Just a short 2 years after public attentions were drawn to the fact the chief editor for The Gospel Coalition and Communications Specialist for SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission under Russell Moore also held a “day job” with Libertarian Catholic think tank Acton Institute – Joe Carter is leaving Acton. The question now is “who will coordinate the messages of TGC, ERLC and the Catholic social justice politics of Acton Institute?” But don’t lose any sleep over it. No doubt they have someone in mind.
“NEWS” BROKE OF JOE CARTERS DEPARTURE FROM ACTON
ACTON ARTICLE BIDDING JOE ADIEU
“For nearly eight years, Senior Editor Joe Carter has been a mainstay of the PowerBlog. Not only have readers come to expect his daily PowerLinks but Joe’s numerous contributions (let’s enumerate: 4,400 posts!) on just about every topic we tackle here have been unfailingly helpful. Joe truly understands Acton’s “markets and morality” way of looking at the world and gave readers concrete ways of understanding often difficult concepts from economics, theology, social science and politics.”
“On Sept. 6, Joe will post his last entry to the PowerBlog. He is leaving to take a pastoral position at McLean Bible Church in Arlington, Virginia, where he’ll focus on discipleship and outreach. Previously, Joe helped to plant Grace Hill Church in Herndon, Virginia, where he served as an elder.”
In addition to serving as Senior Editor here, Joe, who recently turned 50, was an editor for The Gospel Coalition, a communications specialist for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and an adjunct professor of journalism at Patrick Henry College.
JOE CARTER DRAFTING A NEW POLITICAL NARRATIVE FOR SBC AND PCA FOLK
Few knew that Carter was hired to work alongside Russell Moore when the ever controversial Democrat Moore ascended the throne of the ERLC but the stark departure from the Conservative message of the Southern Baptist ethics offices were obvious from day one.
“For years, as the principal public voice for the Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s biggest evangelical group, Richard Land warned of a “radical homosexual agenda” and pushed for a federal ban on same-sex marriage.”
“His successor, Russell Moore, sounded a different note when the Supreme Court in June struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act. “Love your gay and lesbian neighbors,” Mr. Moore wrote in a flier, “How Should Your Church Respond,” sent to the convention’s estimated 45,000…”
SIGNALING CHANGE, ESPECIALLY IN TONE TOWARD “GAY NEIGHBORS” KEY TO ACTON/ERLC MESSAGING
Moore Followed up his October WSJ IN 2013 with a total overhaul of the ERLC/SBC message on homosexuality and marriage with a 2014 conference in which he and SBTS President Albert Mohler “embraced homosexual orientation, abandoned ex-gay therapies and introduced an entire HERD of the Same Sex Attracted but celibate “homosexual Christians” to Southern Baptist Conversation. These SSA-but-celibate included Sam Allberry (a gay Church of England priest), Christopher Yuan now a rising star in the conference circles as Allberry’s star is fading after his ministry announced plans with Tim Keller to “Audit the LGBT Inclusion" culture in your church. Also among those whose narratives were being “message shopped” around Conservative Christians was Rosaria Butterfield who urges, along with Allberry, that Baptist and PCA people "support (SSA ) single adoption and foster care and be “hospitable” i.e. welcome LGBTQUIAA+ people into the church. As the 2014 conference unfolded the media delighted that “Southern Baptist and gays break bread together…”
Moore’s newly hired ERLC staffers boasted to LGBT activist invited to attend the 2014 conference that “Moore is rebranding the entire organization and the SBC."
ERLC/ACTON/INSPIRATION
Moore & Mohler, with the help of Joe Carter and TGC, and the once radical gay activist turned Catholic priest, Acton's co-founder and Carter’s boss Father Sirico have never looked back.
Acton's Father Sirico’s history is discussed in detail in the account of the gay movement in Catholic and gay publications.
And in the book Gay Seattle: Stories of Exile and Belonging.
THE TIGHT COORDINATION OF THE NEW TGC/ERLC MESSAGE HAS BEEN GLARING
They will address issues like:
How do we effectively minister to those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender?
How has the divorce culture impacted marriage in our communities and our churches?
What does sexual faithfulness look like for a same-sex attracted Christian?
Why did God create marriage and why did he design it for the common good?
How should a pastor counsel a same-sex couple that wants to join his church?
How can churches minister to those who are single, dating, divorced or celibate?
How can Christians show the love of Christ to gay family members or neighbors?
The sessions will be livestreamed (free, but brief registration required) and liveblogged.
It begins today at 1:20 PM, Central Time.
The schedule of 20 talks and 5 panels—many of them relatively short in length—are listed below.
MONDAY
1:20-2:00 PM
Albert Mohler, “Aftermath: Ministering in a Post-Marriage Culture”
2:05-2:40 PM
Panel: Russell Moore, Albert Mohler, D. A. Horton, Robert Sloan (Phillip Bethancourt, moderator), “The State of Marriage in American Culture: Divorce, Cohabitation, Same-Sex Marriage, and Other Trends”
3:05-3:25 PM
Greg Smalley, “Building Healthy Marriages”
3:25-3:40 PM
Kristen Waggoner and Erik Stanley, “The Price of Citizenship: Can the State Compel the Church to Embrace Homosexual Relationships?”
3:55-4:10 PM
Glenn Stanton, “Loving My (LGBT) Neighbor”
4:15-5:00 PM
Panel: John Stonestreet, Trevin Wax, Lindsay Swartz, Eric Teetsel (Andrew Walker, moderator), “Millennials and Marriage: Evaluating the Young Generation’s Views on Sexuality and Marriage”
7:15-7:30 PM
Jennifer Marshall, “Now and Not Yet: Making Sense of Single Life in the Twenty-First Century”
7:35-8:00 PM
Danny Akin, “God on Sex: The Creator’s Ideas about Love, Intimacy, and Marriage”
8:10-8:40 PM
Sherif Girgis, “Better Together: Marriage and the Common Good”
8:45-9:30 PM
Panel: Kevin Ezell, Dennis Rainey, Carmen Fowler Laberge, and Heath Lambert (Daniel Darling, moderator)
TUESDAY
8:50-9:30 AM
Russell Moore and Rosaria Butterfield, “Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert”
9:35-10:15 AM
Russell Moore, “Questions and Ethics Live”
10:40-10:55 AM
Christopher Yuan, “Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son’s Journey to God”
11:00-11:15 AM
Jackie Hill-Perry, “How Does the Gospel Equip Christians Who Struggle with Same-Sex Attraction?”
11:20 AM-12:00 PM
Panel: Christopher Yuan, Sam Allberry, Rosaria Butterfield, and Jackie Hill-Perry (Russell Moore, moderator), “Is It Okay to Be Gay? A Candid Conversation on Christians and Same-Sex Attraction”
2:30-3:15 PM
Denny Burk, “Is There Really a Slippery Slope? A Gospel-Centered Assessment of Gender Identity, Transgender, and Polygamy”
3:30-4:30 PM
Sam Allberry, “Is God Anti-Gay? Answering Tough Questions about Same-Sex Marriage”
6:50-7:30 PM
David Platt, “Marriage and Missions: How Singleness and Marriage Connect to the Great Commission”
7:35-7:45 PM
Lizette Beard, “Why I Love and Hate Being Single”
7:50-8:20 PM
Jim Daly, “Reconcilable Differences: Building Bridges with Those Who Disagree about Marriage”
8:45-9:25 PM
Russell Moore, “Slow-Motion Sexual Revolutionaries? Culture Wars, Christian Witness, and the Future of Marriage”
WEDNESDAY
8:45-9:05 AM
Dennis Rainey, “Growing Great Commission Marriages”
9:10-9:50 AM
Panel: Steven Smith, Jason Allen, Thomas White, Randy Stinson (Phillip Bethancourt, moderator), “Preparing Next Generation Leaders for a Post-Marriage Culture”
9:55-10:10 AM
Ryan Anderson, “Marriage in Crisis: The Conflict between Sexual Freedom and Religious Liberty”
10:15-10:55 AM
J.D. Greear, “Preaching Like Jesus to the LGBT Community and Its Supporters”
JOE CARTER HAS ALSO HELPED TGC AND ERLC DRIVE THEIR POLITICAL MESSAGING, WHILE SAYING CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIANS “HAVE BEEN TOO POLITICAL"
Carter has played a key role in the ERLC/TGC “never Trump” and “Third Way” political narratives.
At no point in modern evangelical history has the message of the Gospel been more mingled with and tainted by progressive social and political content than in the last decade. TGC and ERLC have been at the epicenter of the intersection of these “incompatible streams of influence” of conservative Christianity and a relentless call to progressive social and political engagement.
EVANGELICAL DEEP STATE EXPOSED
Joe Carter has played a significant, although stealthy, role in the Evangelical Deep State for some time. His role and that of Acton and the history of his boss Father Sirico were exposed in 2017.