The identity politics jackboots claim a much-prized scalp

They stop at nothing in their quest to drive Christianity from the public square and completely underground.

You see, the Hallmark Channel has one of the most readily identifiable demographics in media consumption: women from their mid-20s through their 50s who like their entertainment wholesome if a little bit corny and cloying. Both provider and viewer have been perfectly satisfied. In post-America, that will never do. They can't be left alone with their preferences.

One of the network's sponsors, a wedding planner, had to give Hallmark a little prod, to see if something outside its formula would be found acceptable. It wasn't - until the jackboots brought the full extent of their wrath to bear. Hallmark got wobbly in the knees and went full Chik-fil-A:

After stirring controversy on social media, Hallmark’s CEO is apologizing for pulling a commercial featuring a same-sex couple and says the company will reinstate the ad to air on the Hallmark Channel.

The controversy began when One Million Moms, part of the American Family Association, complained about the Zola ads featuring a lesbian couple kissing at a wedding altar, saying the commercial was not appropriate for the family-friendly cable network.

The ad from the wedding planning company was subsequently removed from the network, generating an outcry from gay rights advocates, The Associated Press reported. The Hallmark Channel responded to the criticism by saying that the ad was serving as a distraction from its programming and that the network’s goal is to never be divisive.

“The debate surrounding these commercials on all sides was distracting from the purpose of our network, which is to provide entertainment value,” said a statement provided to The Associated Press by Molly Biwer, senior vice president for public affairs and communications at Hallmark.

Ellen DeGeneres asked Hallmark on Twitter: “Isn’t it almost 2020? What are you thinking? Please explain. We’re all ears.” 

In a statement released Sunday evening, Mike Perry, president and CEO of Hallmark Cards Inc., explained his decision to reinstate the ads to the Hallmark Channel. “Hallmark is, and always has been, committed to diversity and inclusion – both in our workplace as well as the products and experiences we create. It is never Hallmark’s intention to be divisive or generate controversy, Perry said. He went on to outline Hallmark’s track record of being an inclusive workplace.

As for the fate of the Zola ad, Perry said, "The Hallmark Channel will be reaching out to Zola to reestablish our partnership and reinstate the commercials.” 

The "isn't it almost 2020?" remark speaks volumes. Leviticus 18:22 and Romans 1:26-27 are not the passing viewpoints of proselytizers from cultures whose times came and went. They are the inerrant word of God, impervious to the ever-changing contours of culture.

But if one does want to approach this from a temporal standpoint, it's essential to point out that, prior to the last 20 years at the very outset,  in no culture or society anywhere in the world, at any point in history, did the institution of marriage encompass unions between people of the same sex.

And let's head off the charge of bigotry at the pass. I daresay the typical Hallmark viewer holds no animus toward gay people. She has a live-and-let-live attitude and probably even has gay people and maybe even couples among her acquaintance, maybe in her immediate social circle. She just isn't interested in having her worldview challenged when she tunes into Hallmark. She wants her smooches and hugs and sleigh rides and moonlight dances on the balcony to be of the normal variety - and statistics back me up on the word I've chosen here.

That's not good enough for the jackboots. You will look straight ahead and gaze unblinkingly upon a lesbian kiss. Your will get your mind right. You will not mention your strange little niche belief system in public.

No.

What we must do is what Reverend Bishop exhorts us to do:

In an inspired and powerful presentation at “Transformed! the Wesleyan Covenant Association’s Fourth Global Gathering” at Asbury United Methodist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on November 9, 2019, the Rev. Shane Bishop said, “A failure to embrace the ministry of the Holy Spirit has produced a disconnect and a lack of firepower in the church today. The firepower has to do with orthodox theology. If we don’t believe God can actually change people and we are not willing to boldly pray for and celebrate such transformations, we are open to every single criticism the culture hurls at us.”

“It is time to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and not our own strength,” said Bishop, senior pastor at Christ Church in Fairview Heights, Illinois.  “It is time to teach good theology rather than disparage bad theology. It is time to tell our story and not have our story told for us. It is time for signs and wonders; not sighs and whiners. It is time to boldly celebrate who we are, where we are going, and what God has called us to be!”

And we'd better start now, while we can still do so with at least official assurance that it's permissible.