The NALT Christians Project

This is going to be interesting. Dan Savage, who created the It Gets Better Campaign has announced The NALT Project. The NALT Project refers to when Christians would come up to him after a talk in which Savage would be critical of Christians and say, “We are not all like that.” The language of “not all like that” is what NALT stands for.

What is interesting about this is that many Christians will want to distance themselves from some of the conservative Christian voices that are often presented (and present themselves) as though the represent the Christian community to the broader culture. The voices are often experienced as harsh and unkind, and their views are often cited as contributing to violence against sexual minorities in the U.S. and in other countries.  Others will not want to stand in the way of civil rights or equal protection under the law (but they might hold to differing views regarding sexual ethics), as noted in the video.Still others will want to be “gay affirming” (language also used in the video), which is a broader category that is open to some interpretation.

In the context of the culture wars, we are often left with the choice between being “pro-” gay or “anti-” gay and that can be defined differently by different interest groups. It will be interesting to see how much complexity will be present in The NALT Project.

There are always Christians you can point to and say, “I’m not like that” with reference to these debates. How many Christians can say that they are “not like” the Westboro Baptist Church? I hope many Christians can say that. But not being like more extreme voices does not necessarily equate to being what others want you to be. So we will see how this project develops and what it comes to represent to those who launched it and to those who participate.