Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve discovered a “third rail” in modern American life. When Grammy-nominated artist Kim Burrell condemned the “perverted homosexual spirit” in a sermon broadcasted live over Facebook, the media blew up with accusations of homophobia and hate.
As a gospel singer and pastor of Love & Liberty Fellowship Church in Houston, Burrell has been outspoken about her Christian faith. But her blunt message on homosexuality has sparked a media firestorm and a Change.org petition.
The latter demanded that the Ellen show cancel Burrell’s scheduled performance of “I See A Victory”—her single recorded with Pharrell Williams for the upcoming Hidden Figures film. On January 3, Ellen DeGeneres responded with the tweet: “For those asking, Kim Burrell will not be appearing on my show.”
The cancellation was mild compared to other reactions. Media outlets attacked Burrell over her “hate-filled,” “homophobic,” “antigay,” “spiritually violent, disgusting” words.
What did she say exactly? Nothing that would have been controversial say, a decade or two ago. In the sermon, Burrell referenced “the spirit of delusion and confusion” that “has deceived many men and women” and “embarrassed the kingdom of God.” She further encouraged those filled with the “homosexual spirit” to “beg God to free you,” warning that “playing” with that spirit would lead to death. “You play with it in God's house in 2017, you'll die from it.” In other words, Burrell holds a mainstream Christian understanding of homosexuality as a temptation and sin – one that many traditionally black evangelical churches maintain.
In a CNN op-ed, black, gay author Clay Cane slammed Burrell’s message as sounding like it had come “directly from the Ku Klux Klan.”
Activist and speaker Jonathan Higgins used the controversy to censure the black church for “the pain they have caused LGBTQ people,” claiming that Christianity was forced on slaves and “has always perpetuated elements of theological violence towards the ‘other.’” In his article for The Root, Higgins opined that this kind of “othering” of the LGBT community enables church members to feel superior.
Williams and Hidden Figures actresses Janelle Monae and Octavia Spencer took to social media to condemn “hate speech” and “prejudice.”
“If your religion is causing you to spew out words of hate, judge, or look down on others because of who one loves,” Monae posted on Instagram, “then you need to change it.”
Anthony Antoine, a self-described “activist and proud member of the LGBT community,” initiated the Change.org petition directed at the Ellen Show. Besides demanding Burrell’s Ellen blacklisting, Antoine begged both Williams and the Hidden Figures movie to stop all promotions that included Burrell, who “clearly detests LGBT people.”
Faced with the reaction, Burrell clarified: “To every person that is dealing with the homosexual spirit, that has it, I love you because God loves you. But God hates the sin in you and me, anything that is against the nature of God.” Again, “love the sinner, hate the sin” has been a foundation of Christian ethics for 2,000 years. But its not good enough for Cane, who called Burrell’s statement an “asinine apology.”
According to NBC, Burrell further noted that media outlets had reported only select portions of her sermon.
"What was posted was not all I preached, too, but only that, isn't that something?” she pointed out. “That is designed of the to make it look like I have a personal agenda against people [sic],” she stated. “It’s a heartbreak, but it’s the world we live in.”
It certainly is the world we live in. The entertainment industry and the liberal media have a clear vendetta against those with Biblical views on marriage. As Fixer Upper’s Chip and Joanna Gaines discovered in November, attending the church of a pastor who has articulated biblical views on marriage is enough to start a media firestorm.
