I read this article on Change.org this morning - "Will There Ever Be a Post-Gay Identity?" - and it struck me that if I removed the LGBTQ references and replaced them with Christian references, the article would have been just as relevant. For example, 

"So what's next? Will we reach a time when there will no longer be a need for separate bars or centers, bookstores or retirement communities? Will there ever be such a thing as a post-gay identity?"

could just as easily read,

"So what's next? Will we reach a time when there will no longer be a need for separate (coffee) bars or centers, bookstores or retirement communities? Will there ever be such a thing as a post-Christian identity?"

In fact, some sentences are relevant to both as is: 

"We've established a widening presence in pop culture and have out and proud representatives in all corners of professional and political life."

I am certainly not the first to draw parallels between the way the Gay agenda and the Christian agenda operate. The similarities are startling at first, but then they begin to make sense. Both "causes" are sub-cultural norms that want to become cultural standards. We have long talked about the separation of church and state, and I find that whole notion to be a tenuous balancing act. Whether Christian or Muslim or Jewish or other, when people with a strong faith identity are in positions of political leadership, their decisions often heavily reflect their faith, and the line that separates becomes very fuzzy.

I have heard people say we are in post-Christian America, but that reference indicates a waning presence and influence in cultural leadership.However, in this article about post-gay identity, the aim seems to be a world in which sexual identity is irrlevant, or at least a non-issue. Not waning, but rather so present that it's the new normal.

As I wrestle more and more with my place in this world - as a Christian, as a woman, as a single adult, as an artist, as a friend to non-Christians, as a friend to people who are LGBTQ, as a writer, as a small voice in a big culture conversation - and as I prepare to take part in the biggest and potentially most weighty conference focusing on world evangelization to date, I am honestly feeling "over" both the Gay agenda and the Christian agenda. Both scare me at times.

I want to wipe the slate of my mind clean of all the political commentary and noise, and I want to open my Bible. I want to consider what it really means to love my neighbor, to be the light of the world, to trust in Christ's atonement for the forgiveness of my sins, to be part of the solution for setting captives free and releasing prisoners from their chains. When I say things that are true theologically, I want them to also be soaked in love and mercy - otherwise, all my truth sounds like a noisy gong to God.

I'd love to see more Christians resist the very strong urge to play by the world's rules, political or otherwise. Jesus didn't. He acknowledged the state - "give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's" - and then he invited people to join him in a parallel kingdom, where the last is first and the first is last and power means that kings wash their slaves' feet. Rather than trying to fight against the cultural norms or trying to infiltrate with cultural influence, Jesus seemed to offer a different culture altogether, open to any who might want to become a citizen of that kingdom. I wonder what would happen if more of us were working toward that type of culture.