Author's Note: This article that was ran on the Facebook page of The Jackson Post is a response to a "Dooley Noted" column article. The owner, Daniel Richardson, refused to allow it to be published online or in-print because the paper is right-leaning, so I am posting it here. He also refused to run my Pride Month in Jackson piece.
“Dooley Noted” is a weekly opinion column in The Jackson Post that Adam Dooley, pastor of Englewood Baptist Church, uses to frequently cast judgement against minority groups. His most recent post entitled “The Cringe Factor,” spun a tale of Christian persecution that blames pro-choice individuals and the LGBTQ+ community while simultaneously complaining about woke lies and cancel culture impacting his religion. Sanctimonious viewpoints litter each sermon he preaches and each article he writes while blasphemously judging his neighbors, and this is my response.
It is not the first time this rhetoric has been used against the LGBTQ+ community, nor will it be the last. However, calling the TRUTH to attention is necessary and crucial to prove that he is a bigot more than he is a religious leader. Starting off, let’s address the claim that gender is a biological reality rather than a social construct. Since as early as 5000 B.C.E., transgender people have existed. The Talmud describes six different genders and respects these differences. Native cultures frequently revere two-spirit individuals and acknowledged the gender spectrum before colonization ever occurred. Even Pope Francis has said that transgender people can become baptized Catholics. In Biology, it is known that gender and sex assigned at birth are different, complex things. One is based on identity and the other focuses on physiology, at its most basic definition.
Instead of targeting minority groups and individuals seeking bodily autonomy, Dooley should be looking inside his own religion for actual problems. Since February, I have been working on a case that has yet to see any indictments because of the lack of REAL grooming laws in Tennessee. For instance, there have been over two DOZEN convicted predators that have served in Tennessee as pastors, preachers, and youth leaders. Joshua Henley, Matthew Brewer, David Lynn Richards Jr., Al Behm, William C. Casey, Ronald W. Dickman, Bill Early, James F.X. Pratt, Joseph L. Reilly, Franklin T. Richards, James B. “Jim” Stanford, Ronnie Gorton, Jason Evan Kennedy, Larry J. Rayford Jr., William E. “Tim” Smith Jr., and many, many others have been religious leaders that used their power and position to hurt children in ways ranging from grooming to human trafficking. Andy Savage confessed to a 1998 “sexual incident” with a 17-year-old teenager in front of his congregation and got a standing ovation. These issues are never spotlighted by these churches because it shows an imbalance of power and the ability to hide these crimes by threatening their victims in various ways.
I survived being molested, groomed, raped, and assaulted as a child and teenager, yet I have men like Dooley try to flip the script because I’m openly queer. Not a SINGLE drag queen in the state of Tennessee has been convicted of any crimes of this nature. If Christianity is so attacked, then why is it the minority groups of our home state are the ones being targeted by harmful legislation? Gov. Bill Lee, Marsha Blackburn, and almost every major political leader is a Christian that has worked to eliminate the separation of church and state. Instead of creating laws that help survivors, they have created barriers that harm them. This is a moment, Dooley, where you should realize the call is coming from inside the house. It is not the LGBTQ+ community: it is the men with power like yours committing these atrocities. On average, one in five children will be assaulted before they turn 18. This means in a room of 30 children, six of them are likely to have been assaulted.
Another claim Dooley has made is that the Bible is perfect. I suppose as a privileged individual, it can be easy to overlook the legitimate flaws that are horrific. There are verses that permit slavery, rape, child marriage, and more. Deuteronomy 22:28-29 calls for a rapist to MARRY his victim. Some verses about slavery include 1 Peter 2:16, 1 Timothy 6:1, Colossians 3:22, Ephesians 6:5, Exodus 21:7, and more. These verses command slaves to obey their masters.
There are more than 3000 versions of the Bible in over 2000 languages. If a person claims that only their denomination is the correct one, then they are truly delusional. Individuals following direct Hebrew translations, which is the closest to accurate, have stated that verses regarding homosexuality decry pedophilia instead. The first appearance of homosexuality was in 1946 when it appeared in the Revised Standard Version as a mistranslation of 1 Corinthians 6:9 of malakoi and arsenokoitai and used for over a decade to spread harmful misinformation and propaganda.
In the end, it is impossible to reason with individuals that only have one frame of reference for their viewpoints. They will never change. However, the truth will always be the truth, whether Dooley notes that or not.
Further Reading:
Biological sex classification with structural MRI data shows increased misclassification in transgender women | Neuropsychopharmacology (nature.com)
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