Most of the time, the things that grab our attention as Christians are the loud, obvious cultural flashpoints. Say like a Pride Night for a professional hockey team that seems almost too absurd to be real:
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Immediately, the reaction cycle begins - outrage, mockery, commentary, lines drawn, sides taken.
And to a degree, that makes sense. Christians are not wrong to recognize when something openly celebrates what Scripture calls sin. We are not called to be silent about that, but we also shouldn't be surprised.
Paul tells us plainly that those who do not know God will "exchange the truth of God for a lie, and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator" (Romans 1:25). From the beginning, it's simply what fallen humanity does.
But when a professing Christian is in a position to platform or restrain that idolatry, the calculation changes. At that point, it stops being merely cultural and becomes a question of Christian fidelity to the truth.
Bill Haslam, the former two-term governor of Tennessee, is the majority owner of the aforementioned "Gay Predators." But Haslam is not just a politician-turned-business leader. By his own testimony, he is a Christian.
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Haslam is reportedly an elder of a very large church in Knoxville (Cedar Springs Presbyterian), and serves on the board of trustees for the national youth ministry Young Life. These are spaces that are explicitly committed to the authority of Scripture and the proclamation of the gospel.
That matters.
Why? Because Christianity is not something we confine to one area of life while neglecting it in another. It is a total allegiance to a living King. And if that allegiance does not reach your public decisions, it is not whole.
Scripture does not leave room for that kind of division.
Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. (1 John 2:6)
That includes how we lead, what we permit, and what we choose (or refuse) to celebrate. That's why the language that appears on Young Life's own biography of Haslam deserves careful scrutiny in light of recent events:
Two-term governor of Tennessee Bill Haslam, and devoted friend of Young Life, reveals how faith--too often divisive and contentious--can be a redemptive and unifying presence in the public square.
That sounds right. But in Scripture, unity is never built on the celebration of what God calls sin.
Light does not unify with darkness.
Truth does not unify with error.
Holiness does not unify with rebellion to a holy God.
Christianity does not exist to smooth over those differences, but to speak clearly into them.
Of course Christians should seek to be peacemakers marked by grace, patience, and humility in a contentious world. But we do that in solidarity with the truth of God's word that forbids us from affirming with what God condemns.
Not in the church … or the public square.
When someone who professes Christ uses their position of authority to permit the public embrace of sin, that is not peacemaking or neutrality. It is permission and participation.
It's why Jesus made so clear that those blessed with influence are burdened with responsibility:
Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required. (Luke 12:48)
The New Testament repeatedly calls believers — especially those in positions of authority — to a standard that reflects the holiness of God, not the expectations of the culture.
To be clear, this is not about demanding perfection from Haslam or anyone else. It's about expecting faithfulness even when it's unpopular.
Every Christian leader will face difficult, complex decisions. But thankfully, some lines are not complex. Some lines have already been drawn.
And in those moments, Christian integrity is not measured by how carefully we navigate cultural expectations, but rather how clearly we submit to biblical ones.
The world will be the world. It will celebrate what it celebrates. It will call good what God calls sin.
Christians should answer that by being Christians.
Refuse to call righteous what God has condemned. Refuse to lend your name, influence, or silence to the celebration of such things.
Including Gay Pride nights.
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Not the Bee or any of its affiliates.
