Pull the Plug on Newsweek
By: Lou Engle, OpEd Contributor
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December 22, 2008
After running a cover story offering an allegedly biblical defense for homosexual marriage, Jon Meacham, Newsweek’s editor-in-chief, labeled the traditional view toward marriage that a majority of Americans hold as “intellectual bankruptcy.”
So, the same magazine that routinely denounces faith is now using the Bible to make an argument in support of a grave sin.
The intellectual dishonesty of these writers and editors is clearly on display in their work and the statements they have made surrounding their work. Thus, we are neither afraid of, nor troubled by their submission to the national conversation on this issue.
No, what we are troubled by is the confidence that a failing institution had in publishing such a seemingly bold statement. Newsweek’s economic struggles and loss of subscribers have been well-documented of late.
In taking this stand, Meacham in particular seemed overconfident that he and his constituency are on the winning side of history. In the long view of history, the very scriptures that Newsweek looked to trivialize prove who is ultimately on the “winning side” of this argument.
It should be pointed out that the Bible ends with a wedding. The manner in which the Bible comes to a glorious conclusion demonstrates the sanctity by which our creator holds this most sacred of unions.
The Apostle Paul spoke of this institution and the manner in which a healthy, vibrant marriage between one man and one woman has continually served as a metaphor for God’s relationship with His people in Ephesians 5:25-33, a passage that Lisa Miller, the author of the Newsweek cover essay, conspicuously overlooked in her research.
Some have asked why we care so much about this issue, and why we are taking such a bold stand to oppose homosexual marriage in America. It is because we hold the institution of marriage in such high regard related to its sacredness to our God.
Yet we also recognize that this very sacredness has left the institution of marriage open to assault from its very beginnings, going back to a garden thousands of years ago. The culmination of this assault on marriage, according to the prophetic scriptures that describe the days ahead, is to try to eliminate this institution altogether (1 Timothy 4:3).
The current zeal to redefine marriage is the latest stage of this assault. The strategy of those who are looking to redefine marriage is two-fold: To first frame homosexuality as a civil rights issue, rather than a moral issue, and then to establish rights for homosexuals as the true moral issue of our day. Thus, more than the biblical definition of marriage is at stake; it is who defines sin, men or their creator.
Therefore, what is troubling is clear: Not that Newsweek magazine is taking the “lead” in redefining both morality and marriage in America; again, an organization struggling for its financial survival rarely has the stomach for such risks.
No, it is troubling that Newsweek’s editors feel confident that the majority of America agrees with their stance and their definitions of marriage and morality. If this is true, then our nation has taken a dramatic and unfortunate turn that will have devastating consequences for American culture in the days to come.
If sexual orientation and desire are to be classified under the framework of “race” – if we define desires in a manner beyond what our creator intended without any scientific evidence that such proclivities are genetic – then we open up a proverbial “Pandora’s Box” for such an argument to be applied to all manner of desires under the false mask of “genetics” or the “creator’s design.”
We pray that the vast majority of Americans who have continued to hold the line on what is marriage, what is moral, and what is so clearly part of the created order and the creator’s design will stand fast against this blatant assault on truth.
As such, we are asking all who desire to stand for truth and righteousness to say, “No!” to Newsweek magazine by canceling their subscriptions. This is a historic opportunity to show Newsweek magazine that its arrogant overconfidence in gauging the opinions of the people is greatly misplaced.
Lou Engle is founder of TheCall, a young adult Christian movement. He was one of the leading organizers of pro-Proposition 8 events in California.
