Event sparks backlash from local residents, Christian congregations
Dr. Voddie Baucham, a black pastor and author, will deliver a talk titled “Why Gay is not the New Black” today during an open event hosted by the University of Idaho’s Collegiate Reformed Fellowship student group.
Ben Perley, president of UI’s Collegiate Reformed Fellowship, said Baucham will explain why “the gay rights movement is not the same and should not be equated with the equal rights movement.” He said he hopes the event will increase the diversity of speakers at the UI and spark conversation.
In an event posting on the university’s website, the student group invites the community to “participate in a thought-provoking conversation that connects so many of the cultural issues we are dealing with now, from our nation’s debate on sexuality, to race riots and what influence, if any at all in our present day, being made in the image of God affects the way we live and treat each other.”
The event has triggered backlash on its Facebook page and some are calling it a “homophobic hate sermon.” Members of other local Christian groups are posting invitations for people to attend their events and congregations instead.
Perley said he encourages everyone to show up.
“I know that it’s not going to be homophobic,” Perley said.
According to his website, Baucham was born in Los Angeles and attended Rice University in Houston as a student-athlete. He then transferred to Houston Baptist University where he graduated with a B.A. in Christianity and sociology. He obtained a master’s degree from Southwestern Seminary and a doctorate from Southeastern Seminary. He completed post-graduate study at the University of Oxford, England.
He and his family moved to Zambia in southern Africa in 2015 after he accepted the position of dean of the seminary at African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia.
Baucham’s talk will be held 7:30-9 p.m. today in the International Ballroom at the Bruce M. Pitman Center at the UI. A question and answer period will follow. A post-event discussion without Baucham is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. Friday at One World Cafe.
Baucham is also scheduled to speak at New Saint Andrews College at 3 p.m. Friday in a discussion titled “Race and the Church.”
Via DN