In early August, news that Seattle-born Evangelical church Mars Hill would be opening its first Portland location on Southeast Taylor and 32nd Avenue hit the press. Controversy surrounded it from the beginning, not only because many of the sermons available on Mars Hill’s website showed founder Mark Drissoll asserting extremely questionable ethics, but also because this time they would be doing it in a part of town many Portlanders believed was a place free from this particular set of beliefs.
Since public scrutiny against Drissoll and Mars Hill began, many have focused on the fact that they condemn homosexuality. The Mars Hill response on their Portland website, as well as in other media appearances, has countered this, emphasizing that Mars Hill not only speaks against being gay, but is also against all of the sexual freedoms and gender identities that are integral to the local culture in Portland.
In other words, it’s not just gays who are going to hell, but also feminists, people who watch porn, transgendered folks and anything that deviates from the one man, one woman in holy matrimony set up. In one sermon, Mark Drissoll says that women who wear their hair too short, who look like a “dude” or a “prostitute” are also doomed unless they repent. He goes on to say in the sermon, fittingly titled “Under Authority like Christ,” that women should embrace their role and accept authority, and men should embrace their role and take authority. His version of natural hierarchy is as follows: First God, then men, then women and then children. He is openly against women holding jobs after they are married (unless of course that job is in the church supporting their husband) and says in a separate sermon that feminist values are responsible for the high divorce rates in America.
There have been many reactions from the queer and queer-allied communities here in Portland. One plan for opening day, which was postponed in September, was to stage a “kiss-in” and come out in full, fabulous force, engaging in physical affection, or just coming to demonstrate. Despite this being unable to come to fruition, similar events will likely still take place when Mars Hill’s new opening date is announced.
Logan Lynn, public relation and innovation manager for the Q Center, decided that instead of meeting Portland Mars Hill Pastor Tim Smith with his first angry reaction, he would take the high road and try to find some common ground with Smith. Lynn, who comes from a fundamentalist Christian family from the south, knows that sometimes we catch more flies with honey than vinegar and, since changing the hearts of his own once-homophobic family, says that his decision to meet with Smith came from a common goal to co-exist.
Admittedly torn on the issue, Lynn admits this is a tactic he is trying and that he will be watching Mars Hill and what they preachclosely. Critics of Lynn have expressed great disdain for his choice, with one commenter going so far as to call Lynn a “Nazi-sympathizer.”
While the label might be too extreme, former PSU student Edward Garren, a licensed marriage and family specialist and certified sexual addiction therapist candidate, says that weak responses to bullies is the main reason he left Portland. Garren knows that Mars Hill has the right to be here, but he wants to know what the community’s response will be.
“A person’s willingness to tolerate abuse is directly tied to their level of self esteem,” Garren said. “We grow up in families and institutions that teach us to hate ourselves. Unless we confront our own inner homophobia, we will be doomed to become apologists and apologize our way through lives.”
“I don’t think they have the right to come into our community because their presence enforces heterosexism and could lead to violent actions,” said Paxana Parsons, 25, a worker at a Portland Cooperative. “I’d like to see Mars Hill prevented from opening. This could happen through many different tactics.”
The debate over when action becomes violence is central to the discourse. Lynn commented on this, saying, “Where does violence start? Does it start on the street or with rhetoric? Here, I think it is at the pulpit.”
In the end, concerned Portlanders need to send a clear message to the folks at Mars Hill. While we may not be able to stop them from being here, we can make it as uncomfortable as possible. It is not the victim’s responsibility to make friends with their bully, but to rise to the occasion and stand up for themselves so that, someday, their children won’t have to grow up in a culture that allows oppression, sexual or otherwise, to exist.