I recorded that interview while travelling in the United States this summer. “On Sunday, we broadcast an interview with the American evangelical writer Jonathan Merritt. William Crawley | 13:29 UK time, Wednesday, 15 August 2012 Post categories: Ethics, Politics, Religion, This Blog Even I secretly wonder: Was I right? By AZARIAH SOUTHWORTH PUBLISHED AUGUST 12, 2012įROM THE UK – A INTERVIEW FOLLOWING THE NEWS ABOVE IN BBC BOLG: Jonathan Merritt and the ethics of “outing” MERRITT’S OUTING IN 2012 Why I outed a Christian star I’ve been called a bully for exposing gay evangelical Jonathan Merritt.
“So today, I’m raising a glass to my full and complete self-a gay man, beloved by God, who has endured the worst the world could throw at him and fought his way to health and wholeness. I want to enter the second half of life with more authenticity, alignment, and integrity than I exhibited in the first half.” “Today is my 39th birthday, which means I get one more trip around the sun before entering my next decade. I don’t want to live fearful of the opinions of strangers or the venom of bigots.” “Recently, however, this disconnect between my private and public life has felt unnecessary and unsustainable.
So, I haven’t really written about my identity online.” But the experience of being outed left me bruised and untrusting and dead dog afraid to offer these vulnerable parts of myself for public consumption and critique. I have learned to live authentically in my personal life, sharing with friends the fullness of who I am. “Some of you may not know this part of my story. It took many months and a boatload of therapy to process the trauma of that experience-and to learn to love the delightful human that God made when God made me.” “In 2012, just days before my 30th birthday, I was publicly and painfully outed by a person who had earned my trust only to betray it. TODAY ON SOCIAL MERRITTS MEDIA jonathan_merrittVerified We were all called upon to act as brainless as these and other leaders appear to think we are and let their change agent have the platform. Leaders like Albert Mohler and Ed Stetzer continued to act as if Merritt was a leading voice among evangelicals and Baptist especially validated only by the fact his father James is an SBC pastor and former SBC President. But Baptist and leaders of Christianity Today and The Gospel Coalition kept in in the conversations of evangelicals for a decade after he was outed by someone else. The truth came OUT about Jonathan Merritt today on his Instagram feed. THE SON OF A LONGTIME SOUTHERN BAPTIST LEADER JAMES MERRITT CONFIRMED THAT HE IS GAY.BUT UNTIL NOW WE WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO NOTICE EVEN AFTER HE WAS OUTED BY A LOVER IN 2011.