Sanctorian wrote:3. The church has a right to police its own culture.
With those points, I agree with the dog. However, the shock factor of an authoritative figure silencing anyone is the defining moment in this example. Had this been a teenage girl that took her girlfriend to prom last month and shared the same testimony and had the same mic turned off, we'd be having the exact same conversation about the church being bad for gays. Regardless of the girls age and whether or not we can accurately determine if she is full lesbian or not, the church and this particular leader eff'd up as a direct result of church policy regarding homosexuality by turning off the mic.
To prove my point, watch this video of a validictorian having his mic shut off by school administrators when he begins to criticize them. That's how you eff up and make yourself or your organization look bad and turn yourself into a viral video.
I agree about the church having a right to police its own culture, and you make very good points about how NOT to go about it!
I've mentioned in a number of cases like this that even though the church apparently has a first class PR company on retainer, they consistently make some very bad PR moves. That may very well be related to the fact that, at least in this case, it was an unpaid, non-full-time church leader who did this.
It's much easier, I would imagine, to control your image by making sure your full-time, well-paid work force toe the party line. Controlling every aspect of the volunteers' behavior is a much tougher situation.
