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            I was a Boy Scout when I was growing up, so any news about the organization gets my attention. Yesterday the national office issued a statement resending its decision of only a few months ago banning homosexuals from all local chapters. Now that decision will be left in the hands of local chapters. They can choose to do what fits the character and practice of the local group.

            Apparently this change came in response to criticism of its earlier policy. That at least was the conclusion of Herndon Graddick, the president of GLAAD, an advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. “The Boy Scouts of America have heard from Scouts, corporations and millions of Americans that discriminating against gay Scouts and Scout leaders is wrong,” he said. “Scouting is a valuable institution and this change will only strengthen its core principles of fairness and respect.”

            Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, a conservative group that lobbies for public policy based on faith, family and freedom from a Christian worldview, disagrees. He criticized the change as being the result of the Boy Scouts national board having been “bullied by homosexual activists.” the result of which he says will be that “the Boy Scouts’ legacy of producing great leaders will become yet another casualty of moral compromise.”

            My first thought when I read what he said was to wonder why he chose to call people with a different view from his “bullies.” Apparently Perkins believes expressing disagreement with conservative policies is “bullying,” but expressing support for them is standing up for moral principles. I’m afraid this way of thinking is quite widespread among conservative Christians. Surveys consistently show that a majority of evangelical Christians believe our nation is becoming anti-Christian. They do so because they believe decisions such as this one by the Boy Scouts are not simply wrong, they are intentionally anti-Christian.

            Think about what these people are saying via their belief that our nation is becoming anti-Christian. They are saying that any Christian who supports things like the BSA national board decision on gay members, or supports other causes they think are “liberal,” is fighting against Christians. It’s like the war on Christmas has now expanded to a holy war that has engulfed the entire nation. Only it’s an imaginary war. It’s not real. I disagree with Tony Perkins and those like him on most issues, but I am not anti-Christian or anti-American. But I do believe they are nurturing a destructive and ultimately self-defeating attitude among their followers. There is no future for any person or any group that builds straw walls and then fires up the crowd to tear them down. Eventually everyone except those intentionally blind sees how fake the fight is and how wrong the predictions of doom always turn out to be.

            So here’s a word of unsolicited advice for conservatives, religious and political. Critique views and positions with which you disagree while making a good case for your own and you will be heard. Choose instead to call your opponents names and impugn their intentions, and you will be ignored and sidelined more and more.