Driscoll's Apology Defuses Demonstration But His Seattle Times Column Get Cancelled
From Seattle Times hat Tip JesusPolitics
A grass-roots protest fizzled yesterday after the controversial pastor of an evangelical megachurch in Seattle apologized for what critics say were demeaning comments about women.After being confronted by other local religious leaders, Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church said he was sorry.
"We believe we have a meaningful and sincere apology for the inflammatory remarks he's made," said Paul Chapman, a member of People Against Fundamentalism, whose half-dozen core members are Christians. "He's pledged to change his language and tone without giving up on his theological convictions, which is fine."
Chapman said protest organizers also achieved a second goal: The Seattle Times discontinued Driscoll as a religion columnist, although the newspaper said the decision had nothing to do with the protest.
The recent furor -- whipped up with a heated online debate -- was sparked by Driscoll's remarks after national evangelical leader Ted Haggard admitted he had bought drugs from a male prostitute.
"It is not uncommon to meet pastors' wives who really let themselves go," Driscoll wrote on a personal blog. "A wife who lets herself go and is not sexually available to her husband ... is not responsible for her husband's sin, but she may not be helping him either."
Bill McCartney
