Providence Presbyterian Church

I was an evangelical Republican. I believed that we were upholding Biblical Christian values. I was happy for relatives at Providence Presbyterian who experienced Jesus in their lives. But I gradually realized that some friends in the pro-life movement consistently opposed human life; they fantasized malicious falsehoods about other friends in order to excuse their own cruelty. They repeatedly voted to deny women public help to avoid abortion through contraception or prenatal health care and child care. I also recalled when other Republican evangelicals, including my relatives at Providence, cheerfully voted to cut off unemployment aid and supplemental food stamps to people like my mother and stepfather, and to deny them job training. How is that remotely Biblical or Christian? Over time, I gradually learned from a growing number of missionary friends and Catholic clergy that the so-called "freedom fighters," armed by the U.S. to fight so-called "communism," were often targeting liberal Biblical Christian communities and priests and nuns from Central America, to central and Southern Africa, to the Philippines. I personally met some of these Christian communities who are still under attack in Colombia. It turns out that our freedom fighters were killing for authoritarian control and cancellation, not Christian values or liberty. Back here in America, I saw Republican evangelical friends -- including relatives of mine at Providence -- supporting this anti-Christian violence abroad. But they were also supporting racial segregation and violence against black clergy right here at home. Yet again, they were waging "spiritual warfare" for their own lust for power and control, not at all for Jesus. They even seemed to call for the quarantine and execution of gay people. Then they started promoting "conversion therapy," a hoax that falsely blames parents for homosexuality. Mandated by politically motivated churches and condemned by less-political churches, conversion therapy makes counseled clients more sexually compulsive, more depressed and suicidal, and far less faithful. The purpose of conversion therapy is to abuse people, not heal them. I have learned that there is no Biblical truth in harmful and fraudulent counseling. So in my case I made drastic changes in my life, cutting off friends and relatives whose evangelical sanctimony masked a narcissistic lust for power, ill will toward so many others, and a contempt for Biblical values. I started over with new and very different Biblical Christian friends. Providence Pres hasn't repented. The links on its "resources" webpage still advocate ignorant cruelty against black Christians, unbiblical gender roles, a refusal to protect ourselves and our neighbors from contagious disease, and sexual ignorance and abuse -- not Biblical values. Providence seeks the centralization of power and control; it celebrates Southern culture, not drastically different Biblical culture. It lacks authentic piety, self-sacrificial service, grace, charity, learning, and healing.