last night was colts coach tony dungy's much-criticized appearance at a benefit for the indiana family institute. glbt advocates were upset that dungy would help raise money for IFI, a far-right group that has been notoriously anti-gay, among other things. (while dungy naturally has the right to say and believe whatever he chooses, helping raise money for an alleged hate group is a different matter altogether.)

before yesterday, the colts organization had done a good job of shielding dungy himself from the "gay" angle of the story, and the whole deal probably would have bubbled over... but then, dungy decided to make his feelings known:

Colts coach Tony Dungy said he knows some people would prefer him to steer clear of the gay marriage debate, but he used a speech Tuesday night to clearly stake out his position.

Dungy told more than 700 people at the Indiana Family Institute's banquet that he agrees with that organization's position supporting a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between one man and one woman.

"I appreciate the stance they're taking, and I embrace that stance," Dungy said.

Local and national gay-rights organizations had criticized Dungy for accepting the invitation to appear at the banquet. The institute, affiliated with Focus on the Family, has been one of the leading supporters of the marriage amendment.

"IFI is saying what the Lord says," Dungy said. "You can take that and make your decision on which way you want to be. I'm on the Lord's side."

if IFI is really "saying what the lord says", then let's take a look at what the IFI is saying, so as to make sure we don't upset the lord.

IFI sez: jesus would discriminate against gays (emphasis mine):

The truth is that homosexual activists across the country are carrying out an organized plan to force all 50 states to recognize same-sex "marriage" through judicial fiat. Constitutional amendments are the best solution to this problem and these activists are none to happy that state after state has approved these amendments. This is unacceptable to them, but not because they really want to marry someone of the same sex. Rather, they rightly see the success of these amendments as a step backwards in their broader vision of societal acceptance and support of homosexuality.

gays don't deserve societal acceptance, so sayeth the lord!

IFI sez: gays are dangerous!

The enemies of SJR 7 are far more dangerous than the media and even most Christians realize. They not only want to destroy marriage and create a society free from any and all sexual boundaries, they will spare no effort to attain their ultimate goal of silencing all those who oppose them. You need only look at Canada and Sweden for the logical conclusion of their "this is our right" mentality. In those countries, citizens who speak out against the homosexual agenda are being charged with "hate speech" crimes and threatened with fines and jail time.

so sayeth the lord!

IFI sez: atheists exist!

There are two categories in which all of mankind falls:

1) Those who believe in God
2) Those who do not believe in God.

Sure, some people believe God is polytheistic, deistic, etc. but they believe that some form of a Divine Creator exists. Others are not outright atheists; they may be agnostic or just maintain that they have no opinion on the subject. However, in reality, we all live our lives based on our answer to this, the most basic of questions: Does God exist?

at this point, please pause to meditate over the phrase: "some people believe God is polytheistic".

now you may continue:

Obviously, one could write novels on this topic and still only graze the surface. What does this have to do with the Supreme Court? My point is that because all men fit somewhere within these two categories, the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Ten Commandments (McCreary County, Kentucky v. American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky) is ridiculous at best and governmental establishment of the non-belief in God, at worst...

either you believe in something or you don't, and that's all that matters, so sayeth the lord! so i'm sure god, dungy, and the IFI would be happy to start placing large korans and upanishads all over the public square, since it doesn't matter whether you believe in a deistic or polytheistic god, so long as you aren't one of those outright atheists.

the lord is also in favor of covenant marriage. who knew?

at any rate, dungy has now hitched his wagon to the IFI. he could've gotten away with speaking before them if his speech had remained apolitical, but instead he explicitly chose to endorse their views. he can say that he and the IFI are "not trying to downgrade anyone else", but the IFI proudly admits that marriage amendments are "a step backwards in [glbt] broader vision of societal acceptance and support of homosexuality". sounds like a downgrade to me.

update: bil browning and gary welsh are naturally upset by dungy's comments. bigblueshoe at stampedeblue is upset that dungy, who represents the colts as well as the city of indianapolis, would take any stand (let alone this one) on such a controversial issue. rishawn biddle has lost esteem for dungy. steph plans to burn all her colts gear. and of course, the sports blogs and glbt blogs are all over this: see google blogsearch and technorati.¶

i'm disappointed however we can't condemn all the colts players or the organization any more than we can condemn all republicans for Bush's repeated stupid beliefs now can we? ¶

Dungy is on his second marriage - remind me what the Holy Bible (the very word of God) says about divorce... ¶