NOT preaching to the choir

[jenk]

So the senior pastor at Antioch Bible Church, Ken Hutcherson, has been asking the folks on his prayer list to support him in meeting with Microsoft executives about Microsoft's gay-positive policies at the Microsoft shareholders' meeting. In a followup, he reported that the meeting "went well".

Reports elsewhere (P-I, Slog) note that Hutcherson's "meeting" occurred during the public Q&A. As one person put it,

[Hutcherson spoke first.] As Hutcherson spoke, only one person clapped out of the 500-600 people present.

I can't help but wonder what was going through Hutcherson's mind at that point. Was he surprised at the lack of enthusiasm for his ideas? Did he assume people weren't responding to him because they're afraid of the "pro-gay" cabal? Did he think the quiet meant they were taking him seriously? Did he decide silence meant they were afraid of the "black man with a righteous cause, with a host of powerful white people behind me," and would therefore do what he wants?

Another stockholder asked what they could do to counter the hateful ideas and actions of people like Hutcherson. There was a more enthusiastic wave of applause in the meeting.

Was Hutcherson still in the room at that point? Did it reinforce how out of step he is? Did he question himself at all? His post-meeting mailing to the prayer list ended,

Pray God will take this to their hearts and minds and that they will respond to me.

Dude. Were you still in the room when the general legal counsel replied to the followup question?

As a company, we've had a clear policy with respect to the way we treat our people, and we believe in that policy. It's a policy that's founded on non-discrimination, it's a policy that we believe has served our employees well, it's served our shareholders well, and I think that was reflected last year when all of our shareholders were asked to vote on that policy, and over 97 percent of you and all of our other shareholders stood up and agreed with us. And I think that it is precisely in that form that shareholders have the opportunity to continue to make their views known, and we very much appreciate that support.
- Seattle P-I

I think that's your response.