Progressive Christian (which is another way of saying non-Christian God-hater) author Matthew Paul Turner has come out of the closet on social media and announced that he’s a homosexual and is divorcing his wife, fellow author Jessica Turner.
The former editor of CCM is best known for running the now-defunct blog “Jesus Needs New PR” as well as being the author of a series of rhyming Children’s books such as When I Pray for You, When God Made You, When God Made the World, and When God Made Light.
The announcement on social media of the death knell to his marriage and proclamation of his unshamed identity as a gay man reads:
“Dear friends, I have difficult news to share. After much thought, prayer, and counseling, Jessica and I have made the decision to end our marriage,” Turner wrote. “While we’re best friends and thoroughly love doing life, parenting, and pursuing our dreams together, ending our marriage is necessary because I am gay.”
Being gay isn’t a new discovery for me. However, as someone who spent 30+ years in fundamentalist/evangelical churches, exploring God through conservative theologies, I’ve lived many days overwhelmed by fear, shame, and self-hatred. Though my own faith evolved long ago to become LGBTQ+ affirming, my journey toward recognizing, accepting and embracing myself took much longer. But for the first time in my life, despite the sadness and grief I’m feeling right now, I can say with confidence that I’m ready to embrace freedom, hope, and God as a gay man.
Turner says that his publisher is supportive, and will continue to write children’s books. His publisher, Convergent, describe itself as “Representing a broad spectrum of Christian thought, both explicit and implicit, Convergent publishes in the categories of memoir, self-help, social issues, spiritual development and lifestyle.” and reads like a who’s-who of progressive authors, including Richard Rohr, Jen Hatmaker, Nadia Boz Webber, Phillip Yancey, Henri Nouwen, and Jonathan Merrit.
Turner hasn’t been anything close to what could be construed as theologically sound Christian for years- if not ever. Pro-choice, pro-same-sex marriage, denying hell, questioning the veracity of the biblical miracles, etc. Realistically there is no way he could ever have been described as a believer, and this announcement caps off a long slide into out-and-out apostasy.
