Dear Michael W Smith,
Next time you choose to make a phone call to me–whether that be another pre-recorded diatribe or perhaps a personal call that doesn’t seem as much of an abuse of my time–perhaps you would humour me and not presume to know what my values are. I understand that the phrase “our values” doesn’t necessarily include the person to whom you are talking, but the implication was clear. And quite frankly, I’m a lot closer to sharing John Kerry’s values than I am to sharing yours.
Perhaps in your cossetted world the only issue facing America, or indeed humanity, is that of gay marriage and civil partnerships. Sadly that is not the case in the world I inhabit, the same world everyone I know seems to inhabit. There is, for example, the question of fiscal responsibility, there are issues of honesty and integrity, and there is that thing the faith from which you milk your millions calls for more directly than anything else: loving your neighbour and lifting up the oppressed.
Next time you choose to make a phone call to me, I would be happy to discuss these and any number of other issues with you. I’ll even try to avoid referring to your little slip-up last time you played in London where, I am told, it appeared that you thought U2 were British. But if you want my time, I’d be grateful for a little of yours in return, along with an acknowledgement that it’s a big world out there, a complicated world, and one that can’t be reduced to a single issue.
I look forward to your prompt response.
yours,
James Stewart
(emailed to: fanmail@michaelwsmith.com)