[Dialogue] Real Christians Fight Intolerance

Mon Jul 17 12:22:07 EST 2006

AlterNet

Real Christians Fight Intolerance

By Rev. Jim Rigby, AlterNet
Posted on July 14, 2006, Printed on July 17, 2006
http://www.alternet.org/story/38904/

Progressive Christians tend to be nonjudgmental and to feel that challenging
the intolerance of others is itself intolerant. For that reason we often sit
by silently when Fundamentalist Christians criticize homosexual persons. We
tend to think of this as being open minded.

Not that long ago, it was considered consistent to be a Christian, and yet,
hold slaves. The day came when slavery was understood as an affront to the
gospel itself. I want to suggest that the day has come when Christians must
declare that gay bashing is an attack on the gospel and that real Christians
do not participate in any form of discrimination.

Several years ago, I was asked to do the funeral of a gay man who had been
beaten to death in a hate crime. At that time, I had never thought deeply
about the danger many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people face in
this culture. That week as I worked on the service, I kept hearing a local
"Christian" radio station blaming gay and lesbian people for everything
wrong in America. By the end of the week I understood the link between
religious hate speech and the funeral I was performing.

I know that critics of homosexuality do not consider themselves to be
hateful. They would say they "love the sinner but hate the sin." If the shoe
were on the other foot, however, and someone were attacking their families,
trying to take their children away, and constantly working to pass
legislation to deprive them of basic civil rights, at some point they would
understand that "homophobia" is too mild a word for such harassment.
"Hatred" is the only proper term.

I was raised in Dallas, Texas and had classmates who were in the Klan. I
remember that they did not consider themselves to be attacking other people.
They perceived themselves to be defenders of Christian America. Their
"religion" consisted of an unrelenting attack on people who were black,
Jewish or homosexual. If anyone challenged these views, these Klan members
considered themselves under attack and believed that their right to free
exercise of religion was being threatened. In other words, they felt that
harassing other people was a protected expression of their own religious
faith.

In the Gospel, biblical literalists and judgmental people were the negative
example in many of the stories. The point of those stories was to teach us
the hypocrisy of judgmental religion. When a woman was caught in adultery,
the Biblical literalists lined up to protect family values. They pointed out
that the Bible literally says that adulterers are to be stoned. If Jesus
took the Bible seriously, they claimed, he would have to participate in the
mandated biblical punishment of an adulteress.

Instead of following scripture, Jesus tells the woman to get her life
together and tells everyone else to drop their stones of judgment. The only
way to take this story seriously is to conclude that real Christians don't
use the bible to condemn other people.

It violates the teaching of Christ to say that God will get angry if America
does not confront homosexuality as a sin. Jesus did not mention
homosexuality and it is a lie to say he did. Furthermore, Jesus said "Judge
not or you will be judged." These false prophets are saying "Judge or else
you will be judged."

Jesus was kind and understanding, but he was not silent about those who
abused the vulnerable. He called them "wolves in sheep's clothing."
Christians must follow the example of Jesus and confront those vicious
predators who use the Christian religion as a camouflage for bullying. We
must be as understanding and kind as we can be, but to be tolerant of the
oppression of others is not true tolerance.

I believe the time has come to say that genuine followers of Jesus Christ do
not participate in discrimination against gay and lesbian persons. Is it
intolerant to challenge intolerance? Are we doing the same thing as those we
are challenging?

Gay bashing is not just an opinion, it is an assault. Just as the Klan did,
religious fundamentalists have a right to believe that homosexuality is a
sin. They even have a right to preach a message of hate. But when they
harass people in public, it is time for Christians to rise to challenge
their intolerance. We have an obligation to protect our neighbors from
harassment and slander, especially when it is done in our name.

It is time to say that gay bashing is not only wrong, it is unchristian. If
Christianity is grace, then judgment is the ultimate apostasy. If
Christianity is love, then cruelty is the ultimate heresy. 

The Rev. Jim Rigby is pastor of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Austin,
Tex. He can be reached at jrigby0000 at aol.com. 

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