TWO wrongs don't make it right, ever.
The situation is this trending on Twitter: an evangelical pastor attends his first Pride parade and holds up a sandwich board in favour of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) equality and equal rights.
When a pastor aligns him or herself with a sandwich board that says, "As a Christian I AM SORRY for the narrow-minded, judgmental, deceptive, manipulative LGBTQ sex toys actions of those who denied rights & equality to so many IN THE NAME OF GOD," they must surely know that they are in danger of return fire.
It doesn't matter what side of the same-sex marriage debate we sit on. That's irrelevant. The matter of a pastor pointing the bone at Christians who have apparently been "narrow-minded, judgmental, deceptive and manipulative" reeks of hypocrisy.
For the record, and from the outset, no Christian should withhold love from anyone.
But let's pull this statement apart. It assumes that "actions of those who denied rights & equality" - in the realm possibly of the marriage equality debate (maybe more broadly) - have actually done the wrong thing. Nowhere has the traditional Christian lobby denied established rights. They cannot legally do such a thing. Are these human rights? Human rights are inherent to all human beings, whatever our status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible. If the church has ever discriminated against the rights of the LGBTQ community it has done so from the beginning, based on the interpretation of biblical principles. Is this pastor saying that the church has gotten it wrong for 2,000 years? I can concede that LGBTQ issues have been more at the forefront in recent generations. But has the Church ever roundly accepted homosexuality as God's best sexuality for a person? (I am not arguing for or against here, just saying.)
"Equality" is another very intangible idea. There are myriad areas of life that are inequitable. I personally don't like it that women still don't get paid the same and still don't receive the same leadership opportunities as men, in the workplace or in ministry. I, like millions of others, abhor that millions of women are violated so much, especially in terms of family violence. These are more pervasive phenomena than the perceived inequalities against gays. Gays deserve this equality - they are sinners just as much as straight people are. If a straight person walks into church, and they are serious about discipleship (because church and discipleship should be synonymous), and they have a pornography or gambling problem, they will be serious about rectifying the problem. Yet, still there's grace. Many of us have our secret sins that only we and God are aware of. It's between us and God. But let's not call it "all good." It defies not equality, but our relationship with the living God. "Equality" might wish to portray that homosexuality is LGBTQ sex toys not a sin. But it misses the mark of God's intended design. Yet we all struggle with sin. Why should my variety of heterosexual sin be any more palatable to God than your homosexual sin?
For any Christian, especially - given the grace God has extended to them; that they have received willingly and with open arms - to call other Christians "narrow-minded, judgmental, deceptive, manipulative" is just self-righteousness at its poignant worst. The truth is we are all narrow-minded, judgmental, deceptive and manipulative.