It’s Time to Rewrite the Race, Religion and Gay Narrative

A narrative has been written by the powers that be, in the media and popular culture, which has successfully divided humanity into segments related to ethnicity, religious beliefs and sexual preference. Consequently, neighbors of diverse backgrounds interact and view each “other” with a particular categorical lens replete with disdain because it assigns baggage and demonizes absolute strangers, making them the objects of our scorn and derision.

For example, a non-religious person sees their neighbor holding a Bible and going to church on a Sunday, and immediately they may categorize them as a right-wing fundamentalist who ignores science and wants to impose their religious worldview on the rest of society.

Also, a Christian’s view of their Muslim neighbor may arouse suspicion of terrorism and religious scorn. A person with a skin color different from others may make some feel uncomfortable in certain settings. A person perceived as being gay may be categorized as a participant of the far-left militant movement that is trying to stamp out religious freedom.

What is most unfortunate about all this is that there are professional race baiters, anti-religious bigots and gay haters who thrive and even make their living by exacerbating prejudicial fears and perpetuating hate in this toxic, vitriolic environment. With this kind of political opportunism those on opposing sides can do no right! Even if someone in another camp has a good motive in aiding others, these militants will attempt to frame a sinister motif.

In a letter to the Corinthian church, Paul rebuked this congregation for acting like mere men because they were filled with strife, envy and contention toward one another (1 Cor. 3:1-3). In other words, the Christian ethos is supposed to be elevated above the fray of fleshly, self-serving ambition and perceptions so we can walk in love toward all people. 

Not only as individuals, but corporately, God requires His body to represent Christ to this world by bringing light and illumination instead of responding to the darkness (human ignorance) in ways dictated to us by the opportunists who leverage their influence by objectifying and dividing humanity.

(Of course I am not dismissing the reality that we have to confront ideological differences that exist in society. But when engaging at a macro level, one needs to be careful with wording lest they unnecessarily alienate all individuals with sweeping assertions.)

Jesus taught us not to allow how others treat us to dictate how we should think and act. Instead, He called on His followers to love their enemies, do well to those who hate them and spitefully use them, and to pray for them. Jesus was even called “a friend of sinners,” which is a profound statement meaning even if someone by their lifestyle or ideology was rebellious or dismissive of God’s laws, He valued them enough to get to know them and vice versa instead of objectifying and avoiding them.

Jesus didn’t trust Himself to any man (religious or non-religious) because of our moral depravity, but that didn’t stop Him from loving and laying down His life for us. Jesus demonstrated that when opposing sides take time to get to know one another through sincere dialogue and fellowship there is potential for them to understand and love one another. (This is true even when dealing with the radical opportunists.) Truly, the only ones Jesus was ever angry with were the religious leaders in proximity to His own religious framework, who closed the doors of the kingdom of heaven to sinners.

Instead of being sucked into the present, divided left/right, gay/straight narrative of the world, the church needs to rewrite its story of engagement with humanity through the love and wisdom of God. In our biblical ethos, we should not only hold a high view of biblical ethics related to the moral law of God, but the biblical narrative also demands an ethic in which we do good to all men (Gal. 6:10) and love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Jesus defined “neighbor” in Luke 10:25-37 as someone in proximity to us who is in need; He also praised a Samaritan for demonstrating love, in spite of the Samaritan being of a mixed ethnicity (half Jewish) and having a different ideology and religious perspective from Jesus.

Hence, Jesus taught that ethnic, ideological and lifestyle differences should not hinder us from serving and loving humanity. (Jesus almost got thrown off a cliff for reminding religious people that on two occasions God bypassed His own people when He sent both Elijah and Elisha to aid non-Jews living in a foreign land; see Luke 4:25-30.) Hence, biblically, loving a person doesn’t necessarily equate itself with condoning or conforming to a person’s ideology or lifestyle. That being said, we are not supposed to ask our neighbor if they are gay or straight before we aid them, love them or risk our lives for them when they are in danger.