Evangelicals are tenacious, persistent, and driven when they want to fight for a cause. The problem is that American evangelicals have been swept up in fighting for the wrong cause for a long time…. Whatever you believe about same sex marriage, the role of government, and the future of the church in America, disagreeing with same sex marriage on moral grounds does not demand a public campaign to prevent it from becoming legally sanctioned. While I remain committed to creating room for affirming and non-affirming evangelicals who unite under the common banner of saving faith in Christ, evangelicals in America should have never made legalized same sex marriage a central moral issue to fight in the courts.
I tend to focus on fire-and brimstone Evangelical Christians for the very simple reason that far too many are far too willing to advocate for imbuing their narrow moral agenda with the force of statute law. They hate something- in this discussion, it’s same-sex marriage- and so therefore it must be opposed with every fiber of their being. So their God commands- their God in this case being confused with the hatred, intolerance, and prejudice which blackens their soul and hardens their hearts. These folks put the “fun” in fundamentalism, and they brook no dissent or even the barest recognition that there may be other equally valid points of view. It’s been said that fundamentalism is the sound of a mind slamming shut. That these folks feel entitled to enforce their moral agenda as the law of the land make it difficult to imagine a more thoroughly frightening prospect.
Except that I recognize that a minority of knuckle-dragging Bible-thumpers don’t speak for the majority of thoughtful and considerate Christians who actually endeavor to lead Christ-like lives. Even among the Evangelical community, intolerant “‘thumpers” are a pronounced minority…albeit an extremely loud, insistent, and implacable one. One of the reasons I’m myself so excited about Ed Cyzewski’s piece is that he’s an Evangelical Christian who understands that it’s not about authoritarianism, intolerance, and judgment. Just as is true among those of us who consider ourselves good without God, there’s a wide range of opinions when it comes to numerous issues. There are Evangelicals who support marriage equality out of a belief that Jesus Christ stood for love, tolerance, and acceptance just as there are those who oppose it based on their belief that sodomy is sin. Neither one is “correct;” they’re just beliefs dependent upon how one interprets the teaching of the Bible. ‘Course, if you believe the Bible to be the infallible Word oF God…well, you really don’t want to get me started on that fiction.
We can disagree all day about same sex marriage. Heck, the majority of evangelicals will most likely continue to disagree about this issue for another 20 years until the millennials take their place in church leadership.
However, there’s no denying that millions of people around the world are suffering significantly, and Jesus wants us to focus our energies on serving them. If there was ever a group of people who should give a damn about children dying of hunger, deeply wounded people suffering in prison, and thousands upon thousands of refugees fleeing unprecedented violence in the Middle East, it should be American evangelicals.
It should be. Instead, too many are narrowly focused on wedge issues like same-sex marriage, to the exclusion of things their religion actually calls on them to do. Thankfully, for every evangelical like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), there are those who, like former President Jimmy Carter, believe their Christianity to mean they’re called to serve. It’s about working to make the world a better place, not forcing others to hew to their narrow, exclusionary morality.
Evangelicals are free to believe as they choose- a freedom guaranteed under the 1st Amendment too many of them would deny others. They’re free to oppose same-sex marriage, and to express that opposition by not marrying someone of the same sex. What they’re not free to do is to force their beliefs and narrow, inflexible morality on those who think, believe, live, and/or love differently. Life is not a one-size-fits-all proposition in which one group gets to determine how all of us live. The mistake many Evangelicals make is believing that they, and only they, have the right to force all of us to inhabit the same moral framework they call home.
As Cyzewski points out, Evangelicals are perfectly positioned to be a force for good. Their religion is at its most basic about working to make the world a better place, a la Jimmy Carter. That many of them follow Carter’s example is to their credit. That many others choose to follow the path of judgment, hatred, intolerance, and exclusion highlights their hypocrisy and refusal to follow the teachings of the Savior they claim to revere.
Being an Evangelical Christian isn’t a bad thing…but taking that belief system to mean you have the absolute, God-given right to force others to live by the same code is both unfair and un-Christian. It’s too bad that so many seem unable and/or unwilling to recognize this and live their beliefs as taught in the Gospel. There’s so much suffering that these folks could work to ease. Instead, they cause even more through their intolerance and hatred.
We deserve better…and so do they.
