As a liberal in my 20s, I grew to resent the Church and reject the word of God because those who claimed to represent the faith had such disdain for my values that they attributed my beliefs and leaders to evil.
As a new Christian in my 30s, I got a revelation when reading Ephesians 3:8. Just as the Gentiles had been excluded from the Oracles of God, modern-day liberals were being pushed out of the Church. I believe God wanted me to shepherd them into His fold.
Now that I am in my 40s, I feel my calling to is to correct the increasing lack of civility in discourse. Admittedly, some of this is personal: I am tired of having my character and intelligence attacked by people on sports blogs and even here merely because they disagree with my position.
This has become the tone of political debates since 1988, when Ronald Reagan used the term "liberal" in a derogatory way with regard to Michael Dukakis. Duke should have said, "Yes, and he's a conservative. That is the whole point of the two parties—we offer different views and you should vote for the one most in line with your values."
Instead, he denied it for weeks before defiantly agreeing after it was too late. He lost what had been a substantial lead in the polls in August and liberal forever became a four-letter word. It is not enough for many to think this way, but too often I have found people I know taking an antagonistic approach similar to Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh by initiating confrontation.
Examples include bumper stickers such as "Annoy a liberal: Get a job and be successful." One Facebook friend of mine posted that "all liberals suck." A member of my own family accuses me of not thinking for myself or not thinking at all while using "liberal talking points" when I advocate for my values.
I have no idea what those would be, since I cannot stomach the political scene anymore and watching liberal pundits raises just as much resentment of it as watching conservative ones. The likes of Keith Olbermann, Bill Maher and Michael Moore are just as guilty of it on the left. I do not even watch the news now because it depresses me—like I told my father, "it's all bad news, and I want the Good News!"
I do not believe in sitting idly by while lines are crossed and new levels of disrespect are exercised by those who can hide behind the anonymity of the internet. I resigned my position with a website for whom I wrote on my beloved Green Bay Packers because the attacks were personal and the site did more to admonish me for confronting them than it did to stop their behaviour. As you can see from the link, I felt I was providing a forum for people who want to make the world a worse place to live, the very definition of the enemy.
I expect this from these people of the world, but it bothers me more when I see it happening within the Church. We are not merely representing the greatest team in the history of sports, we are representing the Creator. When a Christian in the Bay Area recently asserted that President Obama was a socialist, I responded defensively because I feel my views have been under attack for decades.
The reality is that the only things radical about Obama are his name and race. The reason the Occupy movement has more force than any protests since the 1960s is because liberals are not satisfied with the compliance of the current administration on several of the issues discussed in the above link. One might also note that there are instigators on the other side of that movement who contribute to the violent reactions of demonstrators. In contrast to the video above in Davis, CA, San Francisco protesters have received little resistance and there have been almost no problems.
Obama is not a socialist for wanting to install a health care plan quickly and doing it without the participation of those in Congress who made it clear they would block his efforts. Bush was not a fascist for pushing for the Patriot Act that was virtually unread because the tone of the time was that any opposition made one unpatriotic (more demonizing those who dissent).
You can argue they are wrong. You can argue that they are diminishing democracy, but then so do all laws. But it blurs the line of what is good and evil to assume anyone you disagree with has some insidious plot to destroy your life. Guess what: We liberals want what is best for this country just like conservatives do. We just have a different view of what that is, and it does not make either of us evil.
But painting the other side as evil does. Let us in the Church leave that kind of posturing to those of the world so as not to offend those who might otherwise be receptive to the Truth, the Way and the Life.
Comments