The Wrong Side
CONSIDER SUPPORTING THE WORK OF LGBTQIA+ FAITH ACCESS. ALL OF MY WORK IS AVAILABLE FOR FREE, BUT YOUR GENEROSITY MAKES IT POSSIBLE TO CONTINUE. THANKS!We've all seen the images of Ruby Bridges. Whether you knew her name or not, she's the girl who first walked into an integrated black and white school in America. You may also recall all of the white people holding signs and picketing the integration of schools. My most vivid memory of that scene was the white Karen's and their big perms, screaming angrily at this little girl as she walked into school for the first time. There are times when I ask myself, “do the people in these pictures look back and feel embarrassed about how they treated somebody? Do they feel that they were on the wrong side of history?” In the moment they felt that they were standing for something that was right. These people viciously defended what they believed was immoral for society. I just have to wonder if people look at that moment and think it is ridiculous that they were so hateful.
I wrestle with this thought today. Is the modern-day Church experiencing its white Karen moment? The church is very busy right now yelling and screaming at LGBTQIA+ people. Christians are busy legislating against our existence. Churches are doubling down on the idea that queer people shouldn't be allowed in churches and schools. Many Evangelical Christians will stand on street corners, or outside of drag shows, with signs to picket for what they believe is right. They will scream and yell against the existence of someone and miss love all together. My biggest fear is that those who claim the name of Christ will look back in 50 years and be embarrassed by seeing themselves in this era. I fear that my fellow Christian friends will look back on their lives and be embarrassed to tell their grandkids what they stood for. Even worse would be if the grandparents would think that they stood for truth, yet their grandchildren were embarrassed of them.
This is the reality of what the church is doing right now. The church has had a long dark past of being on the wrong side of history. From the Inquisitions, to the Crusades, to Heresy murders all the way up to slavery. People of faith viciously defended slavery and segregation as being God's social order. People would point to scripture and justify their racism and their ownership of another human being by simply quoting scripture. We look at that now and we think it's absolutely ridiculous that somebody would use scripture to justify these things. I think many evangelicals would agree that racism is bad. Yet many still defend clearly racist systems of oppression in our world.
The church has been comfortable with repressing the rights of women to lead and to teach. They have wanted women to be in the kitchen and in their place while the men become the leaders. While I have no ill feelings about men who lead; there has been a systematic oppression of people who are not white men in the church. THIS IS THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY. We all need to take a long hard look at what we have participated in as Christians. So often I hear Christians say that we are “in the world and not of it” yet many believers are content controlling the world with their rules and ideals.
The church is yet again at the precipice of needing to decide what side of history it is on. The LGBTQIA+ tension in the church right now is the newest saga and systemic failure of the human church. It is time for us to take a look and ask ourselves, “do we want to stand before our grandkids and be embarrassed by how we treated queer people? Do we want our children to carry this systemic failure on? Or do we want something better? Do you want the revolution of the church that we can be proud of?” Thinking about the next two generations should inform how we treat the current ones.
LETS TALK ABOUT IT
