A Christian Liberal is NOT an oxymoron.

Posted by XT on November 11th, 2008 in US News

Keith Olberman says Prop 8 was a question of love.

I’m not excusing a vote for Prop 8, but a few of Olberman’s questions show that he doesn’t understand the theology of the people to which he speaks. “Do unto others” is perfectly in keeping with denying someone legal protection if you believe that God chastises those he loves. If you believe that being gay is something so horrible that it must be discouraged at all costs, then it is the appropriate action to take.

The problem is that, if one really believes that being gay is such an affront to God and that the law is the proper place to fight that battle, then one must fight to make being gay illegal. Since not all gay people want to get married, banning marriage for gay people only discourages a few gay people. Better to outlaw even considering gayness.

Of course, I’m not sure how that would happen. But our history gives a few indications of how it might be done.

Richard Beck – at whose blog I found the above video – has some thoughts about the moral BS of Christianity, which I think pertain to the discussion on Prop 8. Caught up in a few obscure scriptural references, the vast majority of Christians have no understanding of how a moral compass works – nor do they desire to learn. They want a recipe for getting into heaven – preferably, one that includes coveting the flag and hating people who are different.

The problem is that both Christians and non-Christians expect the wrong things of Christians. Beck’s list of areas where Christians are indistinguishable from non-Christians:

gambling
visiting a pornographic website
stealing
consulting a medium or psychic
physically fighting
consuming alcohol to the point of intoxication
using an illegal, nonprescription drug
lying
getting back at someone (revenge)
saying mean things behind a person’s back

Now, I’m not saying that Jesus taught those things were good. But there should be something more than not consulting a medium or not getting drunk. A faith that teaches radical love, acceptance, justice, and mercy should be shown through everything we do, but we are also imperfect and will fall short, time and time again. Christians aren’t meant to be perfect, just to be forgiven – and to extend that forgiveness to a world that badly needs it.

I don’t think we are less of a Christian if we lie, for example. But if we lie and excuse it as being immaterial, we do. The Apostle Paul wrote that his spirit was willing but his flesh was weak. Are we so much different?

The problem is that a subset of Christians have held themselves out as morally superior, when Christians were never meant to be such. If we were, we wouldn’t need a Savior. Too much of the Christian agenda seems to look outward about what “you other people” should do. Not enough focused on “what we should do together.” Imposing Christian law on society is as much anathema to Christianity as is attempting to set up a Christian commune that turns its back on the world.

Because Christianity, of course, is a faith of love.

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