Opinion: Reflecting on what Christian behavior actually entails this … – Citizen Times
This Christmas, many self-proclaimed American Christians would benefit from finding a refresher course on what actual Christian behavior entails underneath their tree.
It’s been trendy for many self-proclaimed Christians not to embody the Christian ideals of service, compassion, forgiveness and empathy. Instead, they use Christianity as an excuse for unwarranted hate. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the recent attacks on the LGBTQ community.
Now, I know it’s not all Christians — many still approach the world looking to build others up, and if that’s you, you’re not the target audience of this piece. I’m targeting those who imbue exclusion, sanctimony and an us-versus-them faux martyrdom that my armchair psychology doctorate interprets as “making marginalized demographics feel small to make our insecure selves feel powerful.”
Blaming Christian values for your actions doesn’t make them accurate or true. Think of it this way: If Jesus were to come back and celebrate Christmas 2022, where would he spend time? The sanctimonious pulpits of evangelical churches, whose preaching is equal parts judgment and tithe requests? With right-wing activists rallying against trans students — a vulnerable and almost excruciatingly small population — while worshipping at the altar of a false idol named Donald Trump? In the McMansions of Republican congressmen who voted against codifying gay marriage, yet will sit down for an extravagant Christmas dinner full of food that will mostly be thrown out after their third/fourth (and much younger) wife carefully documents it for her prosperity-gospel Instagram account?
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I think if Jesus were in Asheville today, he’d be at a homeless shelter celebrating Christmas with trans teens who were made to feel discarded by society or breaking bread at O’Henry’s with folks who aren’t wanted at their family Christmas celebrations. I think whichever hypothetical reality you pick tells a lot about whether you fundamentally understand the meaning of Christmas and the intentions of Jesus’ teachings.
Jesus definitely wouldn’t be celebrating at the Asheville Greater Works Church of God in Christ, a church whose website prominently displays a link to a tithing calculator alongside the scriptures it allegedly holds dear and whose pastor, Ron Gates, has aligned himself with the Alliance for Defending Freedom (one of those designated hate groups using Christianity and a dubious interpretation of “freedom” as smokescreens) to bully trans school board member Peyton O’Conner into resigning a seat she fairly won.
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I’m sure Gates will say he did this for children’s sake since he told the Asheville City Schools Board they shouldn’t focus on “sexual immorality or indoctrination,” but that’s a flimsy excuse. He did it for pride, to center himself in some cultural-warrior narrative that courts headlines, donations and political clout, or maybe just because he has hate in his heart. Perhaps he knows he’s not a good person and is using cheap scare tactics to deflect on O’Conner. I don’t know. These are guesses. But he didn’t do it for the children because indoctrination in the context in which he’s using it isn’t real.
Being around LGBTQ individuals doesn’t make children LGBTQ. Research proves this. You can’t turn a child bisexual, gay or trans. Sexuality and gender aren’t determined by osmosis. If it were, I’d be straight.
I grew up Catholic in a mostly conservative family in an era where “that’s gay” was said pejoratively and often. My father is a retired Marine colonel and former high school basketball star who enjoys watching sports and mob movies. If indoctrination works the way Gates and his ilk claim, I should be married with three kids and a wife who quit her PR job to be a stay-at-home mom hellbent on Instagramming our wasteful Christmas dinner. But it doesn’t, and I’m not — I’m gay, single and fed up with insecure individuals using religion as an excuse for their insecurity and bigotry.
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According to the Trevor Project, more than 1.8 million LGBTQ youth seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S. because of how they are stigmatized — at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds. That’s indoctrination in action. It’s the evangelical industrial complex convincing innocent kids that they’re better off dead than alive. I hope those self-proclaimed Christians who have a hand in perpetrating this kind of indoctrination take this Christmas to reflect on why you do what you do because it’s certainly not in the name of Jesus or the Bible, and I think deep down, you must know that’s true.
Pat Brothwell is a former high school teacher, and current writer and marketing professional living and working in Asheville.