January 4, 2017.
I just read a news article accusing a pastor of hate speech. The African American pastor had recently entered the public spotlight for her singing in the sound track of a popular movie. The accusations of the article caused me to reflect on hate speech because a lot of those accusations have been flying lately. I’ve even joined in criticizing Westboro Baptist Church for hate speech. I wondered if harsh language from the pulpit is ever appropriate.
Suppose a 13-year-old pregnant girl comes to her pastor for comfort in her struggles. The confused girl admits that the father of her baby is an adult member of the congregation, but she won’t identify him because he’d go to jail.
The pastor is heartbroken. She loves the pregnant teen and after her initial reaction of anger subsides, she can honestly say she loves the unnamed father. At first, she felt judgmental condemnation for the man, but after a while she had to admit that she’s a sinner too. Even though she hasn’t committed child abuse, she’s guilty of many serious sins, and she struggles with her own sexual desires and selfish impulses. In her heart she knows she’s no better than the 13-year-old pregnant girl or the man who got her pregnant. They all need to repent and plead to God for mercy and forgiveness. So, in that mental state she drafts her next sermon.
As she preaches, she’s motivated by an intense desire to reach the guilty man who she knows is somewhere out there. She starts with general calls for repentance based on John the Baptist’s cry from the wilderness recorded in the 3rd chapter of Matthew. As she preaches, her passion takes over and she speaks more directly to the sin that’s on her mind. She talks about how we’re all vulnerable to our sinful nature and without repentance we can stumble down the darkest path. She rails against sins that victimize children and specifically condemns sex with a child as an abominable perversion fit for the fires of hell!
Such intense negative preaching isn’t popular any more. We like to talk about the love, mercy, and grace of God and how his kindness leads us to repentance. That’s good, but there are still appropriate times to highlight the evil nature of sin and its catastrophic consequences. We can disagree about when such preaching is appropriate, but it’s not always hateful. In the example above the pastor’s passion is driven by love, not hate.
Back to the news article. I had to read between the lines, but it appeared to me that the pastor was motivated by love—love for people she believes are trapped in sin. She hopes her harsh words will help some escape the terrible consequences of that sin. The author quoted the pastor’s harsh words out of context and then quoted a long list of famous people accusing her of hate speech. Her appearance on a TV show was canceled, an act of discrimination against her for the accusation of hate speech, but the article didn’t explore that perspective at all. The author never mentioned the discrimination the pastor suffered or questioned the hypocrisy of people attacking her verbally for so-called hate speech. And I have quite a few friends who will read that article and join in the parade of condemnation against the pastor.
Now it’s possible that the pastor hates homosexuals and intended for her words to hurt them. If her intent is to cause pain and shame instead of motivate repentance as I’ve presumed, she’s guilty as charged. Unfortunately, the tone of the article and everyone quoted in it is presumed hatred on the pastor’s part. That’s prejudice. It shows a bias against anyone who speaks out against homosexuality, assuming a motivation of hatred and sexual orientation bigotry. What I saw in the article was religious bigotry. Condemning, shaming, cancelling a person for their religious-based view on morality.
When you hear news that makes your blood boil with anger, take a long, careful look at yourself. I’m not asking you to change your moral point of view. What I’d like you to do is critically evaluate your objectivity. Are you judging others harshly because they disagree with you? Do you presume to know the state of their heart and their intentions from a few words quoted in the media? When you point a finger at someone else, your other 3 fingers are pointing back at you. Make sure you’re not guilty of bias when you label someone a bigot. They may be guilty, but your rush to pass judgement makes you a bigot too. Make sure you’re not the one guilty of hate when you accuse someone else of hate.
Hypocrisy is fundamental to human nature. We’re all guilty of it, but it’s difficult to see it in ourselves.