Recent events should be clarifying a ton of things for everyone.
Should be.
But the clarity that has been reached is probably something many of you already expected. It has become crystal clear…this country is full of bigotry, hatemongering, phobia, and hypocrisy. Those darn Christians, right?
Wrong.
It is interesting to me how many of the same people who were celebrating the Supreme Court’s decision redefining marriage with #lovewins, are now threatening a dentist with death, and having a total meltdown with crass name calling and profanity laced tirades against anyone who would dare, DARE, chastise Planned Parenthood for murdering children.
It would be funny if it weren’t so serious.
Light should be shed on the self contradictory position of the #lovewins crowd – a position that they not only don’t seem to mind holding, but that they also don’t mind celebrating in front of everyone who is willing (or unwilling) to listen.
Ignorance should not be celebrated.
The vitriol has shifted to dentists, but the anger over anyone who would support traditional marriage is still there. Lawsuits are still being filed, bakeries are still closing, livelihoods are still being destroyed.
All because #lovewins.
Christians in particular are in the cross-hairs, not only because we value human life over animal life, but also because we deny the redefinition of marriage that has been forced upon society.
Take this comment for example, a comment that has been pieced together from thousands of resect Facebook posts, thread replies, and conversations I have had…
You are a hypocritical bigot because you reject same sex marriage because of the bible, but you eat shellfish and pork which the bible forbids! The bible also supports slavery, do you own slaves? Quit using religion to hate others! You bigot!
Those kinds of comments are all over the place, apparently because of two main reasons:
- it’s hip to spread disinformation and bad argumentation to demonize others
- it’s hard to develop a real argument
And the amount of “Awesome!” and “Great point!” atta-boys in response to these types of absurd “arguments”, especially arguments that claim to be able to “easily destroy religion’s case against gay marriage” (which don’t even easily destroy their misunderstood version of Christianity!) makes me weep for the next generation.
To our shame, it really is far, far easier to vomit lies than swallow truth.
So, first a definition…
prejudice:
- an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason
- unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes,especially of a hostile nature, regarding an ethnic,racial, social, or religious group
It takes a combination of both a severe ignorance of the bible and using that ignorance to rip verses out of context to arrive at something like “if you oppose same sex marriage because of the bible, then you must also oppose eating shellfish and you must own slaves … because … uh … Leviticus!”
Arguments like that are only “slam dunks” for the uninformed, and can only be made out of complete ignorance of the Christian position. Remember the word prejudice? By definition, it is prejudiced to hold against someone an unfavorable position or feeling that is formed beforehand without knowledge, thought, or reason.
The #lovewins crowd does this, therefore by definition, the #lovewins crowd is prejudiced. They have an unfavorable opinion of Christians, based on misinformation, formed beforehand without knowledge, thought, or reason. And, since to the #lovewins crowd, prejudice = hate, I’ll use that same definition from here on out for consistency.
Their hatred of Christians comes out because of their preconceived notions that are not based in knowledge, reason, or thought. They have been told what to believe, and they believe it without knowledge or question. They parrot the party line without thought. They argue without reason. They are prejudiced.
Being prejudiced would be bad enough, but in many cases, prejudice leads to bigotry…
bigot:
- a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion
…and it is no different in the case of the prejudice of the #lovewins crowd. They are utterly intolerant of Christianity. They’ll deny that, but read what they write – it’s self incriminating. They are unable and unwilling to even recognize dissenting opinions as valid, let alone accept them, in the same moment they call Christians closed-minded. But it gets worse, they seek to silence the opposition through bullying (“I’ll unfriend you!”) and name calling (“you bigoted hatemonger!”)
But, like, you know, #lovewins and stuff.
I wonder if by #lovewins, they actually mean #hatewins.
But their hatred doesn’t stop with conservatives or Christians or religious people in general. It goes much further than that.
Not only are they bigoted and prejudiced against those “right wing, fundamentalist, hatemongering Christians” (their words … their self declared “not bigoted” words I might add), they are also bigoted and prejudiced against potential allies – other people who also want marriage redefined, other people who actually want to marry whomever they love, but cannot and are still legally excluded by this #lovewins decision.
They reject the validity of the love that polygamists have for each other – “Because,” they say, “taxes and property and stuff. It’s not the same!”
They reject the love that a person feels for an inanimate object – “Because,” they say, “that woman in the UK who actually married the Eiffel Tower – changed her name and everything – is obviously mentally disturbed! It’s not the same!”
They reject the love someone feels for their pet – “Because,” they say, “you can’t love a dog like you can love a person – that’s crazy! It’s not the same!”
They reject the love a 56 year old man and a 13 year old girl share – “Because,” they say, “a 13 year old can’t consent! It’s not the same!” apparently oblivious to the fact that in places like Japan, the legal age of consent is actually 13. Evidently they only recognize laws that benefit them.
The prejudice and bigotry the have against those people is on full display as they deny them love and happiness. Remember how they use the word “hate”? Well, using their own argument and words, I can say without a doubt, the #lovewins crowd actually, seriously, vociferously, hates those people.
Which leads to my final point. Not only are they prejudiced. Not only are they bigoted. Not only are they hateful. They are also hypocritical.
hypocrite:
- a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs
- a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, especially one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements
In their quest to prevent Christians from defining love for everyone and excluding a lot of people, they themselves are defining love for everyone and excluding a lot of people. All under the protection of a rainbow avatar and a #lovewins hashtag.
They want marriage redefined for the primary reason that “people should be allowed to love and marry whomever they want”, but only redefined far enough to include their love, not so far as to include everyone’s love.
They simply don’t really mean what they say. They say “all people should be allowed to love and marry whomever they want,” when they mean “certain people should be allowed to love and marry whomever they want.” That my friends, is a hypocrite.
Proof?
Here are arguments I have collected by #lovewins people in support of same sex marriage…
According to the #lovewins crowd, same sex marriage should be legal because:
- People should be allowed to marry whomever they want
- People deserve to be happy
- People should be allowed to love as they wish
- The government has no right to define marriage for everyone
- Your beliefs cannot define marriage for everyone
- Love isn’t exclusive
- If it doesn’t affect you, you have no right to oppose it
Sound rational? Maybe until you see the arguments I have collected by polygamists in support of polygamy…
According to polygamists, polygamy should be legal because:
- People should be allowed to marry whomever they want
- People deserve to be happy
- People should be allowed to love as they wish
- The government has no right to define marriage for everyone
- Your beliefs cannot define marriage for everyone
- Love isn’t exclusive
- If it doesn’t affect you, you have no right to oppose it
Wait, what!? Those are exactly the same, and yet, the #lovewins people say these arguments aren’t valid! Apparently, they are the only ones who can use those arguments because said arguments are only valid for them (remember the definitions of bigotry, prejudice, and hypocrisy?)
But wait…there’s more! Here are arguments I have collected from #lovewins folks to support their bigotry towards Christians…
Christians are bigots because…
- People should be allowed to marry whomever they want, you bigot
- People deserve to be happy, you bigot
- People should be allowed to love as they wish, you bigot
- The government has no right to define marriage for everyone, you bigot
- Your beliefs cannot define marriage for everyone, you bigot
- Love isn’t exclusive, you bigot
- If it doesn’t affect you, you have no right to oppose it, you bigot
And to top it all off, the cherry on the whipped cream of the milkshake, here are arguments I have collected from #lovewins people as to why polygamy, marrying inanimate objects, supporting marrying 13 year olds in other countries, etc., should be rejected out of hand…
- Your arguments are not valid! (though they use the same arguments)
- Not the same! (see previous)
- Because that’s just wrong! (exactly…but they say you can’t say that)
- Because it’s not really love! (exactly…but they say you can’t judge)
- It’s not legal! (neither was same sex marriage until a couple months ago)
- Taxes, property, and stuff. (Apparently, they’ve never heard of married filing separately)
- You’re a bigot! (because name-calling works when everything else fails…)
It’s almost as if their arguments in support of same sex marriage should really be phrased like this…
- I should be allowed to marry whomever I want, not them
- I deserve to be happy, not them
- I should be allowed to love as I wish, not them
- A single group of people has the right to define marriage for everyone, as long as I agree
- Your beliefs cannot define marriage for everyone, but mine can
- Love isn’t exclusive, but that’s not love
- I can oppose whatever I darn well please, but you can’t
I wonder why the #lovewins crowd is so full of #hatred against #everyonedifferentthanthem?
So, in summary, using their language, their definitions, and their reasoning, I think it’s safe to say that the #lovewins crowd is:
- bigoted
- prejudiced
- hateful
- hypocritical
- polygaphobic (afraid of polygamists)
- inanimaphobic (afraid of people who want to marry inanimate objects)
- pedophobic (afraid of people who want to marry children)
- beastophobic (afraid of people who want to marry their pets)
- (any other love that doesn’t meet their criteria)-phobic
- Christophobic (afraid of Jesus)
hmmm…
Could the real reason be, perhaps, that they hate Jesus more than they hate everyone else? Makes sense. Jesus actually defined marriage for everyone forever. Jesus actually condemned what they condone for everyone forever. Jesus tells them what is right and wrong for everyone forever.
And they hate that.
Forever.
But part of me thinks it’s also selfish. If marriage is made truly equal for everyone, the #lovewins people will no longer be part of the “in crowd”. They enjoy the spotlight they are in now and all the support from every sector of social media. Remember when the White House was all rainbowed up in celebration? If marriage is actually made truly equal, really equal, for every possible outlet of love ever conceived, from polygamy to bestiality to inanimate objects to children (at or above whatever the current “age of consent” happens to be of course, because otherwise it’s just wrong, right?) they won’t be special anymore. In fact, they’ll be average. Just like everyone else.
And Christians will adapt, and gain strength in their faith, and reject the redefinition of marriage, and go on their merry way. They will stop having pastors perform the “legal” part of marriage and only perform the strictly “sacred” part. While the world around them devours itself while hiding behind #lovewins to justify their hatred of people who are not like them, the Christians will still hold covenant marriage sacred. It will still be holy. It will further set Christian marriage, whose definition is timeless, apart from the secular marriage, whose definition changes with the blowing of every breeze.
And, because it is so different from what the world calls “marriage”, Christian marriage will be special, and it will further drive home the reality that Christians are aliens in this world.
So, here’s the question – given that, should I as a Christian actually support the redefinition of marriage after all?
It may just turn out to make Christian “covenantal marriage” that much stronger.
Imagine that! A conservative Christian supporting full marriage equality at the same time the #lovewins crowd denies full marriage equality. Ironic.
But even then I’d still be called a hypocritical, bigoted, prejudiced, hatemonger for pushing them to be consistent, for daring them to go whole hog and totally redefine marriage to actually include anyone who loves anyone (or anything) else with no caveats or restrictions!
I wouldn’t really be supporting the redefinition of marriage, I’d be supporting consistency.
And I’d be the bigot for encouraging that.
Go figure.
