"Hypocritical Christians in a Age of Consumption" by Greg Arthur for Tuesday, 26 April 2016Your Facebook activism is stupid at best, damaging to the kingdom of God at worst.
(This is not going to be a gentle or soft sell blog, just FYI)
Once again the church in America is up in arms, flexing our strength, and bringing our power to bear on the forces at work in this world. Why? We are going to cyberwar because the world is still sorting out how to handle something as basic as bathroom access in the very confusing world of gender identity.
Does Target's policy on bathroom use matter. Of course it does. That is why we care. We have no idea, with our very distinct gender categories, how to handle the new world of more than one gender identity. It turns out a very simple question with only two answers is nearly as black and white as we have long believed.
I have no idea how we are supposed to move forward. Genderless bathrooms? Three types of bathrooms? Only single service bathrooms? I don't know, but I am willing to listen to the case for all these ideas and more. I have no idea what it feels like to live in a world where my gender identification makes going to bathroom a stressful and fearful proposition. I am a well educated, white, middle class man. The whole world is designed with me in mind. I admit my ignorance and privilege readily.
But, what we are spewing forth into the world is not grace. It is not good news. It is fear mongering, hatred, and a statement to the world that we have all the answers. Why do we continually fall into the same traps when it comes to these issues? Why do we willingly, readily, and proudly, display our hypocrisy to the world, all done in the name of Christ?
This is a perfect issue to get us motivated because we have made this an issue primarily about protecting our children. If you want to get us fired up, tell us the world is out to harm out kids. We will readily give up a lot, including any thought of grace or truth, if it means protecting our kids from a perceived threat.
Now, we are convinced the entire world is filled with cross dressing perverts who have simply been waiting for permission, to begin invading the bathrooms of Targets everywhere. So we are going to boycott? This threat is moving us to action with our money?
Oh good, I guess that means you were going to Target anyways because they are actually trying to provide a clean supply chain to make sure your $12 sun dress wasn't made by an 8 year old Malaysian girl. You care deeply about the ethics represented by what you consume so you never eat a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup without making sure the chocolate wasn't gathered by slaves in Africa. I am so glad that you are so serious about your faith and concerned about sexual violence that you absolutely never consume pornography in any shape or form, thus working to remove yourself from the supply chain of sexual slavery. Oh wait, you mean we are all hypocritical consumers?
Yes, please church, use your power as consumers to reflect the ethics of the Kingdom of God. Use your subversive influence of choice to make your commitment to justice evident to the world. But please spare the world anymore fake activism or justice work, rooted solely in social media comments and likes. Take real steps of action. Get educated about justice issues. Investigate which retailers are trying to have a clean supply chain. Figure out your own slavery footprint and come up with a plan to change it. Do something, please, that will actually reinforce the ethics of the kingdom of God.
And please, before you speak about transgender issues, spend time with someone for whom an act that we all take for granted, going to restroom in public, is a source of stress or fear. Hear their story. Discover some God given empathy for them. Treat them like a human being created in the image of God. And please, I desperately plead, stop embarrassing the bride of Christ. Stop, just stop.
Greg Arthur
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
URL: http://wp.me/pqY3-S1
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