Politics and Culture Wars and Caitlyn Jenner

I hide from politics on here. When I speak politics, I just piss off a whole ton of people. I’ve never found a political party (mainstream or otherwise) that fits me, and as such, I just always find myself shaking my head.

And then I get really upset, saddened by the whole game. Then I ruminate and dwell and it all turns ugly as I stew in a sublimely unattractive pot of self-righteousness.

So I’m not gonna ruminate. I’m not gonna choose sides. But for once in my blog, I would just like to make one little tiny political observation.

Here goes.

People on the Christian Right…

You can disagree with absolutely anything anyone does. You have a right to follow your conscience and God.

Disagree with people’s actions. Disagree loudly if you want. Stand your ground.

But be respectful. I can’t stand but feel my heart hurt a bit anytime anyone looks at the pictures of Caitlyn/Bruce Jenner and calls her a pervert or worse in the name of God.

By all means, disagree with her decision if you want to. Call it a sin. But speak about her as a beloved child of God who sins. Don’t say anything about her that you wouldn’t say in the presence of her Savior. Because you are always in His presence.

Anytime your words about another’s actions degrade their humanity, you are pushing Christianity back.

Love the sinner, hate the sin.

People are watching and listening. The way you respond to sin (any sin) will draw people closer or push them away even further.

And to the people on the left…

We all have a right to disagree. We all have a right to stand by or consciences. We all have a right to believe what we do about sin and morality and everything in between.

Calling something a sin does not make someone a bigot. Hating a person for what they do or claim to be makes someone a bigot.

I get really mad when my toddler hits her sisters. I give her a time out. I tell her that what she did was wrong.

Does that make me a bigot against toddlers? No, it’s me stating my beliefs.

Christianity teaches that certain behaviors are sins. If you don’t want to believe that, fine. But people do have a right to believe it.

It’s ironic when people scream about accepting people’s decisions to live their lives as they choose and then they turn around and try to silence other people for living their faith.

And so often I hear non-Christians pointing out the commandment, “Do unto others…”

Respecting and loving someone is not the same thing as agreeing with everything someone does. Love doesn’t require us to look the other way. It does require us to speak our truth in love.

Not everyone follows that. But not everyone fails it either.

To us all…

The gulf between right and left keeps seeming to get bigger. This isn’t an accident. This is because of media and politicians who gain their power and fortune through sound bites. They don’t want you to think deeply. They don’t want you to stretch your mind to see another side. They want to polarize and radicalize you.

And they are doing a darn good job.

No one has to agree. But I do think almost everyone can get behind the ideas of truth and kindness. And we might disagree about what that looks like, but can’t we at least put on our big girl pants and our thinking caps and try to at least understand where the other side is coming from?

Like I used to tell my English 101 students, if you can’t understand where the other side is coming from, then you haven’t done your homework, not them.

Come on world… Truth and kindness, love and respect. These aren’t new concepts.

It seems to me that the real groundbreaking thing to do here would be to embrace each other. Refuse to allow them to paint us into camps. Forget right and left, conservative and liberal.

Be a person.

Stand up for the other side.

Don’t be a stereotype.