The Bigotry of Liberal Theology

I have never understood discrimination

I grew up during the desegregation of America. I was going into first grade the year that the Commonwealth of Virginia decided that they needed to desegregate the school systems. Rather than redraw the school districts to include a blend of races, they choose to bus a certain segment of the population of children from one neighborhood to another neighborhood and vice versa. I was bused from our home on Bess Street in the Norvella Heights subdivision in Norfolk to Bowling Park Elementary School, now Richard Bowling Elementary School, on Princess Anne Road in the Bowling Green community.

I knew nothing about racism, segregation, hatred, or even class warfare. These are things that you must be taught and my parents did not raise us to discriminate against others. I may have wondered why my brother and sister had to walk to school while got to ride a bus, but it never entered my mind that what I was doing was controversial at the time. I was used to seeing people of many different cultures and races during our many trips to the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base in Virginia Beach where my father was a Lieutenant at that time in the United States Navy onboard the USS Yancey.

That is me in top row 4th from left

I spent four years at Bowling Park Elementary School. As I remember, the school only went to fourth grade. While there I got involved in many activities, including a stint as one of the school crossing guards where I got to enter the building early and guard the door. My best friend was a little boy who was not like me. He had dark curly hair, while mine was almost bleached blonde at that age. He did not live anywhere near my house, so we never saw each other except at school. Just like best friends, we even got into fights together. I can still remember the school principal looking at us with a sad face as he said, “I am so disappointed in you two. I thought you were friends?” Adults never seemed to understand that fighting is just a part of the nature of little boys. Unlike girls, when boys get mad at each other we would “duke it out” and within a few hours we would completely forget why we were fighting.

Maybe I was clueless, but I had no idea that it was unusual for me to be in a school with so few white children. During my first year at Bowling Park Elementary, my teacher got engaged and invited the class to attend her wedding. I told my parents that I wanted to go to the wedding. My mom brought me to the wedding. I remember getting a big hug from my teacher and we took a photo. I never asked or thought it out of place that my mom and I were the only white people at the wedding. Skin color was not something that even entered my mind when looking at people.

I have both witnessed and felt discrimination

Probably the most in-your-face experience I have had was while we lived in Jerash, Jordan. During our first week living there an Iraqi man with a rifle strapped over his shoulder confronted me. He spoke to me in Arabic and his friend translated, “No offense, but I do not like Americans.” Later in the same village I went to purchase some bread from a vendor and was told that he would not sell to me because I was a Christian.

During our time in Jordan I learned what it felt like to be discriminated against because of my color, my nationality, and my religious beliefs. But I did not hold a grudge against anyone for the way they treated my wife or me. When we had stones thrown at us as we walked down the street from our apartment to visit our friends Yusef and Saida, it did not change how I felt for others of their race. When we listened to the Imam preach hatred for all Americans from the loud speaker of the closest Mosque, we did not decide that we hated Arabs just because they are taught to hate us. Their discrimination of me did not change how I treated them.

Discrimination in America has crawled to the edge of the precipice and is preparing to leap into the canyon of no return

In America we have begun to see discrimination that goes beyond race and nationality. In the current era of Liberal Theology, anything can be considered bigotry unless it is said or done by a minority or liberal. Anything said seems to have special credence with the mainstream press if a person of the liberal minority persuasion proclaims it. Thus all hateful, derogatory, or demeaning comments and decisions made about Christians, especially Evangelical Christians, are deemed acceptable. Whether you want to agree or not, there is currently an all out war on the Christian faith, doctrines, foundations, terminology, etc. in America.

This has been taking place for more than 50 years, yet Christians are just beginning to realize it. Most would agree that it started with the attack and eventual ban on prayer in school. Legally school officials are not allowed to promote or require prayer in their schools, but many do not allow any prayers at all even though banning all prayer is in itself illegal. The Bible was once considered a sound source for scholarly writings, but it has long since been scoffed as being too “factually uncertain” for that purpose. Yet materials that have had little to no proof in any scientific, historical, or philosophical sense are lauded for their inclusion in theses, dissertations, case studies, etc. The definition of life itself has been under the microscope for years. A single cell speck of life found in space is celebrated and speechified by pundits while a human being is determined not to be a living being because it is unable to care for itself without the protection of the woman within which it now resides.

During the last elections, many people of faith and even people of no faith worked tirelessly in Maryland to prevent Same Sex Marriage from becoming a law. These people were labeled as bigots, hatemongers, and homophobes because they believed that traditional marriage should remain in tact. Marriage is not something that a government has any authority to approve or disapprove. Marriage is a God-ordained institution and no legal authority has a right to determine who should be married. If same sex individuals want to get married, they need to take it up with God. His Word is clear about His feelings concerning this. Yet Liberal Theology has determined that God doesn’t understand the current climate of equality, and, therefore, these mere humans have taken it upon themselves to supersede God’s law with their own. They succeeded in doing it through the courts with Row vs. Wade and now they have succeeded in doing it through majority vote with Same Sex Marriage.

I am now a voice of the new minority

I may never win a popularity vote, I may even be called a bigot and hater, but I will continue to speak for God while I continue to love others in spite of their feelings for me. Regardless of what I may endure in the time left for me, God’s law will always trump the laws of the United States of America. If my actions and words as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in accordance with His will are contrary to the laws of our land, then I will gladly face the consequences. As Christians we are not to fear speaking the truth. “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7, NIV)

Many so-called Christians have lived their lives in a way that has not only been in contrast to God’s laws, but they have also damaged the message of God because of their godless actions. I want to encourage all people to treat each other with respect and love. “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9, NIV) While we should hate evil, we are to love everyone. Now is not the time for rashness, for harshness, or for hatefulness. Christians must be willing to follow all of God’s commands regardless of the circumstances or the treatment you may experience. As Americans we still have the right to speak out and tell others our beliefs. This may change, but God’s command to go, teach, baptize, and disciple others will never change.