Pretty words, ugly actions

I read with great interest the latest missive from Len Munsil of the Center for Arizona Policy.

Christianity … teaches respect for all people who are created in the image of God, so violence or ridicule directed at those who struggle with same-sex attraction or behavior is never acceptable. Most importantly, Christianity recognizes that all of us have fallen short of perfection, and that only through God’s amazing grace and forgiveness can we be reconciled to our Creator. Efforts in Arizona to preserve the definition of marriage must be conducted with humility and with respect for those who disagree.

Hear hear! I think this is quite eloquently put.

Would that his actions matched his words.

Let’s look at some of the ways Mr. Munsil and CAP have “conducted [themselves] with humility and with respect for those who disagree.”

In a statement about the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, he claims that “for some, who have embraced the lies of moral relativism and evolution, a sudden state of nature leads to lawlessness, looting and animalistic violence.” He then goes on to extol the virtues of the good Christian heroes. I’m not sure how assuming because someone doesn’t hold your views on the origins of life they must be a looter is showing “humility and … respect for those who disagree.” Sounds like some pretty base and unfounded accusations.

Then there was this gem about a woman who was abused by her gay father and then uses this to argue that therefore all gay parents are bad.

Dawn grew up in a homosexual household during the 1960s and 1970s, and though she loved her father, who died of AIDS in 1991, she is speaking out about the awful consequences of raising a child in a home dominated by homosexuality. She writes, "From a young age I was exposed to explicit sexual speech, self-indulgent lifestyles... and gay vacation spots. Sex looked gratuitous to me as a child." She goes on to describe the insecurity, depression, suicidal thoughts, low self-esteem and anxiety she suffered as a direct result of her father's decision to live as a homosexual.

These clearly abusive and disgusting behaviors are attributed solely to the sexual orientation of her father, never mind the fact that the 60s were a time of “free love” for straights as well, and never mind the fact that the overwhelming majority of sexual predators are straight, white, married, church-going men. This generalization of one man’s horrible behavior to everyone of the same sexual orientation shows neither humility nor respect.

There’s this editorial that appeared in The Arizona Republic on June 26 written by Lynn Stanley from the Protect Marriage Arizona Coalition. I don’t have the space in this post to even begin to get into all the lies and twists in logic that are used in this one. I analyzed in depth in a previous post. I don’t think telling outright lies to make your point, which I believe runs afoul of the Eighth Commandment, is showing Christ-like humility and respect.

And speaking of bearing false witness, this one is my absolute favorite from Mr. Munsil and CAP. It’s the one about how “homosexual molestation occurs at a rate about 17 times higher than heterosexual molestation.” Read more here about the bogus study conducted by a doctor who has been kicked out of the APA and the ASA both. They went on two weeks later to e-mail a follow-up that is not posted on their website, but that I cut and paste into my blog here. They basically took one quote out of context from the Wingspan response to their claim that gay people are more likely to be molesters than straight, then claimed that because that one quote didn’t refute the study, that the study is therefore irrefutable. Never mind the fact that all the other quotes that Mr. Munsil didn’t use (and he never linked the original response from Wingspan) did exactly that. Again, I really can’t say that lying and choosing your “facts” represents good humble, respectful Christian behavior.

I applaud Mr. Munsil’s call for civility, but I given his past record, I don’t have a lot of faith that he’ll live up to his lofty words. I would remind him of Jesus’s words in Matthew 7:21:

”Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”

In other words, you can’t just talk the talk; you’ve gotta walk the walk. Our pretty words are meaningless if our actions contradict them.