Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Non-affirming Christians: Does THIS Look Like Love??

Non-affirming Christians: Does THIS Look Like Love??

Last updated on: March 27, 2015 at 7:15 pm by Susan Cottrell

Non-affirming Christians: Does THIS Look Like Love?? 2015-03-27T19:15:41-05:00 Susan Cottrell

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

davidnorman

“According to a witness, the attacker threw him to the ground and stomped his face into the pavement while yelling, ‘Faggot! Faggot! Faggot!'” My heart is broken for this young gay man, 26-year-old Devin Norman, who was beaten. And I have to tell you… I am angry at non-affirming Christians and others who look for loopholes to avoid unconditionally loving people, or to justify dehumanizing oppression toward another group, using terms like “tough love” or “hate the sin, love the sinner” and creating an overall atmosphere of fear and homophobia.

I worry for the safety of my own beautiful children, and for the thousands of beautiful children who I have met, who just so happen to be LGBTQ.

This is Rob writing today…

What the hell is wrong with a person who would feel justified in his mind to do this? And what the hell is wrong with people who do not stand up and shout at the top of their lungs… “No more!!”?

Regardless of the situation, both are indefensible.

If your beliefs or actions are creating an atmosphere of fear and hate, are causing harm, if they are oppressing or marginalizing someone, it is NOT love, it is NOT of God – so stop claiming that it is!

Enough is enough.

Go ahead, look at the photo again. Imagine your child’s beaten face — maybe attacked just because someone was afraid, or because they are different in some way – nerdy, short, overweight, or a particular race, or just from the wrong side of the tracks – does it make you sick to your stomach? What if it were your gay child – would it still make your stomach turn? What if it were the gay child of a close friend? What if it is the gay child of a stranger?

I hope and pray that your answer to every one of those questions is a resounding “yes”.

For those of you who claim to love and follow the Bible, Romans 13:10 says, “love does no harm to a neighbor.”

For those of you who claim to love and follow Jesus, he says, “everyone is your neighbor.”

Every. One.

And to you I say, you cannot remain silent when things like this happen!

For this young man’s sake, for my children’s sake, for your children’s sake… stand up, do better! Please.

NOTE: I am aware that new details about this case have surfaced. Apparently, Devin threatened to out the man who attacked him (a closeted bisexual, by his own admission). Devin was not innocent here, but he did not deserve to be beaten like this. The troubling part is the atmosphere of contempt/homophobia so prevalent, especially in certain areas of the country, which extracts such a high price for coming out. To brand the LGBTQ community as “other” and “less than,” and to throw phrases around like ”abomination,” ”disgusting to God,” ”burn in hell”–this is unconscionable. Church leadership within many parts of the church teach this. Devin likely knew that to threaten to out someone is serious. He probably knows he was wrong to do that. His attacker was so scared of being identified as part of this “disgusting” community that he committed this horrible act of violence. We need to connect the dots here. People who continue to teach contempt of LGBTQ people are helping create a place for these ongoing crimes to occur. – Rob

[Photo credit: Robert Earl Gilchrist & James Anderson (Facebook)]

mississippi gay attack

Previous Post

March 21, 2015

Jesus Blog: If There's No Love In It, It's Not Me!

Next Post

March 25, 2015 Our Daughter Gets Engaged to a Man. But Wait... What??

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Church & Religion Dear Susan Family Support Gay Weddings & Marriage GCN Conference Jesus Blog LGBTQ Support Parenting Personal Stories Suicide The Real Jesus Theology Transgender Uncategorized X Archived Posts

Select a Month August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 January 2025 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 June 2022 December 2021 May 2021 February 2021 November 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 May 2019 March 2019 January 2019 November 2018 March 2018 January 2018 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said: "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

James Jesus Paul Peter

Support this
Column