My step-son serves in the Army. He puts his life on the line constantly, he and his family make sacrifices that many families/people would not be willing to make. Why? He fights for our freedom. He fights for our rights. One of those rights is freedom of speech. But is it me or does it seem like freedom of speech doesn't really exist anymore? Many times this year I have begun organizing thoughts to put here and then stopped because I didn't want to deal with the fallout of the hateful people who can't respectfully disagree. So often Christians, like myself, are judged with such extreme and skewed measures. Take for instance the fallout from the Chick-fil-A drama. All the guy did was state his opinion. Somehow his opinion was warped into hatred. Differing opinions does not equal hatred. And all the "It Gets Better" Anti-gay bullying stuff really becomes extremely ironic in this light. They don't want to BE bullied, but they feel free TO bully if you don't agree with them. There are extremes in every religion/group that truly HATE. Chick-fil-A's giving record is being likened to giving to hate-groups. Christians are not called to hate. They are called to love all. That doesn't mean we have to agree with all, it means we have to love all regardless. I really don't feel that others are fighting for equality. It seems they emerged from the proverbial "closets" just looking for another group to bully back into the closet in their place. Bullying into silence.
So many people have been telling how Chick-fil-A should have just kept their mouths shut so as not to rock the boat, not to lose business. I understand that our opinions are not always best shared. But at some point in life, we need to stand on and sometimes publicly own, the principles that we value. We all need moral absolutes (even if they differ) and to not just be moved by pop culture. Whether athiest, Christian, gay or straight, purple or blue -- we must value some things enough to stand up for them. Of course, the extremist beliefs that endanger others' lives are not the values I am speaking of, so don't go all terrorist ninja on me. And whether or not we agree with others, we must respect their opinions. We don't have to like them but we must try to peacefully agree to disagree.
I understand that our nation isn't a "Christian nation" as our Commander-In-Chief says. I understand that we are a melting pot of beliefs and value systems. Here is what I don't understand...why can't we all play nice???
I find it refreshing when someone has passion enough to stand 100% on their value system and not back down. Even if I don't agree with them. We aren't going to win people over to our way of thinking by bullying and degrading them. We may silence them, but we won't win them. Is silence a victory?
I myself am guilty of giving in to silence recently, so as not to rock the boat. But we lose part of ourselves when we can't be honest. Homosexuals know this to the core. When we are silenced, it is because we have been made to feel like something about us is shameful. So, how is it that some who have already experienced this oppression are so quick to want to pass it on? If we want our opinions to be valued, we must first place equal value on others' opinions. At some point you would think we would all put our "big-girl panties" on and realize we aren't always going to agree and that it's ok. We aren't all going to start from the exact same foundation and end at the exact same conclusion. But since we are all stuck in the sandbox together, we might as well play nice and not throw sand in each others' eyes! Either that or we should stop calling America "The Land Of The Free" and my step-son should be home with his wife and kids every single night and stop laboring in vain for our "freedom".
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