Chapter 4: Social Justice- Human Rights

If I could pick the three big human rights issues we get to vote on this year- and since I'm writing this, I do- I'd choose gay rights, immigration, and abortion.  There are thousands more, not the least of which things going on overseas in the Middle East and Africa, but I will touch on that in foreign policy.  These are the big three- and they happen to be some of the issues that Christians love to talk about.

Gay Rights
I am choosing not to call this "Gay Marriage" because to be honest, it is much more than one thing.  The homosexual population is growing, and they are encountering more and more barriers because they are wanting more and more rights.  There is discrimination against gays, often performed by Christians.  There is also growing kickback against Christians by the homosexual community.  Why?

Because Christians hate gays.

At least, that is what people say.  A few months back, the head of Chick Fil A made a statement that he supports 'traditional family values' and the 'traditional family unit.'  He was accused of a being a bigot, a homophobe, and individuals and even governments attempted to block Chick Fil A with boycotts.  This resulted in "Chick Fil A Appreciation Day" wherein thousands upon thousands ate chicken to show support.

And those people were told they hated gay people.

I'm getting ahead of myself.  As Christians, what should we think of gay people?  There are two verses we need to remember:

And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’-  Matthew 22:39

and

²⁵ They exchanged the truth about God for a lie,and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

²⁶ Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷ In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. -Romans 1 :25-27

To sum up these verses, we are called to love gay people as we would love ourselves- I assume that means unconditionally.  At least as much as humans can love anyone unconditionally.  However, we are to recognize that the actions gay people partake in are not honoring to God.  I include verse 25 there to make this point- God does not like homosexual acts because they are- like any adultery- a form of idolatry.

And God hates idolatry.

But He loves and seeks to share His love with idolaters- and with homosexuals and liars and murderers and terrorists and rapists and gluttons and heretics and speeders.  God loves in spite of all of our actions.

So now should we love as God loves.

This is simple, but it is complicated by the fact that the homosexual community sees their acts as a part of their identity- an attack on their actions is an attack on them personally.  Their identity is wrapped tightly in their homosexuality-often to a greater degree than Christians wrap their identity in Christ.  

Homosexuals are far more passionate about their rights than Christians are about Christ.  They are willing to stand up for what they are passionate about- are we?

We should not, as Christians, stand in the way of any human beings rights.  Humans are humans.

But marriage is not a right.  Marriage is, when traced back to its roots, inherently spiritual- inherently religious.  And all world religions define marriage as a man and a woman.  Because the purpose of marriage is procreation- growing a family.  It is in Genesis- God creates man and woman to procreate- to be fruitful and multiply.  Homosexuality cannot fulfill that command.

But that does not mean that we deny them the same rights as a married couple has.  I am all for them getting the tax breaks, the rights of heir ship, property rights, and all that.  But marriage- as a name for it- I struggle with letting it go from its roots.  

I must be honest though- traditional marriage has been a greater disservice by heterosexuals than by homosexuals.

If we are going to passionate about traditional marriage, we need to fight to rescue it not from homosexuals, but from adultery and divorce.  That is what is destroying marriage today.

Immigration
Build a wall.  Militias.  Deportation.

How do we deal with immigration?

The same rubric applies here that applied to Gay Rights- they are humans and deserve our love and respect. Too often, we treat the undocumented like bugs and pests that need to be exorcised from our pristine home.  The truth is, there are many coming here to escape hardship.  They are coming here for hope.  And we must be careful  to not destroy the people because their actions are not legal.

Immigration is interesting, because it is social justice.  On one hand, we want to help people.  On the other is that there must be justice.  And justice is balance.

There are immigrants who are going through the due process of citizenship.  They are working and striving and keeping in line with the law.  They are, at the same time, watching others skip the process and claim benefits they are being denied.

This is not justice.

There are undocumented people who were brought here as children- this is their home and their parents are the ones who brought them here illegally.  Are we to judge them guilty, or give them amnesty?  Many of these people are enrolled in our schools and colleges- they are trying to make themselves productive citizens.  Should we hinder that?

As Christians, we need to find the right balance- the right social justice.  We must love them and seek their best- but we must also help them to get on the right side of the law.  These undocumented students need to achieve citizenship.

And we as Christians should seek to help them.

We want the best for people- and we need to take action to help them.  We also need to help them be accountable.  If we offer amnesty, we need to see to it that they are attempting to gain citizenship.  If the process is too hard or too expensive, we need to help.

We cannot, as Christians, fall into the role of callous treatment of undocumented people.  We cannot, as Christians, allow a flaunting of the laws that we are under.

We, as Christians, must seek to find that balance.

Abortion

All life is sacred.

I believe that the mother's life- emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical- is just as important as the baby's.  So, when the issue is you can only save one- is abortion acceptable?

I can't answer that.  Scripture doesn't speak to that.

What about in cases of rape?  Is it right to abort the baby for the mother's emotional well-being?  Is the abortion acceptable?

I can't answer that.  I don't know what I would do if it were me.  Perhaps with so many childless couples, I'd consider adoption.

But abortion because you didn't want to get pregnant- this is wrong.  It is selfish.

But it is also a human making the decision.  

In case you haven't caught the trend- when it comes to social justice, the answer is always to love your neighbor.  Disagree with their choices, dislike their actions, but always love them and respect them.

I believe that abortion is probably one of the hardest decisions a woman could make.  She does not need us piling on our judgment as well.

We cannot hate, we cannot condemn.  We must love, we must forgive.  And we must pray.

I like the movement "Pray to End Abortion."  But I think we also need to be prepared to "Love to Prevent Abortion."  In most cases- aside from the medical reasons- abortion may be an option because the woman thinks she is alone.  We need to be there for people.  Because I am not sure that making abortion illegal will stop it from happening.  I think it should be illegal, but that is not all we need to strive for.

That is the bottom line for all areas of social justice- we need to be there for people.

And we need to be there without the picket signs.