We Love Being Scared

The other day, a man came to talk to me. He was vastly concerned about the new hate crimes legislation signed into law by President Obama. His concern was that we would no longer be permitted to speak openly about what the Bible says about homosexuality. It seemed that he was worried that if we would get in legal trouble for speaking the truth, we might stop speaking truth.

I have come to the conclusion that we Fundamentalists like being scared more than horror movie junkies.

At a preacher's fellowship recently, we were warned that the government already has numerous concentration camps built and being readied for Christians. Any day now, secret police might come along and snatch us up for unspeakable torments and death. It was all I could do not to roll my eyes. There were supposedly hundreds of these camps, but no one had seen one or knew where one was or knew anyone who had seen one or knew how all this construction had been funded. But it sure was fun to be scared by those elusive camps for a couple minutes before we headed out to eat fried things.

Now, I'm a cynic. I know that. I'm not even really ashamed of it. Although I give individual people the benefit of the doubt because that's what love does, on the whole, I believe that human beings are just plain messed up. I know that Christians in many places are abused, persecuted, and even killed. I suspect that if I live out my natural days, before I'm dead, we'll see that here in the United States. I'm not blind, and I can see the writing on the wall - we're heading into the limitation of free speech in the interests of protecting the feelings of special interest groups.

But I'd rather have truth than fear. The hate crimes legislation is, in my opinion, a betrayal of justice. All victims of crime should have the same legal protections, regardless of their gender, race, religion, and yes, even morality. To give some groups extra protections is to create an inequality in justice, for the unprotected now have less protection from violence than the protected. In that, I think this legislation is a foolish, short-sighted thing. (And why in the world is it still attached to a defense bill?)

However, this hate crimes legislation specifically states that freedom of speech is protected. I am free to oppose homosexuality, telling the truth about it as sin and a moral choice. I'm simply not allowed to go assault or steal from a homosexual - but if I break the law, committing an act of violence or theft against anyone, I should be prosecuted for that, anyhow. This legislation allows for extra penalties if I select a homosexual victim because he's homosexual, but typically, I think the penalties for violent crime are too lenient, anyhow. I'm sorry to drizzle on the fear-parade... but this law does not forbid us to speak truth. It merely adds extra penalties for things we shouldn't do anyhow. It takes blind justice and gives it a peep show sponsored by special interests - but it doesn't limit my free speech or the right to exercise my faith.

If we Fundamentalists intend to be taken seriously when we trumpet legitimate messages of impending doom, we need to be careful to get our facts straight and be able to support our statements. Truth needs to be more important to us than the rush of momentary fear. (Or the sense of bravery we feel when we determine to stand up to the scary thing, no matter the cost.)

The time will come when that bravery is needed. The time will come when some of these scary things will be realized, and that time is now for some believers around the world. But our weapon then is the same as it is now - truth.

Let's just be careful to speak the truth as accurately as we can. We don't need lies or misinformation. If we are to well represent He who is love and the Truth, we best do it with careful, loving truth.