Love the sinner, hate the
sin. A great saying but so often not practised – especially when it comes to
issues of sexuality. Consider two, three, four stories that have
hit the headlines in the past couple of weeks.
Nazis
The first is an article
published in the Church of England’s newspaper referring to gay people as Nazis
– using terms like ‘Gaystapo’, ‘pink jack-boot’ and ‘gay Wehrmacht’. The second
is the story about a church in Liverpool that had a ‘Homosexual fact-sheet’ on
their website which included a section on how to spot people who 'struggle' with
their sexuality. Key clues suggested were ‘women who may appear and dress in a
more masculine way’ or ‘men may appear somewhat effeminate’.
Inter-faith 'dialogue'
Third, a story in a number
of tabloids and also on the Christian Institute’s site about Tesco’s decision
to co-sponsor the Gay Pride event in London next year. Tesco have also decided
to drop its support for Cancer Research’s Race for Life. There is no connection
between these two decisions – but you wouldn’t think so reading CI’s take on
it. Apparently Tesco will support the event’s ‘family area’ which, according to
CI, ‘will provide entertainment and activities for younger children’. The
inference being that you shouldn’t allow children anywhere near the festival.
And then finally we have the Vatican’s outrage at Benetton’s latest advertising
poster depicting the Pope kissing a leading Muslim cleric from Cairo. To be
fair, it’s unclear whether the Vatican is upset at the Pope kissing a Muslim or
kissing a man but they’ve made enough noise for the posters to be taken down.
Some of the above examples
are worse than others – the first really is quite vile. But all of them in
their own way display utter contempt towards people. Their hatred of the sin is
clear but so is their hatred of the sinner.
Identity
And maybe this is
inevitable. For despite the loud protestations by some Christians that
homosexuality is a choice their failure to differentiate between sin and sinner
is a clear sign that they too see sexuality not as a moral choice made in
difficult circumstances but as a person’s identity, something we are born with
and cannot change. But surely that should pose the question – is it, therefore,
sin at all?
