In the NZ Herald (on Sunday) 21 August 2021, Shaneel Lal criticises the Manly players who refused to wear rainbow jerseys for “using the Bible to condemn people they hate” and for then supporting a friend through, and after, his trial and conviction for assault.
I am not acquainted with the Manly players (and I believe Las isn’t), so I can only comment from a mainstream Christian perspective. We don’t “condemn queer people for simply existing”, but we do disapprove of same-sex physical intimacy (along with heterosexual sex outside marriage). Because of this disapproval, we cannot support the promotion of same-sex physical intimacy. This is a straightforward matter of reason and integrity. If heterosexual promiscuity were being advocated in the media and by the media, we would object to that, too. Indeed, mainstream Christians have consistently objected to each new development in promiscuity as it has occurred.
This isn’t hatred of anyone, and I struggle to believe that intelligent people think that it is. Therefore, when seemingly intelligent people say that it is, I struggle to believe that they are sincere. Hate has become an effortless “go to” slur, when we should be very careful not to leap to such a dreadful conclusion without very good reason.
I expect the Manly players also disapprove of assault, but that needn’t stop them from standing by their friend even though he (along with everyone else) has done wrong. They know their friend has done wrong and they continue to love him because he’s their friend. This isn’t mysterious, it’s just how love works.
Morality is concerned with decisions and actions, not people. As moral beings, we can judge (agree/approve or disagree/disapprove) decisions and actions (our own and others’), but we have no authority to judge people as being good or bad, assuming there is such a thing as a good person or a bad person. Mind you, this distinction is easy enough to state and notoriously difficult to practise – but it’s a distinction we should observe.
Lal – intelligent, educated, articulate – should understand all this. But doesn’t, or chooses not to. That failure to understand is far more remarkable than the behaviour of the Manly players.
averagethief 