My company recently showed a controversial documentary in an attempt to “increase diversity and acceptance” in the workplace. The HR Division, in partnership with LAMBDA (our companies LGBT group) and ARISE (the African American Group) showed a film titled The New Black. The basic thesis of the film, as I understand it, goes something like this, “The fight for LGBT rights in the African American community is the last fight for us to win to truly win our freedom. To win this fight, we must first tear down the anti-LGBT message and stance coming from the pillar of the African American community, the black church.”
Now, to be fair to my company, I was pleased that they showed an abridged version that was somewhat less controversial than the full edition. Having read everything that can be found on the website prior to viewing it at work, it was obvious that this film would take an anti-Christian and pro-LGBT stance through misconstruing and painting a negative picture of what exactly it is Christianity teaches*.
Never-the-less, the abridged version still continued in painting a negative picture of the Christian church. Sharon Lettman-Hicks, one of the leading activists in the film, continually made statements about Christianity that are blatantly not true (such as stating that the Bible teaches that all Blacks should be slaves). Another activist in the film made the argument that the Christian Right uses fear to control the African American community. The full version, taking a much stronger stance against Christianity, argues that nowhere in the Bible is same-gender love discussed, and that Christian’s who hold to such a teaching also shouldn’t be wearing clothing with mixed fabrics.* Clearly, these film activists didn’t do their homework.
When the film ended, my heart was racing at the best course of action for someone like me. Here I am, a dedicated and Christ-loving Christian sitting in a crowd of mixed company, mostly made up of either LGBT-identifying individuals or African Americans. I was conflicted over the appropriateness of such a film being shown in a secular workplace. There were multiple grounds I felt I could argue with such a film on, such as how a comparison between the Civil Rights movement and the LGBT Rights movement is a supreme offense for many African Americans. I was also conflicted because it seems to me that the LGBT Rights movement is trying to win their cause by using the same tactics they criticize in their opponents (such as not truly understanding them, straw-man arguments, red herrings, etc.). Of course, as a Christian, I was deeply grieved that tolerance and diversity is being advanced as either having to agree with the majority, or be silenced. So what was I to do?
Fortunately for me, there was a Q&A section immediately following the film. Many people said that they grew up Christian but realized being Christian just means loving everyone. Many others shared grieving and heartbreaking stories about people they knew who were LGBT and grew up in the church, were shamed into a licentious lifestyle, contracted AIDS and passed away. In such a polarized and emotionally charged environment, I was compelled out of silence. Having asked for the mic, I made a statement that went something like this:
I am the epitome of, or textbook definition of what it means to be a WASP. I come from the affluent, prosperous White middle-class. After I graduated college, I received a job here with a great income; so I graduated into the While middle-class. I read my Bible every day and go to church every Sunday. I love Jesus. Therefore, it could be said that I am a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant who clearly identifies with being a Christian and Christian values. And yet, I believe in a future where society, despite our differences, can all stand together and lock arms against things like gay bullying, gay discrimination in the work place, and these sorts of things. I want to be on the frontlines in stopping such horrors. However, my fear is that society, as depicted in this documentary, is not content with working together but instead is content with yelling and arguing past each other with the aim of silencing and eradicating the competition. What I’ve found is that the loudest, most polarized voices in this discussion do not speak for the majority, and that there is a generation of people who want to work together for common goals. My fear is that the LGBT community is going to win their case by painting a false image of what it is the Church is and actually stands for. The only way we can reach true diversity is through grass-roots friendships starting with people working together despite their differences in opinions and beliefs. To that end, my last name is Hein. Look me up on the website and lets get coffee and have a chat.
I was delighted when, a few minutes later, the chair of the LAMBDA group found me and offered to take me up on my proposition for coffee. We now have that on our calendars and scheduled in a couple weeks. I am grieved by the fact that our society is in a place where it is acceptable to show these kinds of documentaries in the work place. Yet, I am hopeful. I am hopeful that there is a majority of people out there who want to be friends and set aside our differences. I am hopeful because friendships are the means by which the Church loves on and cares for those outside her family. I am hopeful because friendships are the bridge by which the gospel is shared and advanced.
I grieve, but I am hopeful. Church, lets build gospel bridges.
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* See the faith discussion guide, accessed here: http://www.newblackfilm.com/screenings/film-discussion-guides/
“My fear is that the LGBT community is going to win their case by painting a false image of what it is the Church is and actually stands for.”
We can’t blame Christianity’s poor image on the LGBT community. We’ve done all that damage to ourselves.
I’m a Christian, and looking at our history, it’s clear that as a group (with occasional exceptions) we have a tendency to be repressive, brutal, and worse as we move like an elephant through the body of a python.
We have compiled a long, terrible list of sins against all sorts of people in the name of spreading Christianity or defending God’s Word. We’re responsible for the Crusades, the Inquisition, and witch burnings. For hundreds of years, each new denomination has been persecuted by its predecessors. only to turn around and persecute the next denomination that arose after it. We took slavery, which had long existed, and exported it on a massive scale. We entered new lands and slaughtered the inhabitants or forced them off their lands. Even after slavery ended, Southern Christians (of which I am one) perpetuated a mix of segregation and pseudo-slavery for blacks for another 100 years.
We have attacked science and scientists whenever they contradicted our understanding of the Bible, from geocentrism to geology to evolution to global warming to sexual orientation.
And now, we are in a raging panic over gays supposedly destroying the sanctity of marriage — a jaw-dropping example of hypocrisy on our part that only adds to our bad reputation.
The best thing we could do for our Christian witness is to stop playing the victim, humble ourselves, confess our sins out loud, and figure out why we keep going wrong.
Jeff,
The solution to the no-doubt piss poor image of Christianity that much of the Church has presented is not to shut the Church down and silence them from practice. The solution is for the Church to focus on it’s in-house issues in need of correcting while forming relationships with those who disagree with her with the hope of sharif Jesus.
As the saying goes, two wrongs do not make a right.
As the saying goes, we should not worry about the splinter in our brother’s eye while we have a log stuck in our own. We must first remove the log from our own eye, then — and only then — can we see to remove the splinter from our brother’s.
I respect what you’re trying to say, but I think you’re missing the point. This isn’t about pointing out someone else’s sin, this is about engaging with those we disagree with fairly and honestly. This post isn’t about “winning” the marriage debate, it’s about ensuring that we truly understand one another when we sit down and talk about it. Falsely labeling the Bible as a book that teaches black are slaves and that Christians can’t wear mixed fabrics/ eat shellfish isn’t honest, and isn’t helping anyone.
Nor is sitting back and doing nothing while people attempt to silence the church simply because too many generations of Christians messed it up. Nowhere in my post do I even talk about trying to “win” the marriage war. I’m arguing for building bridges so we understand one another and work for common goals.
The nice thing about using “Christianity” in an opinion piece (which the movie clearly was) is that it doesn’t have a single, well-defined meaning. So the author is free to use any of the thousands of denominations out there, and choose whichever of their teachings best serves their argument. And they don’t have to stick to one sect; they are free to pick and choose from a universe of conflicting and contradictory beliefs. This is also a danger for anyone trying to argue the opposite of the movie’s position: it’s easy to default to your particular flavor of Christianity, and ignore the many, many churches that _do_ teach intolerance. And I’m not talking about Westboro; I’m talking about mainline denominations who run camps to “fix” homosexual youths, and their ilk. Personally, I’ve always felt these “anti-” Christians were simply cloaking their own feelings and opinions in religion so they don’t have to look in the mirror and see the anti-Christ within themselves.
Jeff,
Thank you for taking the time to read and interact with me here. I think you and I would agree on far more here than we would disagree with. This is certainly not a single facet issue.
In the past I have written numerous articles about calling our false/bad/unloving teaching in the church. I have written that it is necessary for us not only to call them out and pray for them, but to separate ourselves from them when necessary.
I have also written about, in regards to the LGBT conversation, how we should be renouncing those who spew nonsense from their mouths and falsely represent Christ. I have advocated that - like the woman caught in adultery - the church should be the first ones standing up against gay bullying and discrimination in the public arena. You can read my post about the Macklemore song if you want to read more about what I’ve said about that.
What I am advocating and talking about here is trying to engage on this issue in a fair and understanding way that allows both sides to work toward common goals through friendship and conversation. Part of this remedy is, as I’ve written about in the past, correcting our in-house problems in the church. But on the other side of the aisle, I want to see the LGBT community striving to interact with the Church in its truest form as taught in the Scriptures. Unfairly representing the Church from the outside will be just as harmful to this conversation as unfairly representing the Church from the inside. This is not about us vs. them, this is about striving for peace and a resolution. This will only happen through grassroots friendships and conversations and people working together.
I suspect you would agree with all of those things I just mentioned, yes?
Ben;
Yes, I think we’re more in agreement than not. There is no reason at all to treat others poorly, no matter who they are or what they believe. So I’m glad you’re having coffee with the LGBT folks; two humans talking about their beliefs in a calm respectful manner. I spent a decade living in a primarily LDS (Mormon) community, and learned an awful lot about my own faith by simply talking to them about their beliefs without judgement or criticism. I works much the same way that learning a foreign language sharpens your understanding of your native tongue.
I just wanted to remind you that the people who made the film had an agenda, and made no real effort to present Christianity in a fair or even-handed way. So there’s not much point to reacting to that portrayal — it’s a straw man. I thought you handled it very well, by simply reminding the people present that the views of the film do not reflect mainstream Christianity, and by offering to show them who you, as a Christian, really are.