Vicarious Apologies To Gays
Nathan Albert over at “Think Christian” wrote an interesting article in which he advocates for liberal and progressive Christians to apologize to gay people on behalf of the wacko fundies. Nathan’s heart is in the right place, but he just isn’t thinking clearly about this issue. I guess he is thinking too much like a Christian.
It doesn’t surprise me that he supports the idea of vicarious apologies since Christianity is all about vicarious redemption. However, the only ones who can apologize in a meaningful way for the hate fundamentalist Christians have shown toward gays are fundamentalist Christians. Vicarious apologies just amount to a show of sympathy, which while important, can’t absolve anyone of any real burden.
With that said, Nathan Albert and other progressive Christians do have something to apologize to gays for and that is their support for the Bible. Their continued defense of the Bible as somehow having God’s fingerprints on it (i.e. divinely inspired) is a problem. As long as Christians (progressive or otherwise) claim some link between the Bible and a perfect deity, they really can’t absolve themselves from the content of that book.
If progressive Christians really do understand that being gay isn’t evil, then they have to acknowledge that the blame for the contrary belief really does lie with the Bible itself. Progressive Christians can apologize all they like but it is an empty apology unless they are willing to do something about the problem. They need to denounce their holy book, not just the fundamentalists who actually obey what it says.
I’m glad there are Christians out there who realize at least to some small degree that hating gays is wrong. However, until they can admit that no divine being had any input into their holy book, their apology on behalf of fundamentalists shouldn’t be taken seriously and they will remain part of the problem.
Related articles
- Progressive Christians and Hell (dangeroustalk.net)
- Atheism 101: Why do atheists only focus on Christianity? (examiner.com)
Filed under: Coexist, Evils of Christianity, Gay Issues, Progressive Christians, the bible
