There is no Pride in being a Bigot

Today I saw a pastor post a video in which he said that if Christians are not being called Nazis, racists, antisemitic, misogynistic, bigots they are failing. And this is a man with 25k+ followers on social media (not an insignificant number). He made this claim and defended it by saying that such labels show that Christians aren’t being conformed to the world (Romans 12:2). But this idea abuses Paul’s words and attempts to justify an idea that is the reverse of what Paul was about. This might sound like a trivial matter to some, but what this pastor is pushing is growing in its appeal, particularly among young men and needs to culled out of the Church altogether. And this individual is one of a number who are making increasingly racist and antisemitic comments online trying to justify them under a Christian Nationalist (read Ethnic Nationalist) framework, that is openly hostile to minorities.

Why this pastor is wrong is that he is equating “Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world” with “oppose all non-Christians in all they say and do”. Such a position is not only rejected in Scripture, it contradicts the Christian teaching that even non-believers still retain some level of moral understanding which helps us in our appeals to the truth of Christianity. Basically,this pastor wants us to think that non-Christians are always wrong and thus should always be opposed, to the point that we are routinely called Nazis, racists, antisemitic, misogynistic, and other culturally abusive language. To him this says, “If they hate us we must be doing something right”, as if the goal was to have those outside the Church hate us. But this is simply being misanthropic and desiring abuse for abuse sake, it is a martyr’s complex run amuck. True Christianity does not seek to be persecuted like this, it seeks to live faithfully to Jesus; Christianity seeks to finding common grounds with those outside the Church from which we can build bridges to bring people in.

Paul’s words “Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world”, mean that we should not be conformed to the hatred, bigotry, and power games that are so often played in the world around us. In other words, being conformed to the world is doing exactly what that pastor encouraged, seeking conflict for conflict’s sake, demonstrating hatred for others in a way that seems tough and aggressive so that all the people on the outside will persecute and hate you.

But this all misses the point, Jesus did not bless Christians every time they are persecuted or hated by outsiders, only when they are persecuted for doing what is right (Matthew 5:10-12). And Paul echoes this when he says to the Thessalonians that they should go out of their way to live at peace with non-believers and to avoid persecution (1 Thessalonians 2). The point is that this pastor in striving to be hated by non-Christians is willing to be a church where Nazi advocates feel comfortable (his words). He simply wants to be hated by his opponents (particularly political opponents), without ever stopping to ask if he is being needlessly antagonistic, let alone if his ideas conform to what Jesus wants from us. Yes,this individual’s beliefs about his own ethnic superiority are outside Christianity and should be condemned on their own, but what I find even more insidious is how he is trying to defend them under the guise that all unbelievers should always be opposed in all their beliefs. He is trying to create in Christians this idea that there is nothing redeemable in an unbeliever, and that we must always create conflict with outsiders. This mentality, not his racism, is what is going to resonate with people and lead them astray. The idea that we can allow hatred into our hearts so long as we are hating the right people (and they are hating us) is the mentality of the world and it is the mentality on display in his comments. This is what needs to be most harshly opposed. We cannot allow ourselves to fall into the mindset, that every time someone outside of the Church hates us that means we are living for Jesus. Rather, we must focus on living for Jesus, which includes not being racist, antisemitic, misogynistic, or bigoted in such ways. Our goal is to live for Jesus and if this commitment rubs against the hatred of the world and we are persecuted for that, so be it. But if we simply spew the same kind of hatred then we are no better than they and are not worthy of the title Christian, nor should we take pride in people calling us by such hateful epitaphs.