Are Christians Anti-gay and Judgmental?

The USA Today is running an article about how our nation's youth see Christianity as anti-gay, judgmental, and hypocritical. Here is an excerpt:

"The vast majority of non-Christians — 91% — said Christianity had an anti-gay image, followed by 87% who said it was judgmental and 85% who said it was hypocritical.

Such views were held by smaller percentages of the active churchgoers, but the faith still did not fare well: 80% agreed with the anti-gay label, 52% said Christianity is judgmental, and 47% declared it hypocritical.

Kinnaman said one of the biggest surprises for researchers was the extent to which respondents — one in four non-Christians — said that modern-day Christianity was no longer like Jesus."

The full article can be viewed here:

USA Today Article


I can't say that I am surprised, because I think the same thing. The church in America has become over politicized and as a result has come to define itself by what it isn't (we aren't gay and we aren't for gay rights or gay marriage, we aren't pro-choice / pro-abortion, we aren't pro-democrat for the most part, and we sure aren't pro-outsiders...or even pro-insiders who hold varying viewpoints from us). We are what we aren't.

The real challenge for the church is to learn how to be known once again for love - love for one another and love for the outsider (the biblical word for hospitality - a requirement for church leaders - literally means "a love for the stranger") while at the same time not abandoning the biblical absolutes that the Bible lays out clearly.

There is a movement today that is part of the emerging movement that is trying to rectify the sin of the church (defining ourselves by what we are not) by redefining biblical morality. These guys give the church a softer public face, but at the cost of biblical truth and the nature of God's character. That error will prove to be just as deadly to the cause of Jesus as the first - it is just the pendulum swinging the opposite extreme...but it is the same pendulum, and really the same sin. It is the church trying to redefine Christian morality in a way that suits its personal tastes - it is a recasting of God in our own image.

I firmly believe we need to redefine ourselves by what we are instead of by what we are not. We need to be known for love. Love for those like us, and even more importantly, love for those unlike us, because it is only in loving our neighbors as ourselves that we can truly love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds. I love my neighbor (gay, straight, democrat, fundamentalist, pro-choice, or pro-life) because Jesus loves them, and while they are all messed up, they are no more so than I am or could be without the grace of God.

Fundamentalism, with its disdain for outsiders, completely misrepresents the nature and work of Jesus. But so does this neo-liberal wing of the church (I am speaking of liberal theology, not liberal politics). Loving our neighbors while redefining the character, nature, and revelation of God isn't loving God either - it is simply a recast (and renamed) religion in the form of secular humanism.