Perception, Reality, etc.

Excellent interview with the excellent Derek Webb at Patrol's website.

One quote caught my eye, though, and I had a coupla thoughts about it:

My main problem was, well, for example: a study done over the last few years identified a pretty outrageous statistic, with 15- to 35-year-olds who were asked, “What’s the main thing that comes to mind when you think of the word ‘Christian’?” 90-some-odd percent said, “Somebody who hates gay people.”

I have talked to a handful of people who, like you said, have told me “I’m a Christian, and I don’t hate gay people, and I think you’re exaggerating.” That all may be true, and I don’t doubt it—I know a lot of sensitive and nuanced, well meaning work that’s being done. What I’m concerned about is that perception about Christianity. In the world we live in, perception is as good as reality to some degree. So I think we need to work on that.

Let me get all the annoyingly obligatory qualifications out of the way: I don't hate homosexuals ("gay people" is a stupid term IMO and one which we ought not adopt), I think the "God hates fags!" people are ridiculously uncharitable and ought to repent, and I hold that the Church needs to embrace homosexuals with the love of Christ and preach the Gospel that will save them, for such were some of you and all that.

Now.

Is it really an outrageous statistic? And why is the percentage so high? I take Derek to be drawing the conclusion that the reason the statistic is high is because Christians have not been kind enough to homosexuals, and that is the reason that "world we live in" has the perception of us that it does. But is that the reason? Surely it is to some degree.

But there are other possibilities. One is that homosexuality is simply one of the current main areas of conflict between humanism and Christianity, with all the homosexual marriage talk and all. In that conflict, humanists will always interpret any opposition to homosexuality as "hate." When Christians en masse fail to embrace the latest item on the humanist agenda, it is always portrayed as our hatred of whomever the supposed beneficiary is.

It's almost certain that the perception of the surveyed group is due to some extent both to Christians' lack of charity toward homosexuals and to the bristling of homosexuals and other antinomians at any disapproval of their perverse actions.

Christians need to be kind to any homosexuals they meet, and treat them with all the charity due to one made in the Lord's image. They must never be dismissively condemned, but rather told with gentleness and humility the whole counsel of the Lord: their sin is as detestable to Him as ours, and He has provided a way to be free of it.

My second line of thought is pretty brief. Who cares what the world's perception of us is? Seriously, who cares? What is Jesus' perception of us? That's all that matters. Chances are, if we're pleasing Him, the world will think we're a load of moralizing backwards weirdos who are a threat to the state. And they'll want us killed.