Religion and support for Pride month
This letter is in response to Tom Southall's letter on June 25 which encourages support for Pride month and accuses those who oppose Pride month of intolerance.
Southall brings up two good points. The first is that we should do more than tolerate other people; we should love or celebrate them. His second point is that God does exactly that, He loves us.
I agree with both points. However, a point he doesn't make is that while God does love us, He doesn't approve of everything we do.
Many things we do and think God says are wrong and destructive.
God says we shouldn't be greedy or lie. Why? In part, because greed and dishonesty work against human flourishing and happiness.
God says sex is only for a man and a woman who commit themselves to each other in marriage, because marriage does work for human flourishing and happiness.
Does God know more about what is right and wrong and human flourishing than we do? Yes.
Jesus said that if we truly loved God and loved our neighbor as ourselves, we would follow God's laws (Matt. 22:27-40). That implies that doing something wrong is unloving and that encouraging others to do wrong is also unloving. It is out of love that God has given us rules to live by.
Finally, supporting Pride month is not about supporting and loving our friends, family, neighbors and co-workers. It's about supporting the social and political movement; that is, the LBGTQ+ movement.
Mark Bodett
Wheaton