Hurt Feelings, Conscience, and Freedom – Part 1
Among the many amicus briefs offered to the Supreme Court, likely the best at answering the claim of stigma mitigation against the constitutional right to free speech was offered by Robert George, professor of law at Princeton University. George compellingly shows that principles established by the Supreme Court recognize the constitutional right to free speech cannot be curtailed in the interest of hurt feelings, however strong the hurt is.
The 303 Creative vs. Elenis case, which will presumably be announced near the end of June, is one of the most crucial, perhaps the most crucial case to be decided by the Supreme Court in the war between sexual liberation and religious liberty. It is being analyzed by the court as a free speech case, although freedom of religion and conscience really lie behind it, and was reviewed by this writer in two articles late last year, one before, and one after oral arguments before the Supreme Court.
As noted particularly in the second article, the free speech claim against requiring the proprietor of 303 Creative, Lori Smith, to provide web design for same-sex weddings is strong. Providing web design for same-sex weddings is now required by common court interpretation of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA). But free speech for what is obviously expressive behavior seemed to be strongly defended by a majority of justices at the December 5 oral arguments.
As the secular and religious left has attacked the Judeo-Christian tradition in recent years, both in law and in society, with antidiscrimination laws and (where possible) speech restrictions, the Supreme Court has defended both, although free speech is much stronger in current jurisprudence. While the Left has condemned this as favoritism to the Right, it is actually simply the straightforward application of the law, as was noted more than a year ago by Mark Rienzi of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and allows Americans with sharply different opinions to live together.
Using Social Stigma Claims to Overcome Free Speech
Faced with a court intent on protecting freedom of religion and speech, the Left has turned to the claim that civil rights law, and behind it, the Fourteenth Amendment, mandates pro-active government measures to remove social stigma. This is really a very blatant effort to gain what social conservatives have complained about for years, the claim of a right not to be offended. It was recently discussed by well-known researcher in sexual behavior and the family, Mark Regnerus, of the Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture in a Public Discourse article.
The challenge to defenders of free speech in the wider society is daunting. The majority of Americans now accept both homosexuality and same-sex marriage, and as Regnerus notes, “All of the major American medical, sociological, and psychological professional organizations endorse LGBTQ claims, including gender medicine for minors, an industry now buttressed by over 400 clinics.” When one considers that ten or twenty years ago, many of these very intelligent people would never have thought of endorsing the sexual mutilation of minors, and their professional associations (if not the majority of practitioners) advance it today as “science,” the extent of cultural conquest is staggering. To be against LGBT claims from the standpoint of common sense (and certainly religious belief) is to be against science. The American Psychological Association presented an amicus brief in support of the State of Colorado’s claims of a right to compel speech in requiring Lori Smith use her artistic talents to provide same-sex wedding web design.
Regnerus pointed out that this situation proves Chief Justice John Roberts was correct in his doubt, expressed in his dissent from the same-sex marriage decision, Obergefell vs. Hodges (2015), that the promise in the decision of free speech protection for opponents of same-sex marriage would be honored. Roberts said the majority decision “graciously suggests that religious believers may continue to ‘advocate’ and ‘teach’ their views of marriage.” However, the APA claims that social stigma adversely affects the health of LGBT identifying persons. It proposes denying free speech to Lori Smith by requiring compelled speech. When this bridgehead is established, speech against homosexuality (or silence in place of approval), could become illegal in many situations, as is the case in Canada and other Western countries.
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Cries from the Pit
Jesus voluntarily plummeted into the chasm we had created so that we would not need to. In bearing the wrath due our sin on the cross, He gave us access to Himself; not just for the sake of eternal life with Him, but also access to Him from the deepest of life’s pits.
It has happened to the best of us. You’re walking along, mentally distracted by the task at-hand, when your foot lands on unsteady ground. You shuffle a bit to catch your balance or even trip altogether. Most of us get a bit red in the face, subtly look around to assure ourselves that no one saw what just happened, and go on our way with a bit of a lighter step.
Life can feel the same way: going about our routine and encountering circumstances that shake us or trip us up. Then, ever so often, there are life events where describing it as a slip does not seem to do it justice. It’s more like the earth opens up and we fall headlong into a circumstantial pit, out of which there is no easy escape…
The pit is a place all-too familiar in this broken world and it goes by many names. David called it “the valley of the shadow of death,” (Psalm 23:4) Jonah called it “the deep,” (Jonah 2:3) and Peter called it “the fire” (1 Peter 1:7). The pit is a place of suffering, longing, and hurt—it is dug by the shovel of fallen creation, sin, or Satan.
Scholars are not settled on what sort of pit Heman the Ezrahite had fallen into to produce a psalm like the one we read in chapter 88. It is one of the only psalms that does not seem to have a shred of hope in all its lines. Commentator Derek Kidner opens his insight regarding Psalm 88 with, “there is no sadder prayer in the Psalter…” Yet from its raw depths, we are able to mine five nuggets of pure gold that help us understand how to respond in a pit of our own.
I. Direction
The psalm begins with the line, “Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me.” From the midst of the pit, Heman looks to the Lord. He realized that when someone is in a pit, help does not come from within, help does not come from around; help comes from above.
Too often, our initial reaction from the pit is to rely on our own strength to claw our way out. We may also try to look around and elicit the help of those in the pit with us. Make no mistake: God calls us to be people of action and to bear one another’s burdens. However, the direction Heman exemplifies is that we are to first look up and cry out to the One who can help.
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Has Christianity Contributed Anything Significant?
Contributions to science and medicine are just a portion of the overall influence Christianity has had on the world. Christian influence has been so positive and pervasive in the west that many likely take it for granted.[10] However, a careful consideration of history reveals that much of what has made the western world so advanced and so prosperous and been a direct reflection of underlying Christian values.
There is a growing question related to the overall impact religion has had on the world. A 2014 HuffPost poll revealed more than half of Britons believed religion did more harm than good, a sentiment shared even by 20% of those self-described as “very religious.”[1] This appears to go hand-in-hand with a sharp decrease in Christianity in the country, from 72% to 59% between 2001 and 2011.[2]
A Pew Research study of Americans also conducted in 2014 found that 34% of the religiously unaffiliated believed “religion’s declining influence… [is] a good thing.”[3] Given the growing belief that religion does more harm than good, it is worth considering the influence Christianity has had, both in the past as well as the present. A careful study of the Christianity reveals the faith has had an extremely positive impact.
Christianity has had a positive impact on the development of the sciences. Central to the Christian worldview are three intellectual presuppositions necessary for the advancement of scientific study: 1) the intelligibility of nature, 2) the idea that the details of nature can be known by observing them, and 3) an affirmative attitude towards nature.[4] Christianity teaches a high value for truth and teaches that the truth about the existence of God can be discovered through observation of the natural world. In Romans 1:20 the Apostle Paul wrote:
Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
These concepts, and the encouragement to embrace study of the natural world, were carried along with Christianity as it spread throughout the Roman empire and the rest of Europe.
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The Character of Kingdom Citizens
After this preamble, Matthew opens the first of five major teaching sections of Jesus in his gospel. The number five is reminiscent of the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses. Similarly, the reference to Jesus’ ascending a mountain brings to mind Moses’ ascent of Mount Sinai when receiving the law. This Mosaic connection is later reinforced by Jesus’ repeated pronouncements, “You have heard that it was said . . . but I say to you” (Matt. 5:21–22, 27–28, 31–32, 33–34, 38–39, 43–44). Matthew’s message is clear: Jesus is a new and greater Moses who authoritatively teaches and applies the law of God (see Matt. 7:28–29).
In this inaugural address in Matthew’s gospel, at the inception of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches His followers about the character of kingdom citizens. As a master teacher, He presents these characteristics in the form of eight memorable Beatitudes, each pronouncing a blessing on those who possess a given character trait, with the addition of two metaphorical attributes, salt and light. Thus, Jesus echoes the Ten Words or Commandments in the law of Moses by positing ten characteristics of those who will inherit and inhabit the eternal kingdom of God. Notably, while “seeing the crowds,” Jesus directed His words to His disciples (Matt. 5:1–2).
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:3)
Jesus starts to paint His portrait of the kingdom citizen with a perhaps surprising attribute: poverty of spirit. “Blessed”—that is, eternally favored by God—are those who know themselves to be spiritually poor and needy, like the man in Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee is boastful, arrogant, and proud of all his religious accomplishments, while the tax collector, “standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ” (Luke 18:13). Those who know themselves to be spiritually poor keenly sense their need for God and their dependence on Him. They plead for mercy, because they know that they could never stand before a righteous, holy God on their own merits.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matt. 5:4)
In the next beatitude, Jesus affirms a piece of Old Testament wisdom as enunciated in the book of Ecclesiastes: “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart” (Eccl. 7:2). In view of the fact that all of us will die one day, we should live in light of our eternal destiny. Therefore, “the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure” (Eccl. 7:4, NIV). Impenitent pleasure-seekers ultimately engage in a denial of eternal realities, while the wise person is conscious of his final destiny, mourning his own sin and the sins of others around him. Conscious of their own shortcomings and rebellion against God, they thrust themselves on God’s mercy and will receive comfort and forgiveness.
