Are You Spreading Love or Hate?

I have been very annoyed by the fact that Blogger lost my really awesome post about hate, and I have not had much time to do anything except get through last week's mid-terms (I know this is college and all, but don't you think 2 quizzes, a mid-term, a discussion board post, and a project rough draft due all on the same day.. which was Super Bowl Sunday.. was a bit much for ONE stinking class?).

But several weeks ago, my ex-husband's new wife (who is a Facebook friend, and someone I normally enjoy IRL) posted a link to a free book written by Dr. James Dobson.  It was titled, "Daddys and Daughters" and she is ordering this for her little girls, or maybe for their father, and, trust me, he could use the help with his parenting skills. I mentioned that I was pretty certain that Dr. Dobson spreads hatred about homosexuals and that he was the one who want after that poor Teletubby (I was wrong, it was Spongebob he didn't like), and that I was not certain that she wanted that sort of information around her girls. (BabyBoy's 2nd little sister was born Thanksgiving weekend, so there is now a 3 year old and a 2 month old).

The conversation did not go well from there. She asked for proof, I provided links. A friend of hers told me that I didn't know what I was talking about, and she (BabyBoy's step mother) explained that she had been raised reading Dr. Dobson, and that he didn't HATE gays, he LOVES everyone, he just believes that homosexuality is a sin. Then came the $64,000 question, "I believe that homosexuality is a sin," she typed, "do you believe that I am spreading hate?"

I admit it. I chickened out and just didn't answer her.

Because yes, telling others, especially young children, that homosexuality is a sin IS SPREADING HATE. While the Bible tells us that we should hate the sin, but love the sinner, most of us are a little too human for that. So being told that a person's lifestyle (one that I believe is NOT CHOSEN) is something that God disagrees with gives others the right to disagree with it. Being told that homosexuals are going to hell is spreading hate. And if the person that you are explaining all of this to just happens to realize that she is gay one day, now you have spread fear.

I don't believe there is a parent in any land who has a child and looks down into its sleeping face and prays that that child will be gay. I would almost bet that homosexuals do not pray that their children will be gay. It is a difficult life fraught with uncertainty, and, sadly, at times danger.

We have come a long way in this country toward accepting homosexuality as normal, but not far enough. And will never be truly equal, or truly free, if people continue to raise their children to hate and the hatred is continuously being spread.

Even if that hatred is as innocuous as labeling a person's lifestyle as a sin.