Softening the Heart and Tempering the Self-Righteousness

A nice post by Hugo Schwyzer ends with this:

We are a bitterly divided nation. We are also, as Christians, living in a divided body. Many of us on the Christian left find we have more in common with secular liberals than with our own fellow Christians on the right. Many right-wing Christians feel more in cultural solidarity with conservative non-believers or practitioners of other faiths than they do with us. While that is understandable, I think it reflects badly on all of us.
I am a liberal Democrat on (almost) every issue. I'm an Episcopalian with pacifist anabaptist leanings. I teach gender and gay history. I went to Berkeley. But for all that, my life is made both richer and more challenging by my friendships with folks with whom I disagree about almost everything. (One of the men I love best in the world is a true Five Point Calvinist, bless his misled heart!) I thank God for my friends who are gun-ownin', traditional marriage defendin', inerrant scripture believin', red-meat eatin', Fox News watchin', George Bush votin' conservatives. I'm a better man for knowing them and being loved by them. They have not changed my core beliefs. But they have softened my heart and tempered my self-righteousness -- and those are good things indeed.

Comments

Have you read the book "The politis of jesus". When you teach those gay men i hope you point out to them what is said in the bible on homosexuality.