In class, we discussed the “love the sinner, hate the sin” ideology and why it is so painful to Chris Cuomo and other queer people. Although you can analytically distinguish being from doing, “sexual identities are inextricably connected” and “queer being is inextricable from queer doing” (246). The actions Cuomo speaks of are not limited to sex acts either – queer people should be allowed to freely express themselves in all facets of life. The next question we came to was whether everyone has to like what everyone else is doing, and the general conclusion was that not only would this be impossible, but it is not necessary for equality in society and under the law. Not everyone has to agree with the practices of every religious minority, which are linked to individuals’ identities as members of that religion, but religious minority members deserve respect on an interpersonal level and equal protection under the law.
However, Ian asked in his précis if a religious person can respect gay people while maintaining their belief that homosexuality is sinful. I personally do not believe that any Mormon religious practices (that I know of) are correct, but I don’t believe they are morally wrong, and I therefore respect both the being and the doing. However, if someone did find baptism by immersion or endowment rituals morally reprehensible, I find it hard to believe they could fully respect a Mormon whose identity was tied to those practices. They could certainly tolerate them, but there would never be complete acceptance of the person whose actions are so closely linked to their identity. It’s one thing to not like the way a person expresses their gender identity, but to classify it at a sin because you think they’re “really” a different gender does not afford them dignity or respect. How they express themselves is an integral part of who they are and to disrespect one aspect of a person’s identity is disrespectful to their being in general. In this way, I agree with Cuomo that it is both painful and incorrect to suggest that one can love the sinner and hate the sin.
I don't know if I agree with this fully. If you are going off what a person who has a Christian faith based on the bible would say, I think it is completely possible to love the sinner and hate the sin. In their view, everyone is a sinner. The whole point of being saved is that you are a sinner and you need to be saved. And that doesn't change once you become a Christian, most would agree that they continue to sin even after they save. So if everybody is a sinner, and nobody likes sin, then can you not love anyone? I think that it is completely possible to love the sinner and hate the sin then because everybody has things that they do that they aren't proud of, but they still are loved by other people.
ReplyDeleteMatthew, while I agree with you that the intention behind the phrase "love the sinner, hate the sin" is not so insidious as we have discussed, I think that you miss an important point that Meriel makes. While the traditional Christian conception that everyone is a sinner should equalize the playing field and remove much of the harmful weight from judgement, there still remains the problem of separating the action from the enactor. The actions and decisions (which are actions in themselves) that one does or makes are the only way that people can "be," if we accept that existence precedes essence (which is in itself perhaps contrary to Christian theology, considering that people as created beings must have an essence in order to be conceived and then created).
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