My friend sent me a Los Angeles Times article Monday that could
easily have run in The Onion ““ “Christians Sue for
Right Not to Tolerate Policies.” According to the article,
Ruth Malhotra, a senior at the Georgia Institute of Technology, is
suing the university for the right to not tolerate homosexuals,
claiming the current tolerance policy which “bans speech that
puts down others because of their sexual orientation,”
infringes on her right to express her Christian beliefs.
This sort of situation is infuriating and frustrating ““
not only because someone could think of doing such a thing, but
because others use free speech to defend her right to do so.
True, theoretically we should have the right to say anything to
anyone and, as long as we’re not inciting violence, we should
be covered by the law. We all know people have certain rights such
as freedom of speech and expression of religion.
It’s when someone uses one of these rights to trump
someone else’s that they come into question.
While it would be a violation of the First Amendment for the
U.S. government to outlaw all racist and homophobic comments, it is
perfectly reasonable for a public university or a workplace to have
a tolerance policy ““ a tolerance policy that does not
necessarily ban people from expressing their opinion, but bans the
use of hateful language and actions.
While the definition of hateful language can be a little vague
and needs to be determined on a case-by-case basis, the need for
tolerance policies are more important than the right to be actively
intolerant of people. These tolerance policies allow for the
creation of an accepting environment even if every person within
that environment doesn’t agree with or accept everyone
else.
For instance, if a gay man is walking onto his university campus
to be met with billboards saying his lifestyle is a choice of sin
and that he’s going to hell, it’s not going to make him
feel like he’s in an environment where he can stand up and
express his own opinion counteracting that.
A tolerance policy does not prevent a conservative Christian
from speaking up and saying that he or she believes homosexuality
is a sin. There is a difference between expressing an opinion and
verbally attacking someone, and a verbal attack does not
necessarily need to explicitly incite violence.
For example, there is a huge difference between the statement,
“I believe all homosexuals are sinners” and “You
are a sinner and you are going to hell.” Restricting people
to being able to express opinions but not verbally attack people
allows everyone in the community to have the same freedom to
express their own opinion and not fear for their safety.
This allows for open and constructive discussion between parties
of different beliefs. And discussion, by all means, should be
encouraged.
Oftentimes this argument is turned around. It is argued that if,
say, a gay man has the right to feel comfortable at his job, then
so does someone who believes homosexuality is a sin ““ if we
preach tolerance then we must also tolerate those who are
intolerant.
For example, the argument goes that if a workplace or university
bans anti-gay T-shirts then they should also be required to ban
T-shirts that promote gay rights, or alternately, allow both.
However, this is flawed logic. People have a right to be
tolerated in a workplace, but they don’t have the right to be
intolerant of others.
If a Christian wants to express his or her identity in a
workplace, then a cross necklace or related shirt is perfectly
acceptable. Similarly, nobody should be allowed to wear anything
negatively directed at Christians.
The Georgia Tech incident isn’t isolated, it is part of a
growing trend and each time the argument is the same: Policies that
protect people of different sexual orientations and genders
discriminate against Christians.
Even student members of Every Nation Campus Ministries at
California State Universities San Diego and Long Beach are speaking
up. It is all part of a fight against what conservative Christians
have deemed the “War against Christianity,” a war, they
believe, against their values. They think the fights for queer
rights and abortion constitute an attack on Christianity.
If there’s a war on anyone in this country, it certainly
isn’t on Christians. I don’t see anyone refusing the
right of marriage to Christians or keeping Christians from adopting
children. Nobody is telling Christians their lifestyle is a choice
and therefore doesn’t need to be tolerated. Just because I
say “Happy Holidays” and not “Merry
Christmas” does not mean I am anti-Christian.
Christians have a huge amount of power. They only need to
convince a little over half of the U.S. population of something and
they can carry a national election.
The queer community does not have this same power. They could
convince their entire community that they deserve the right to
marry and it wouldn’t necessarily get them anywhere ““
they rely on a larger community of people realizing what it means
to be tolerant and to have an equal society.
To reach this larger community they need to be able to freely
express their opinions, and tolerance policies allow this to
happen.