I‘ve written before about how the right uses language to soften the impact of policies that are destructive to the middle class or that obfuscate the discrimination their policies promote. The Virginian Pilot has commentedon this issue, with evidence that now the right thinks “love” is a dirty word.
Though it may be no surprise to our critics, we must say we were surprised to find that a few things we consider virtues were part of an effort to brainwash America.
If only we’d known.
According to some people with an expanding fixation on other people’s sexuality, words like “tolerance” and “diversity” are nothing more than nefarious code.
…”‘Love’ is one of the Trojan horses for the acceptance of homosexuality,” said Focus on the Family’s Melissa Fryrear, who describes herself as a “former” lesbian. She made her comment in an e-mail to the Baptist Press. “The problem, though, is their definition of ‘love’ is carefully camouflaged to mean more than Cupid ever meant it to mean. Their definition is meant to mean the acceptance and the celebration of homosexuality.”
While I understand the sincere religious opposition to homosexuality and abortion, it is the fervor with which such opposition is pursued and the apparent lack of any compassion with which the arguments are made that give me pause and which make me suspect that for many of the most vocal opponents, religion is a smokescreen for hate.
It’s not just Democrats, progressives or churches who actively cater to homosexuals that need to speak up. We need mainstream churches to condemn the extremists and redefine tolerance and love, although it baffles me that we need to redefine it in the first place. In fact, tolerance is generally not tolerated tolerance in the right’s world view, which calls for strict morality.
In Strict Morality, the Strict Father is the Moral Authority, determining right from wrong, and protecting the family from a world that is chaotic and threatening. Evil is a major force in the world that must be fought using Moral Strength, which has the highest moral priority. Evil is both external and internal. Internal evil is fought with self-discipline and self-denial to achieve “self-control.” “Weakness,” and the tolerance of it, is immoral since it implies being unable to stand up to evil. Punishment is required to balance the moral books: If you do wrong, you must suffer a negative consequence.