I’m going to take a break from Genesis to discuss some issues that have been in the news of late. Two items particularly upset me: the student protests at Yale (my alma mater) and the campaign against Starbucks for somehow being anti-Christmas with their red cups.
In both cases the protesters would likely find little in common with each other. On the one hand, the Yale students have called into question the validity of free speech on a college campus because they find the opinion voiced in an email “offensive.” On the other hand, people claiming to defend free speech have condemned Starbucks for not having the courage to celebrate Christmas openly.
To start, both complaints rival each other for their ridiculousness. But what these two protests also share is the idea that whenever I find something personally offensive, the offender owes me not only an apology but also a validation of the correctness of my grievance. Of course, history offers us a whole laundry list of societal injustices that have mandated courageous people taking an unpopular stand in order to awaken communities to the wrongness of their status quo. The abolitionists, activists for civil and feminine rights, and whistle blowers’ exposing corruption are just a few examples that spring immediately to mind.
But the protests making the news today are of a different quality. The presumption of rectitude on the part of both plaintiff parties causes them to seek a solution from the top down. In other words, they would like those in authority to mandate that their ideology preside over all. At Yale, the issue would be to disallow any challenge to the policy of having the university’s administration determine what can and cannot be worn as a Halloween costume. With Starbucks, it would require a business to celebrate the Christmas holiday more overtly.
In both cases the plaintiffs wish to reap the benefit of validation being a majority offers while still soliciting sympathy as marginalized victims.
Christianity teaches a different directive – that Right comes from God not humans. Yet not even the Lord administers the divine will with a top down strategy. Instead, as we have observed in Genesis, God works with each of us one-to-one, mentoring us into transformation from the inside out. That is why it is incongruent for Christians to advocate a position that calls for the imposition of Christian values on others. In fact, that is the basis for the adoption of free speech as well.
To me, it makes no more sense for Christians to make demands that Starbucks conform to their idea of celebrating Christmas, than it does for any party to determine what ideas may or may not be spoken on a university campus.
No one likes a “bossy” boss. Loving your neighbor begins with respect.
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6 Responses to Human Bossiness