I read stories about churches who act against their members for various misdeeds and misdemeanors all the time. It’s fodder for my hypocrisy watch posts. But it is also disturbing in that it shows just how far a church will go to protect its social positions. The blog Nerdy Apple Bottom tells a story of a young child who dressed as a girl for Halloween and the corresponding slaps he and his mother received at the hands of their church.
The story starts with a description of the event.
My son is gay. Or he’s not. I don’t care. He is still my son. And he is 5. And I am his mother. And if you have a problem with anything mentioned above, I don’t want to know you.
I have gone back and forth on whether I wanted to post something more in-depth about my sweet boy and his choice of Halloween costume. Or more specifically, the reactions to it. I figure if I’m still irked by it a few days later, I may as well go ahead and post my thoughts.
The second post describes the aftermath.
My blog post was calling out the actions of a few people that said some unkind things in front of my son. I asked for love and tolerance. Was I angry? Yes. I feel I had a right to be. Did I bear false witness? No. I spoke out against bullying. Now I am getting bullied from church.
The first time Pastor contacted me was a few days after the Halloween post. He wanted to discuss my “spiritual care.” It was immediately clear that I was being viewed as having done something very wrong. Our initial conversation was me being called; “defensive,” “vindictive,” “disrespectful,” “prideful,” and told that I “crossed a line.” I was told I needed to do penance. I was not asked about how Boo was doing.
It blows my mind that people are subjected to this, or that after subjected, they choose to remain. It looks the church in question bullied the wrong mom though. It looks like Cop’s Wife can take care of herself.
Life is hard enough with the hate and intolerance these Christians show towards a little boy and his mother. I always ask if the behavior is consistent with what I understand of the teaching of Jesus Christ. They often fail, just like this example. It blows my mind, but then, I always have a hard time understanding organized religion.
