I Pray Conservative Christians Will Get Tired of Being Terrible

I came across a social media post this morning from a former church friend.

He was (as usual) carrying on about the LGBTQ community, arguing with folks while sharing Scripture excerpts in an attempt to bolster his position. His lengthy responses feigned some objective position and detached righteousness, but they reeked of prejudice and privilege.

Worse, they marked yet another day where his religion was being wielded as a weapon against complete strangers who'd simply awakened on the planet and were going about their lives. By doing nothing other than simply existing, they once again found themselves in the crosshairs of his Christianity—victims of an unprovoked attack by someone claiming Jesus said that he should.

"Doesn't he ever get tired of this?" I wondered.

"Doesn't it wear him out, to spend so much time and energy monitoring the genders, orientations, bodies, and relationships of people he’s never met? Doesn't it get old after a while: always being that deeply entrenched in someone else's business?"

Honestly, it's a miracle more Conservative Christians don't pass out from sheer exhaustion. It's mighty taxing work, policing the world instead of merely worrying about yourself.

When I survey the landscape of America right now, it seems grossly overpopulated with far too many religious people determined to make everyone else in their image by bullying them into compliance or shouting them into silence. It all feels so wasteful and mean-spirited, not to mention fully draining for them and their targets.

It’s hard to pray for these people, as they seem to revel so in their cruelty and enjoy excluding others in the name of a supposed God of love.

So, I pray for a world where more Christians like my friend would grow tired of this kind of malicious religion that has become commonplace. I sincerely believe it would alter both them and the planet in ways they'd never imagine:

When Conservative Christians finally get tired of persecuting queer people, they'll realize how fruitless their aggression has been, how much damage it's done, how unlike Jesus it's been. They'll see people whose only agenda is to live and work and love and worship, and to spend the fleeting days of this life doing something that gives them joy. They'll see people no different from themselves.

When Conservative Christians finally get tired of condemning the world, they'll be able to see it differently. When it isn't darkened through the lens of their damnation, they'll recognize how beautiful and fragile and precious it all is and discover how connected they are to it. They'll cast off the tiring burden of seeing everything as a threat and see everything as a gift.

When Conservative Christians finally get tired of worshiping America, they'll find that God resides outside of it as well: in Ukraine and Mexico and every inch of this planet. They'll stop needing to fortify themselves and wall themselves off and dig in their heels and defend God because they'll realize they don't own God to begin with. They'll realize that making America great was never the assignment—it was loving the world.

When Conservative Christians finally get tired of a faith characterized by fear, they'll hunger for one marked by love. They will be deeply burdened to care for their neighbors, the ones who look, love, and worship differently than they do. They'll stop seeing diversity as a menace and recognize it as the greatest blessing we can receive: the beautiful difference of humanity.

When Conservative Christians finally get tired of being terrible in the name of Jesus, they'll be able to accurately reflect him, to bring his mercy and compassion and forgiveness to the places where it is not plentiful. They'll be able to see every other as themselves; to see no distinction between them and their neighbor, and recognize the image of God in their faces.

I hope my former friend gets tired enough to find a more life-giving, hope-bringing expression of his faith convictions, for his sake and the sake of those who simply want to live today unfettered by anyone else.

Life is difficult. People are doing the best they can.

I hope more Conservative Christians get tired of being terrible so that they’ll have more time to be loving.

The world needs less terrible. It needs more loving.

This should be what people of faith are here to bring.