Love the sinners, hate the sin?
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March 24, 2023

Earlier this month, conservative talking head Michael Knowles
ignited a controversy over his statement, both on his TV show and
at the CPAC 2023, that called for an "eradication of
transgenderism."

Knowles then accused the media outlets that reported his speech as
a call for genocide, of a "libel" and demanded retractions.

Many trans advocates see this as a silly semantic distinction that
is meaningless. Legislative researcher Erin Reed told Rolling Stone
magazine that one could not eradicate transgenderism without
destroying transgender people.

I have seen this before, back in the 1990s. The Christian Right was
busy trying to prevent local and state legislatures from
instituting laws protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination.
They were even against schools from creating anti-bullying
programs. When Hawai`i introduced a bill to legalize same-sex
marriage, they quickly jumped into action and lobbied Congress to
pass the so-called "Defense of Marriage Act" (DOMA).

These Christians insisted that they "loved homosexuals," but they
did not approve of their sinful proclivities and wanted to protect
the nation from the gay social contagion, and especially to protect
"innocent" and "impressionable" children from learning that gay
people existed.

In short, their favorite slogan went like this: Love the sinners,
hate the sin.

It quickly became a cliche, just like their other favorite slogan,
"Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve."

The same conservatives, however, accuse the Chinese Communist Party
of committing genocide in Tibet and East Turkestan.

The regime of Xi Jinping of course has claimed that the Chinese
government is not committing genocide against Uighurs or Tibetans,
that they are merely combating "separatists" and "religious
extremists."

In other words, China is trying to "eradicate Islam" in Xinjiang
but not the Uighurs whose culture is steeped in Islam. And to
"eradicate the Dalai Lama cult" in Tibet but not the Tibetans whose
culture venerates the Dalai Lama and traditional Tibetan Buddhism.

In reality, it is the Uighurs and Tibetans who are constantly
surveilled, harassed, and rounded up by the Chinese police and are
being kidnapped and taken to the so-called "vocational training
centers." The CCP has been systematically destroying the Uighur and
Tibetan cultures, languages, and ways of life, by forcing them to
live with and marry Han Chinese, denying their children education
in their own languages, and prohibiting clothing and cultural
practices related to Islam and Buddhism.

China sure loves the Tibetan and Uighur people, just that China
hates the sins against Chinese nationalism and against Socialism
with Chinese Characteristics.

Yet, the international community, including the United States
government during the Trump Administration, rightfully called this
a "genocide and crime against humanity" (and his Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo even made that statement on the final full day of the
Trump presidency).

Whenever the likes of Knowles call for an "eradication of
transgenderism," we must take such statements seriously and not
explain them away.

Even if one does not necessarily agree with people who transition
to other genders, when elected politicians think this is
acceptable, then it will establish a disturbing precedent for the
future. What if conservatives eventually lose their seats in
legislative chambers across America, and socialists and
ultra-progressives with anti-Christian sentiments gained
majorities? They could easily make the same arguments about
conservative Christians that the Christian Nationalists are now
making about drag queens and LGBTQ+ people: that Christian
Nationalists "indoctrinate impressionable children to hate"; force
kids to make religious commitments before they are old enough to
make rational choice; and the pastors and youth leaders molest and
rape children. Then they might even call for an "eradication of
Christianity."

One cannot eradicate Christianity without eliminating Christians,
either.

And when other countries do this, conservative Christians call that
persecution and genocide, which rightfully is so.

> "The next time you are inclined to say, 'Hate the sin, love the
sinner,' you might ask yourself several questions. First, am I
using this slogan only for L.G.B.T.Q. people? Second, where do
their lives express not sin, but love? And finally, what can I
learn about God from the people I am calling sinners?" -- James
Martin, S.J.

> "For this aged history major, it always comes back to 'what would
Abraham Lincoln do?' In 1864, the President wrote in a letter to an
editor in Frankfort that 'if slavery is not wrong, nothing is
wrong.' If codified discrimination against gay people/transgender
children is not wrong, nothing is wrong. Whether a lawmaker is
drafting a local, state or federal law, she should always ask
herself, 'Would I want this law to apply to my own family?' Will it
treat any one affected by it 'with malice toward none, with charity
for all?'" -- Bob Heleringer, former Kentucky legislator

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=>
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-03-08/transgender-cpac-michael-knowles-rolling-stone-ron-desantis
Opinion: What the CPAC speaker meant when he said ‘transgenderism
must be eradicated’

=> https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml What is
genocide?

=>
https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/hate-speech-strategy.shtml
UN hate speech strategy

=>
https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2022/03/14/hate-sin-love-sinner-verse-242567
"Can you really hate the sin and love the sinner?" James Martin,
S.J.

=>
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/2023/03/16/kentucky-republican-calls-out-gop-legislation-against-lgbtq-people/70005603007/
Bob Heleringer: I am a Kentucky Republican calling out my party's
war against LGBTQ people

=>
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/05/what-does-the-bible-say-about-transgender-people-an-in-depth-look/
What the Bible say about trans people