Wednesday 29 October 2008

Today's Battle

At RSSBinghamton.com:
Transgender Gestapo Coming to City of Binghamton
Well. Who knew we had such power?

Actually the author strikes me as a decent human being, just the kind that might be receptive to ideas that challenge pre-conceived notions. As of the time of posting, my comment is awaiting moderation, but here's what he had to say as I was writing it about another comment.
Your comment has provoked me to reflect. I am sometimes guilty of going a bit to far with my rhetoric when I am passionate about a topic. And sometimes, as you point out, my Christian faith does not readily shine through. So I will take your criticism to heart that I have gone too far over the line with my characterization of people who are transgendered with unkind labels. I ask for your forgiveness on that count, and will revise my post with respect to name calling. I do not wish to add to anyone’s suffering and I don’t want to detract from the force of my argument.
From my point of view, just by saying that, he's earned forgiveness, and some.

He's Christian, not "Christian", and whether he changes his mind or not doesn't matter so much. He will have thought about the issues now he's aware of them. We won't make progress unless we realise that most of those who oppose us do so out of the finest of motives. Some will be unreachable, and a very few are just plain nasty. But most are not, and some can become our greatest allies, not through persuasion, but through us presenting evidence to them, and letting them come to their own conclusions.

We'll see.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's exactly why I tried to restrain being nasty.

- Danielle (A.K>A. Flutter on Susans.)

David J said...

Anyone who wants to achieve anything in politics should pay attention to your strategy here. It's sure to be a lot more effective than smugly telling people who agree with you how stupid everyone else is.

Lori D said...

Humility should be one of the most obvious Christ-like qualities in those professing to be followers. Having reconciled my faith in Christ and accepting being trans, I'm learning there are plenty of mistakes to still be made. I hope I'm as humble and know how to appropriately reach out in love.