The word bigot is a terrible word. For me, it is in the same category as maggot, or phlegm, or vomit! Those may be a little more sensory than you are comfortable with, but what about the racist N… word or the F… word for homosexuals? Some words evoke so much emotion that to use them carelessly can damage others and to use them intentionally can be immoral, sometimes illegal.
A common dictionary defines bigot as a person who is “obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices, especially one who exhibits intolerance or animosity toward members of a group.” The etymology is a little shadowy, but some suggest the root of the word may have been “by God,” or the mocking of that phrase by those who resented others using it. In any case, the word has been around since the 12th century—and people who acted with intolerance or animosity toward others even longer!
Are Christians who oppose same-sex marriage guilty of bigotry? Piers Morgan, who certainly can be seen as representative of a certain mindset in the American population, suggested the Rick Santorum, a practicing Catholic, was a bigot because he held to the teachings of his church that homosexuality is a sin. Santorum made very clear that he did not feel it was government’s place to regulate morality for all citizens, but that did not keep Morgan from using the B..word!
I wonder if we could agree that it is not bigoted to just hold opinions? I wonder if we could agree that within our working definition of bigotry that it is the words intolerance and animosity that give the odious smell to the word?
Was Jesus a bigot for saying that a man who lusts after a woman has committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:28)? In the same lesson, he says it is wrong to commit murder or to be angry and hate another person. Is that intolerant? (Matthew 5:21-22).
Was Jesus a bigot for saying that adultery is a sin? Or that divorce for frivolous reasons is not God’s Will? Or that not only breaking an oath, but anything other than a truthful Yes or No is not godly?
Was He intolerant because he said not every teacher is a good teacher, that some are wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15)? Or that those who simply call out to God without the prerequisite obedience will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 7:21). Shouldn’t everyone get a trophy?
Was St. Paul intolerant and bigoted when he says that it was immoral and wrong for a man to sleep with his father’s wife (1 Corinthians 5:1-2)?
If today a minority group banded together to insist that all loving sexual activity between consenting adults was moral and should be allowed by law throughout the nation, including—as the opponents would certainly point out—prostitution, incest, sibling marriage, cousins marriage, and polygamous marriages, would we relegate St. Paul to bigotry.
And if I haven’t yet touched anything that you hold a strong opinion on in any of the above paragraphs, anything that crosses your moral line and where someone else might be more liberal than you, how would you feel about wearing the bigot label?
Having said all of the above, I do believe there are bigots among us—on all sides. I’m appalled by bigotry among Christians like the Westboro Baptists who appear to me to cross over unequivocally into bitter intolerance and animosity.
I was reading a great story yesterday about a 9-year-old boy in Topeka, KS who with his mother happened to come upon a Westboro Baptist group picketing with hateful signs. He looked up at one picket sign that said, “God hates F….s” According to his mother, he immediately ran back to the car and made his own crude, but profoundly true response to the sign. His sign said, “God hates No One!”
God hates sin, but Paul says—yes, the same one who opposed incest: Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:7-9)
Christians cannot but hate sin as God does, but we must be just as loving of sinners, and we must demonstrate our love by letting mercy triumph over judgment! (James 2:13)
Mark's Blog 
“The anger that is displayed against christians is a direct response to those who are trying to limit the rights and freedoms of homosexuals in this country.” – My anger comes from the religious bigots who continue to teach their gay children that they are evil or broken, for being what God made them – and the fact that gay kids kill themselves with five times the frequency of straight kids, because Christian Bigots continue to label all homosexuals ‘born bad.’ You feed your own children to your god of hate. Bite me.
all of your examples are about things that cause harm. One man loving another causes no harm to anyone. You sir, are a bigot simply for the examples you sue to justify your bigotry. My marriage to my husband of 24 years has nothing to do with adultery or lustfulness, anymore than your does.
And therein lies your bigotry. Marriage “as defined as one man and one woman.” You cannot remove yourself from the term bigot so long as you think it’s right and appropriate to define the laws of this country based upon your personal religious beliefs to the exclusive detriment of an entire group of people. For example, christians who used their religious beliefs as justification to support separate but equal laws during the civil rights era were clearly bigots. And we have no problem recognizing them as such today. If you are a christian who believes that homosexuality is a sin, along with other sins, such as adultery and fornication, but believe that religious beliefs are personal and should be kept out of the laws of this country, you are probably not a bigot. Certainly everyone is entitled to their belief. Conversely, if you’re condoning, encouraging, and supporting laws that discriminate against homosexuals (including opposing same-sex marriage) because of your religious beliefs, you are a bigot. And you can’t fix that bigotry by cloaking it in the “but we love the sinner” bull. As far as religious bigotry? Get a grip. The anger that is displayed against christians is a direct response to those who are trying to limit the rights and freedoms of homosexuals in this country. An equivalent example would be if athiests obtained a majority status in this country and worked exhaustively to make the practice of religion in this country illegal. Athiests often believe that religion itself is the single greatest source of evil in the world. But they keep that belief to themselves. They don’t attempt to restrict the rights of those who practice religion because of it. Belief alone is not bigotry. But belief combined with overt and covert acts to limit and destroy the rights and freedoms of others is bigotry plain and simple.
A heterosexual man has the responsibility of controlling his desires for women and girls, in the same way that a homosexual man must contol his desires for men and boys. He must not look on them for the purpose of lusting after them and must not allow his desires to lead to physical fornication. If those of either orientation are unwilling to keep their desires under control, they are guilty of sin. Neither fall should be excused as less sinful than the other. God longs for all men and women to “Be holy for I am holy.”
Bigotry happens when we excuse the actions of one while condemning the actions of the other. All sex outside of marriage (defined as a covenant between one man and one woman) is equally sinful fornication. Homosexual men and women have the same responsibility of avoiding that iniquity as do heterosexuals. Heterosexual men and women do not have the right to engage in sexual activity outside marriage just because they have desires to do so. The thought that somehow homosexuals have a right to homosexual fornication is also wrong. We need to love and encourage homosexuals to live pure and holy lives, resisting the temptations brought on by their desires in the same way that we love heterosexuals who are similarly tempted toward sexual sin.
The desire has never been the sin, the fornication of the heart and in action is what must be avoided and condemned. The people of either sexual orientation who are trying to overcome their desires are to be loved and encouraged. That is what Christians do.
Well argued! We also need to remember that there are bigots among those who call us bigots, who do not take the time to understand religious morals. They are content with caricatures and labels of Christians, because that excludes depth of thought or intellectual and spiritual effort. At the same time, we are sometimes all too happy to play the very roles assigned to us, to become the caricature–for the exact same reason, because then we don’t have to think things through or get involved in the very serious and complicated business of loving our neighbour, loving him or her enough to warn against sin while treasuring the existence of that God-made individual. Some of our friends are not going to be saved; some are. We may not always know who, either. This is very sad and humbling, but it’s part of the tragic side of earthly existence and of carrying our crosses. I have had the blessing of associating with or befriending many people who disagree with our faith and morals, and who practice things condemned by Scripture. In some ways, they are lovely people. I continue to love them and give thanks to God for them, but I have not changed what I believe, and I pray they will repent. Loving is hard. Paul grieved for his people who rejected Christ. He did not hate them or organize protests against them. Thank you for your posts.