The Standard of Liberty Voice
For God,Religion,Family,Freedom
A publication of The Standard of Liberty Foundation
www.standardofliberty.org
August 1, 2005, #1

Crying Foul

Have you been hearing the word “homophobe” quite a bit lately? In our mainstream American media, and even in private conversation, the words homophobe, homophobic, and homophobia are being tossed around like baseballs on a baseball diamond. (We recently attended four of our grandson’s city league play-off games in a row so we’ve got baseball on the brain!) The funny thing is, it’s a made-up word. Now, there’s nothing really wrong with made-up words unless they are incorporated into our language to influence society in a negative way. And this is what has happened with this particular word.

The word homophobic is listed in our 2001 Microsoft College Dictionary as “showing an irrational hatred, disapproval, or fear of homosexuality, homosexual men and lesbians, and their culture.” As we have published and promoted our new book, My Darling from the Lions, which refers to the true story of a young man choosing to overcome unwanted homosexual tendencies, we have been called homophobes (along with ignorant and bigoted and many other names I"d rather not mention). Dr. Dean Byrd, a prominent psychologist, suggests that this word homophobia is inaccurate. He says that a phobia is a psychotic disorder. People holding fast to faith-based and time-honored standards of moral decency in a respectful manner is not an indication of psychosis, nor are they necessarily irrational or in any way hateful.

We suppose there are some hateful people out there, but we are not among them. (We have an idea that those who are hateful are rare and grossly exaggerated.) True, we know homosexuality to be an unfortunate illness and/or willful vice with multiple causes. Immoral and self-destructive thought patterns and behaviors generate a plethora of chronic health problems, diseases, and social ills. This disorder is generally known to end in early death. In short, we think homosexuality is harmful and stagnating in the ways that matter most to God and His plan for us. But we also believe in separating the immeasurable value of every human being from the sick, wrong, sad, or bad things that person may do. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to “love the sinner but hate the sin.” To borrow from C. S. Lewis, we do it everyday when we continue to love ourselves.

Tammy Bruce, in her amazing book The New Thought Police, exposes activist groups’ deceitful tactics, such as the invention and proliferation of words like homophobia to intimidate and silence the opposition.

What it boils down to is they are trying to bully us into thinking it’s not okay to have personal belief systems outside the boundaries of political correctness. It’s up to us to conclude that we will not be bullied. We will not give up our freedoms to think and speak freely.

The modern liberal word smiths may think they have a hit but, from where we sit, it’s gone foul. Even our 10-year-old grandson knows you gotta play fair.

-Stephen & Janice Graham

Copyright 2005 by Standard of Liberty Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.

Copyright 2005 by Standard of Liberty Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.

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