Those Who Love the Devil?

I ran across an image of this sign this morning.

After checking around a bit I found that it seems to belong to a man who likes to picket in front of strip clubs in New Orleans. It's an interesting collection of groups who he thinks love the devil.

Some of these are non-Christian groups: Atheist's, Agnostic's, Pagan's, Scientologist's, Buddhist's, etc.

Some are Christians but apparently not the right kind of Christians: Catholic's, Jehovah's Witness's, etc.

Some are doing things that are pretty universally considered self destructive: Druggie's, Drunkard's.

Others are doing things that we would all agree are harmful to others: Thieve's, Wifebeater's, Gangster's, Racist's, Liar's.

Some are in groups that Christian conservatives consider sinful: Homo's (presumably homosexuals), Abortionist's, Femenist's, etc.

Some seem to be people whose politics he doesn't agree with: Liberal's, Democrat's, Environmentalist's.

Some seem to be people who just annoy him: Loud Mouth Women, Sophisticated Swine, Sport's Nut's.

And some I can't quite figure out: P.K's, High Falutent.

The writer in me cringes at the spelling and the way this guy uses apostrophes. :) The Christian in me is saddened at the long list of people who he thinks are evil. It makes me sad because I know that this is how we are often perceived; as angry, judgmental people who are intolerant of anyone who is different then us for any of a wide variety of reasons. It makes me even sadder because I also know that there is a reason for this. The sign-wavers are real, the TV preachers who make intolerant proclamations on behalf of all Christians are real, the churches who shun members for being gay, or getting a divorce, or voting for Obama are real, and they've wounded a lot of people.

If you're like me and you run into someone who thinks all Christians are like that, your first response may be to get a little defensive. You may catch yourself saying things like: "All Christians aren't like that." "I'm not like that." "My church isn't like that."

While these things are true, they aren't necessarily very helpful to the people who have been burned. A wounded person doesn't need to hear a spirited defense of your faith, or your church, or even God. A wounded person needs healing, and that may mean letting go of the need to defend ourselves and listening to all the pain and outrage. It may mean, very sincerely, saying "I"m sorry." It certainly means caring about that person and their pain and responding with love and and acceptance even when we get unfairly lumped in with the sign-wavers.

It even means finding ways to love the sign-wavers too.