Bullying taught at Church? Really?

In the CNN belief BLOG post by Jim Daly, My Take: Christianity not to blame for anti-gay bullying, Daly gives his argument against what many American’s believe is the cause for anti-gay bullying -- “suggested by some that Christianity itself is to blame for these tragedies.”

Jim Daly is the president of Focus on the Family – “a global Christian ministry dedicated to helping families thrive.” Daly graduated from California State University, San Bernardino, with a B.S. in Business Administration and attended Waseda University in Tokyo. Daly also has a MBA in International Business from Regis University in Denver and received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Colorado Christian University in Denver. After college, he worked in the private sector of a Fortune 500 company. Daly is also a regular panelist for The Washington Post/Newsweek blog on faith.

Daly expresses that the idea that people actually think Christianity is to blame is “its own separate tragedy.” I have to agree with Daly. Anybody with common sense can make the assumption that preachers do not teach people to bully others that do not fit the mold of God’s design. Daly explains that Christianity teaches the exact opposite. When interpreted and practiced properly, “it is the cure for and solution to the mistreatment and abuse of anyone, for any reason.” What the bible teaches about human rights and the treatment of others is that “no person is superior or inferior to the next.” So, to mistreat someone for any reason “contradicts” what the bible teaches and to think Christianity encourages any mistreatment of someone different than one’s self “is a sad misreading of the very tenets of the faith.”

Daly makes it clear that not only non-believers misunderstand the same tenets. He goes on to say that some think sins can be categorized by their severity. Some believe homosexuality “is of a higher (or lower) order than adultery or covetousness or lying or gossip.” It is this type of hypocrite that “[saves] their harshest judgments for the sins they don’t struggle with themselves.” The bible doesn’t teach that either.

As a born and raised Catholic, I’ve never felt that my church encouraged me to mistreat anyone for any reason. I agree with Daly one hundred percent that Christianity is not to blame for the recent bullying news. “It’s the graceless behavior of bullies” that is the reason for the bullying. There are a number of reasons why these bullies act the way they do. Maybe its parenting or perhaps the bullies were bullied themselves. In my opinion, there is no way Christianity is to blame.