Judge Not

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:1,3) It’s a shame Westboro Baptist Church hasn’t paid more attention to these verses this week. Following the death of Heath Ledger, its members have announced that they will be picketing his funeral in protest at the actor’s supposed promotion of homosexuality. Westboro Baptist, you may remember, is the church whose website is called ‘Godhatesfags’, and which Louis Theroux successfully exposed in a documentary last year. Bizarrely, the British media have on occasions referred to it as an ‘evangelical’ church, even though it does not describe itself that way, and even though its congregation thinks Billy Graham is a liberal, a liar and an “evil man” for preaching God’s love.

In a similar vein, some other churches on the extreme religious right in the US have sought to use Heath’s death as a means to preach hate. And a FOX news host is reported to have mocked his death, calling him a “weirdo” with a “serious drug problem.” Given Christ’s command, the question I want to ask is: how is it possible for people who claim to be followers of Jesus to act in this appalling way?

Of course, in saying that, perhaps I am guilty of precisely that which I am condemning in others – namely, having a judgemental attitude. However, the command Jesus gives is not a license to adopt a wholesale relativism, where we refuse to make any judgements. Rather, it is an indication that any judgement we make should not be fuelled by hate and that we should be slow to condemn, first addressing our own inadequacies before trying to fix the problems of others.

Yet, that is precisely not what Westboro has done in relation to Heath. Rather, the church has immediately condemned while ignoring the whole forest of trees that blinds its members from seeing anything beyond their own prejudices. They are not standing up for biblical principles, or for Christ, they are merely condemning themselves by their own actions. And for those of us who are evangelicals, it seems to me that we have just one responsibility at this time – to stand with the lesbian and gay community and condemn outright this atrocious behaviour.

Imagine what it would be like if, instead of encountering a hate-filled community, the world encountered a community of evangelicals who hold to the whole of Christ’s scriptures, including the bits we prefer to ignore, such as ‘do not judge’. Imagine a community which, in the face of a crowd of Pharisees wanting to kill, like Jesus gently proclaims, ‘neither do I condemn you, now leave your life of sin’. Imagine a community which, instead of preaching hatred towards Heath Ledger, warmly acknowledges his contribution to entertainment. Wouldn’t that be something the church could be proud of? Not because we have sold out to the world, but because we are sold out to the radical gospel of Jesus Christ, a gospel that challenges us to our roots, before it challenges the world.

Justin Thacker, Head of Theology

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