Is it true that "God hates fags"?
An open letter

by Fr. Sean A. Lotz

October 22, 1998

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am sure you are all familiar with the horror of the murder of Matthew Shepard, who was brutally pistol-whipped and left to die because he was gay. And unless you were more fortunate than most, you also saw in the news the "Christian" protestors across the street from his church where his funeral was held. These people some­how thought it impor­tant to stand in the snow bearing signs which read, "God hates fags," "He is in hell," "Matt was a sinner," and other such slogans. When I first saw the news photographs, I felt an impulse to convert to Buddhism so I would not be associated with such hatred, such arrogance, such spiritual ugliness. Of course, by the grace of God I am still a Christian.

This horrific episode raised many questions and objections in my soul. For example, since it is our primary job as citizens of the King­dom of God to spread and build that King­dom, or, to use language perhaps more familiar to those who waved the signs, to ful­fill the Great Com­mission, I am forced to ask: Just how many souls do they think they saved that ugly day? How can Christians deliberately choose to do any action that drives people further from the King­dom and the Heart of God? Better for them to tie a mill­stone around their necks and jump into a lake. At least then the fish would benefit.

Another obvious problem is the proclamation, so confidently, of Matthew's final state: "Matt is in hell." How, pray tell, do they know? Surely when he was baptized in the same church from which he was later too soon buried, he was placed in God's hands, claimed as God's own by God, and thus his fate is in God's heart and mind to decide? Obviously they think they are privy to special knowledge. But I, not being God or a resident of Hell, can not say with certainty that he is there.

My soul also cried out at the signs, completely unrelated and pointless, which proclaimed: "AIDS cures gays." This is especially cruel. In this country AIDS "cures" many heterosexuals and newborn infants too young to know what they are. Until this year, AIDS had been the leading single "cure" of young people, men and women, gay and straight, in this country. In large parts of Africa, it is the single most common "cure" of sinful humans in general, killing more people each year than any other individual disease or condition. Since when has it been part of our mandate as followers of Christ to show such insensitivity, such intentional cruelty, to so many suffering humans in all parts of the globe? We are not commanded by God to jab a knife into the heart of the father whose confused son has just died after months of misery, or to emotionally kick the old woman who was a grandmother for less than twelve grief-filled months.

Fortunately in the midst of this wrongness and cruelty was one small glimmer of humor. One of the protestors carried a placard that proclaimed, "Matt was a sinner." It may as well have said, "It's cold out here in the snow." We already knew that. Of course, his sinfulness resulted not from his being a homosexual but from his being a fallen human like all the rest of us.

Except for that last self-evident statement, none of their theology is right, none of it is the Gospel. None of their behavior can be called the will of God. But it seems to me that the most evil sign of all was the one that read "God hates fags." This is the theology of hell, and the author of this sentiment, a prophet of Satan himself.

To understand that such a sentiment could not possibly have come from God, consider Matthew 5:22.

But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult [say raka/ (rah-kah) to] a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, "You fool [mwre/ (moh-re)]," you will be liable to the hell of fire. (New Revised Standard Version)

Now the Aramaic word which is transliterated into the Greek as raka/, and generally translated into English as "fool," carries with it a whole equipage of Aramaic connotation and Jewish thought. To the Jews, the concept of "fool" did not mean someone of limited intelligence, but rather a person of deficient morals. And the word raka/ was, please notice, a word of derision, an insult, not a technical term. The same with mwre/. Although a Greek word, it had been used by the Jews of Jesus' time to indicate a fool, but with added overtones of "traitor," especially a traitor to the generally accepted moral code. And it too was a term of contempt and derision.

It is impossible not to see the similarity to the English word "fag." And it is impossible to believe that the same God who, through his Son who died on the Cross for us, taught that those who dismiss God's creatures with stereotyping words of contempt shall be liable to judgment, would approve of his sacred Name being used in the same sentence with such an ugly word of derision as "fag." This sign was not just rude, not just wrong, but a direct violation of a clear principle taught by our Lord.

But there is more. What reveals this statement as not just non-Christian, but actually anti-Christ, is the word "hates." Saying that God "hates" any of his humans is to deny the very activity of Christ and the basic nature of God. It is blasphemy of the highest order.

Certain Christians are fond of finding isolated verses of Scripture that they use to prove almost anything. Doing this, it is quite easy to show that God hates individuals or groups of persons. But Scripture must not ever be read this way. Nothing in it makes sense unless considered in the total context from Genesis to Revelation.

You see, we must keep in mind the essential difference between the Bible and Christ himself. The Bible consists of words about God: human words, expressing the human contact with God. By their nature, no matter how inspired they may be, and regardless of which theory of inspiration you may hold to, these human words are limited. They do their job precisely by limiting meaning. They express ideas through the medium of time-and-space experience that characterizes all of creation. They are wholly inadequate for describing God himself. But Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, is the very Word of God, the true expression of God's most intimate being. What the human words could not do God's own Word does. Rather than tell us about God, Jesus simply is God. And so in him we see the only complete and completely accurate expression of God's own nature available to us.

Some Christians will quote various verses of Scripture to prove their contention that God indeed hates certain individuals or persons. But then we look to Christ, and what do we see? We see Jesus curing ten lepers, one of whom was a hated Samaritan, a "dog" as the Jews of the time called them. These traitors to Jewishness were seen as utterly outside the pale of God's dealings, totally debarred from God's covenant and love. We look to Christ and what do we see? We see God himself on the Cross, not for a few but for all.

Consider the first epistle of St. John, chapter 4, verses seven and eight:

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. (NRSV)

This is a clear statement of God's own nature. But left to itself it is subject to all the frailties of human language. However, when we read it while looking at Jesus Christ on the Cross, the unlimited communication of God himself, we see what it means. God's very being is love. And this love is not limited or constrained. It is uncontainable, gushing out over the whole world with wild abandon. A basic theological tenet is that God is "simple." This means that he does not have parts, is not subdivided, and is not one thing at one time and something else at another. It means he has no emotions and passions as we understand them. He is the only truly simple entity in the universe. Therefore, to say "God is love" is to make an all-inclusive statement about God, not simply to describe one "part" of him. Any statement that implies that God is not simple, not completely love, denies his basic simplicity and creates a false god, an idol. To worship a god who "hates fags" is simple idolatry at best. At worst, it is something even more horrible. Who is it who hates? To worship a god of hate is to worship Satan himself.

Listen to what else St. John has to say:

Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come.... Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also. (1 John 2:18,22,23 NRSV)

What does it mean to deny that Jesus is the Christ? Surely it is to say that Jesus is not the full and perfect Word of God. When a Christian claims that God is capable of anything that denies the nature of God as seen in Christ, that person is denying the Son and, with him, the Father. This is the spirit of antichrist.

Perhaps my language has seemed a bit strong to you. After all, I have labeled some so-called Christians antichrist and Satan worshippers. That is exactly what I intend to have said. The sign proclaiming "God hates fags" was not a simple case of someone being mistaken, not exaggeration for the sake of effect. It was evil. It was theology straight from the pit of hell. Do you see? This is exactly what the Father of Lies wants us to believe. When God is proclaimed as being capable of hate, those people who have any degree of sanity must flee such a monster. To run from this sort of God is only logical. And thus the enemy of our souls is made glad, while our loving God and Father breaks his heart in sorrow over his lonely children.

Brothers and sisters, we Christians often like to call ourselves "spiritual warriors" or "soldiers of God's army." But so often our "warfare" deteriorates into fighting the "demons" that keep us from the prosperity we think we deserve or the happiness we crave. Honestly though, as Christians we can not expect to end our lives any more happy, healthy, or wealthy than did our Lord and example himself. Yet we are soldiers of God. We are called to fight the good fight with all our breath and blood. But against what are we to fight? Against evil, against the theology of hell, against those who would send our fellow humans running from the God who dies for them. Fight this fight every day and thus fulfill the will of God.

Each year in the Celtic Catholic Church on May 21 we observe the Fast of Constantine, when we fast, pray, and do penance for all the evils done by Christians in the name of God and of the Church. This is certainly something for us to remember and not forget between now and then. Believe me, there are countless people all over the world who saw the same news broadcasts you did who will never forget. They will never forget and may never come to know a loving God as a result. So don't wait until the next Fast. Repent now, on behalf of those who can not and will not repent. Pray now, for those who most need God's love. Fast to overcome the effects of evil and satanic theology in the world. And most of all, do penance by proclaiming God's love and the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. This is all we have to offer the world.

In Christ,

Fr. Sean Andrew Lotz