It doesn’t offend us when you say we’re heretics
Though it would be cool if at some point we could all outgrow name-calling.
We run an ad on Facebook. Just one little ad that almost never changes, to let folks know there’s a progressive faith community here online in case they can’t find one in their geographical area. Most of the new people we welcome to Harbor find us through the ad.
So do most of the haters.
Facebook’s ever-changing advertising rules don’t help. We used to have our ad targeted so that the only people who ever saw it were professed fans of Rachel Held Evans, Barbara Brown Taylor, and other wonderful Harbor-like figures. That type of targeting feature went away, and suddenly everyone and their feral John MacArthur-loving uncle was seeing it.
The comment section on our ad came alive, alive with the charges of heresy, false prophet-ness, and damnation. We were criticized for so many allegations: celebrating sin, abandoning the Bible, and I think there was one that said we were killing babies.
So this is just a brief open letter to all fundamentalist and evangelical haters, to share three quick thoughts about the cruel (or “loving” as you would call it) things you say to us:
We would rather you disapprove than approve of us
If we could choose between conservative evangelicals calling us a wonderful church that is doing everything perfectly or a dangerous band of heretics, we’d choose the latter. It not only sounds cooler, but according to the warped rubric of US White patriarchal heteronormative evangelicalism, we are proudly heretics.
In other words, saying these things to us is an encouragement for us to keep doing what we’re doing.
Charges of heresy always go both ways and thus have no meaning
In the Old Testament, there are plenty of prophets—some of them real, some of them false. In many of the stories, the real ones are rebuking and condemning the false ones, while the false ones are rebuking and condemning the real ones.
So for you to say we’re false prophets isn’t quite the own you think it is. There were plenty of times that the royal prophets, more concerned with assuaging the guilt of the kings (read: White affluent suburban tithers) than in following God’s ways, called people false prophets.
You’re an adult, man, so maybe stop trolling people online
When you see an ad for something you disagree with, I’m not sure if you know this, but there’s no rule that says you have to jump in and be super mean. It is super mean to tell people they’re going to hell. It’s super mean to tell people their identity is an abomination to God. You act like you’re on God’s side while being super mean to people.
In the 20 seconds it takes you to read our ad, formulate a super mean response, and type it, you could have…
Prayed for us, or someone you actually care about
Memorized a Bible verse (about not judging)
Sent a text of encouragement to someone who needs it
In summary: your words don’t hurt us, they make us stronger. Find a kind way to spend your time.
Love,
Harbor
