Christian Values

Reuters reports that 20 states have now enacted "religious freedom" laws, and I see from CNN that the Arkansas senate has just passed a similar law. Finally, I have put my finger on what bothers me about those laws.

It appears that these laws are at least partly being supported by conservative Christians who want to preserve the rights of business owners to deny service to people whose lifestyles disagree with their Christian faith. It's an effort to guarantee these business owners the right to uphold their Christian values.

So just exactly what "Christian values" might these be?

The one constant in these news stories seems to be that conservative Christians want to preserve their right to tell other people what they cannot do.

Jesus, by contrast, focused almost entirely on prescriptions for what I should do. He never once encouraged me to try to control the behavior of any other person.

Let's recall Micah 6:8 (NIV): "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Similarly, Matthew 7:1-2 says, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

God does not require us to make a list of things that others are not permitted to do. Rather, he wants us to follow a fairly simple list of what we, ourselves, should do.

Those who focus on thou-shalt-not pronouncements about the behavior of others, ignoring the thou-shalts that Jesus actually spoke, are not trying to uphold Christian values.