The Humanity of Anti-Kavanaugh Protesters
Brett Kavanaugh has been confirmed to the Supreme Court. It was something the likes of which our nation has never seen. But the novelty isn't over yet, as the reactions, and the reactions to the reactions, continue to pour in. Division is increasing and it is toxic.
The unhappiness, the pain, the complete and total emotional breakdowns America is witnessing from anti-Kavanaugh protesters are explosive. There is the video of a protester shouting "NAUGH" with every ounce of energy from every fiber of their being. There are women holding hands and singing about the fight not being over, sporting that Planned Parenthood shirt. There is the iconic image of a woman crying, so upset she couldn't give the journalist her name. Or the headline that the Republican party is now the "party of rape." Or the new lipstick brand "F*ck Kavanaugh" with proceeds fighting sexual assault.
Conservatives on Facebook and social media are having a grand time, really enjoying it, making fun people's irrational reactions. And the reactions are irrational. But these people are not insane, they are hurting. They are no more insane than every other human who descends into a pit of brokenness at times. And they are being treated like a viral video of a cat chasing its tail. But do their outbursts, however overblown, really warrant scorning judgmental commentary? Should their pain be turned into our pleasure – making fun of them and feeling how much more rational, sophisticated, and proudly American we are?
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Conservatives don't always mean to be insensitive. For example, Eric Metaxas too hastily referred to the noise of begruntled, despairing protesters as demons shrieking in the Senate gallery, knowing their time is up. He really should have clarified. Even if he does believe there are evil forces active in the modern day afflicting people, that would be all the more reason to explain that Christians desire healing, freedom, and deliverance, peace and shalom. Christ drove out demons and accepted the broken and societal outcasts – from Mary Magdalene, to Zacchaeus, to the Samaritan Woman at the Well. We must be careful with our words to demonstrate love and mercy and understanding, even if it requires the sacrifice of oversensitivity in our word choice. No matter how they are acting, these people are not a lost cause. And conservatives do not help them by treating them as such. They may not be ready to listen to reason; their arguments may make no sense, but they need not our reason, they need love.
Is there not a way to call out the truth and irrationality – to acknowledge the inappropriate nature of their outbursts from the perspective of both emotion and reason, with more respect for them as human persons, made in the image of God? So many Christians are delighted with Kavanuagh out of hope that he will help the pro-life cause. But in the worthy quest to respect the humanity of the unborn, have we forgotten the humanity of the born-who-disagree? If we took a more peacemaking approach, we could still maintain our opinions, but try to reach out with kindness.
I do not have a secret formula for doing so. I don't know what it fully looks like to love and affirm these people who are making their pain so visible. But I know what it doesn't look like. It doesn't look like mocking them, shaming them, and sharing about how much they have lost it. Maybe it could look like praying for them, befriending them, genuinely looking for common ground, taking time to listen even when their arguments are unfounded.
We all talk about the divisiveness of the American political climate, and we are playing into it. Isn't it easier to love the little innocent child in the womb than a possibly post-abortive, screaming, crying woman before us? And yet until we learn to love her better, will we really build a culture of life in which we have a chance to protect the unborn?
Overturning Roe v. Wade is important to Christian pro-lifers, but it does not really get to the root of the problem. It will not end abortion in America. If Kavanaugh is a piece of overturning Roe vs. Wade, then the decision will return to the states, which will make their own various laws about abortion. There will likely be an increase in "tourism abortion" across interstate lines, and a black market of the abortion pill in states where abortion is illegal.
The goal is not just overturning a court ruling, but transforming hearts, and that includes our own.
