Indulge me for a moment as I’m compelled to weigh in on the Larry Craig saga. While some may believe that religion is the cause of most conflict and misery in the world, I attribute it to intolerance: Intolerance to differences in ethnicity, gender, beliefs, and yes, sexual orientation. Intolerance drives people to hate, to discriminate, and to acts of violence. Sadly, the most self-righteous people on this planet can be the most intolerant. In the cases of Larry Craig and Ted Haggard, their intolerance of their own sexual orientation drove them to public lives of hypocrisy.I can only imagine the internal conflict – believing so deeply that a behavior is sinful and vile and then committing those very acts after the sermon. The ensuing guilt then drove them to even more extreme rhetoric, in the bizarre logic that somehow the proselytizing would be penance for a previous night’s hedonistic indulgence. They each must have lived in a constant state of fear knowing their self-destruction was inevitable. What a pathetic life.
I’m sad for Larry Craig and Ted Haggard because of the misery they and their loved ones are going through. But I’m also sad for all of us because of a missed opportunity. The Larry Craigs and Ted Haggards of the world could have built a bridge of tolerance and understanding, creating a basis for a more enlightened discussion on family values and personal freedoms. Instead they chose to burn that bridge at every turn even though each of them would ultimately need that bridge to be understood and accepted.
We’re faced with so many important issues in the world right now that I can only hope Larry Craig’s travails will put an end to the political platforms of intolerance.
