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On becoming a phobiaphobe

  • FATHER DWIGHT LONGENECKER

I guess I have become a phobiaphobe.


rainbowflagssjI saw something on social media the other day attacking "homophobes, biphobes, transphobes and interphobes" I can only assume this refers to people who are afraid of homosexuality, bi-sexuality, transgenderism and I'm not sure what and "inter" might be.  Intersex?  I don't know, but I do know that I am afraid.

I'm not afraid of homosexual people or bi-sexual people or whatever stripe of the rainbow people might be, but I am afraid of all the new phobias.  I guess I have become a phobiaphobe.

I'm afraid of the new phobias because they are a form of hate speech/racism.

How so?  Well, every form of racism or prejudice is based on putting an individual into a box with a label and then identifying that person and everyone else in that box as a problem that needs a solution, and what makes me afraid is that the solution is usually the final solution and they're not putting people into boxes — they're putting them into boxcars.  They are no longer in this camp or that camp.  They're in an extermination camp.

Smacking the "phobia" label on people with whom you disagree is a case of sad and immature projection.  Who is really afraid?  The person who is afraid is the one who feels they must label, exclude, persecute and finally eliminate another person with whom they disagree.

This applies to folks on both sides of the rainbow divide.  LGBTQSJ activists who use pejorative labels like "homophobe" or "heteronormative" and those straight folks who label, blame and condemn people with other sexual proclivities.

Am I being too tolerant or too intolerant?  I don't think so.  On the whole sex and gender controversy I have no personal opinion other than the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  That reminds me that all persons should be treated with equal respect and compassion and it also teaches me that the gift of sexual activity is reserved for marriage — which is between one man and one woman for life.

This is Meaghen Gonzalez, Editor of CERC. I hope you appreciated this piece. We curate these articles especially for believers like you.

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Acknowledgement

longenecker Father Dwight Longenecker, "On becoming a phobiaphobe."Father Dwight Longenecker blog  (May 17, 2021)

This article is reprinted with permission from Father Dwight Longenecker.

Photo by Stavrialena Gontzou. 

The Author

hydratinyFather Dwight Longenecker serves as the pastor of Our Lady of the Rosary parish in Greenville, South Carolina. Father Longenecker studied for the Anglican ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and served for ten years in the Anglican ministry as a curate, a chaplain at Cambridge and a country parson. In 1995 he and his family were received into full communion with the Catholic Church. He is the author of more than twenty books including: Beheading Hydra, Praying the Rosary for Inner Healing, Listen My Son: St. Benedict for Fathers, More Christianity, Challenging Catholics: A Catholic Evangelical Dialogue, St. Benedict and St. Therese: The Little Rule & the Little Way, Mary: A Catholic-Evangelical Debate, and The Path to Rome. You can follow his writings, listen to his podcasts, join his online courses, browse his books, and be in touch at DwightLongenecker.com.

Copyright © 2021 Father Dwight Longenecker blog

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