I’m beginning to think that most politics, particularly from the left, represents emotion over reason. A famous opinion statement from Ann Hathaway currently circulates the internet that amounts to the following:
“There are people who have said that i’m being brave for being openly supportive of gay marriage, gay adoption, basically of gay rights but with all due respect I humbly dissent, i’m not being brave, i’m being a decent human being. And I don’t think I should receive an award for that or for merely stating what I believe to be true, that love is a human experience not a political statement, however, I acknowledge that sadly we live in a world where not everybody feels the same. My family and I will help the good fight continue until that long awaited moment arrives, when our rights are equal and when the political limits on love have been smashed.”
Even in her own statement, she speaks of "political limits on love", which counters her argument that love isn't something political, but I digress. I have to wonder to which of my beliefs she might happen to take exception all the while talking about love and rights and freedom. The truth however contains much more data than that, and with all due respect to Miss Hathaway, whom I liked as a younger actress, this is far from humble. Expressing your opinions publicly requires a bit of arrogance, particularly when it’s controversial, and jumping into a political issue, particularly if you run for office, means you must at least be a little arrogant. Humble people don’t like to volunteer their opinions, and that's all that Miss Hathaway has done- render an opinion.
From the data available, I am not convinced that Hathaway is anything more than just another person who isn’t interested in the truth. Rather, she strikes me with this quote as someone who secretly hopes the truth will happen to corroborate what she already believes. The only reason I can find for her advocacy of homosexuality is the fact that her older brother is a homosexual . She seems to demand that people support what she would like them to support rather than what they ought. After all, that’s very typical of teenagers (Anne was 15 when she learned this of her brother), which led her to leave her Faith and abandon organized religion altogether. This is not a mark of a serious believer in a divine being. It is no mark of maturity to say “give me what I want or I will be a miscreant”. In fact, she rationalizes this behavior, saying, "I realised my older brother was gay, and I couldn't support a religion that didn't support my brother. Now I call myself a nondenominational Christian (NDC), because I haven't found the religion for me" (Lipworth, Elaine (December 19, 2010). "The Rise of Queen Anne". Sunday Telegraph Magazine 'Stella'). In my experience, many NDCs are people who want to impose their will on God rather than being submissive to His. They want God to tell them they are right rather than what is right. Her final statement in that last quote shows her immature attitude when she talks about “the religion for me”. What about the true Faith? I am not convinced she can handle the truth. Either the Faith is true or it isn’t, and if it is, then the choices made my members of that Faith are mistakes made by men and not by the Author. After all, we are human. The moral man looks at Tenants of the Faith and says, "Oh, I should not kill, therefore I will change my Beliefs to conform." One reason why many people may dislike organized religion is because evil men, looking at the same Tenants say instead, "I don't like that, so I will build a Faith around my Beliefs" when he should align his Beliefs with the Tenants of Faith as given by its Author.
Contrary to her assertion, this isn’t brave of Miss Hathaway. This is personal, emotional, and political. I am willing to cede the notion that she truly loves her brother as she understands love, but there are four loves, and the highest form of love desires what is best for the other person, not what that person thinks is best. Perhaps that’s why so few of us exhibit that love, because so few of us know what’s best for anyone, particularly ourselves. The only way I would buy this is if Miss Hathaway had come out of the box swinging as an advocate for homosexuality before it was known that her brother was one. You don't really care about injustice unless you cry out against it when it involves strangers and people you don't like. Name someone Miss Hathaway has defended who is a stranger or an enemy to her, and I will buy her premise, but the data is as yet insufficient to reject my null hypothesis that her advocacy of homosexuality is political.
When I was a teenager, a friend of mine whose name I will not share introduced me to some literature and notions that tugged at the core of my beliefs. I had questions I could not answer. My parents had nothing to offer, the books I read had nothing to offer, and my prayers did not generate what I hoped to clarify the issue. Rather than responding as Miss Hathaway did, I went to my bishop, and I confessed my sins- all of them. I had written all of them down on a legal-size notepad, which I read to him line by line, sin upon sin. He chuckled, he frankly forgave me on behalf of the Lord, and then he told me this, which I say with the same amount of humility as Miss Hathaway: “If you do not make it into the Kingdom of God, I do not know anyone who stands a chance…You are like a finely-tuned radio, and I promise that if you listen, God will help you distinguish error from truth.” I went home, studied and prayed more, and the answers came, and I have never left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for it is true. Since then, when my beliefs have countered church teachings, I have taken them to my Maker, and when He corrects and directs me, I submit to His will. Behold, I am a Disciple of Jesus Christ, the son of God, and the fullness of my intent is that I may persuade men to come to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and be saved. Consider it a standing invitation.
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