Phil Robertson of the hit A&E television show, Duck Dynasty, hits the nail on the head with this one. This is actually a topic I am pretty passionate about, and have, on more than one occasion, considered making ranty youtube videos about.
It's the false and ignorant assumption which most of society (including many non-Catholic Christians) make, that just because we may not agree with something someone does, means we hate them, wish ill upon them, or condemn them to an eternity of hell fire. This may be true for some fire and brimstone or radical believers, but it is not so for most Catholics and other similarly moral religions. In fact, I for one, was taught from as little as I can remember to "Love the sinner, hate the sin." Let's take a look at this statement for a moment...
Love the sinner: Jesus tells us over and over again to love one another, to treat others how we would want them to treat us and to cast not the first. Judge not, yet ye be judged comes to mind. I am not a perfect person and I am not innocent of judging others. I am a sinner. However, I do not automatically hate someone because they are a homosexual or because they have premarital sex or because they live in a way that goes against the teachings of my faith. There are many good people in this world who "live in sin." Guess what, that sin, is between them and God and has absolutely nothing to do with me. I do not have to love the fact that my child draws on the walls to still love my child.
That being said, it doesn't mean I am going sit here and say. "Sure, do whatever you want. Live in a sin. Go against the Lord. It doesn't affect me, so why should I care?" Did God not tell Cain that yes, in fact, he is his brothers keeper, and his brother is his? We are all children of Christ whether we've accepted him into our lives or not. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ as Cain and Able were brothers to one another, and therefor, yes, it is my job to try and help you be right with the Lord.
I will not apologize for saying, "This goes against the Lord and I love you and so does he and we do not want to see you be separated from him," with my actions and my voice. It is because the church loves you that they stand up to try and keep you from making the mistakes that separate you from the Holy Trinity. There is NO HATE in this but rather MORE LOVE than is quantifiable. So much love, in fact, that we are willing to take the never yielding persecution so that our message of love and guidance can always reach those who need to hear it.
Hate the sin: Sin is ugly. Sin is what separates us from all that is right and holy. I am by no means innocent. I sin every single day of my life. But when I shut my eyes at night, I know that God loves me. I know the angles, the saints, the blessed mother, they love me. They forgive me. They pray for me. I do not hate myself for the sins I commit. I hate my actions. I hate that my daughter draws on the walls and touches things I have asked her repeatedly not to touch. But I love her anyways. She is my child. My blood. My flesh. As we are Gods children. His blood. His flesh. He loves us despite the fact that we do what he asks us not to every. single. day. Hate is defined as a strong disliking of something. I hate that ANYONE is apart from the Lord. I hate it, because I have what they call, "give a damn." I care about you. I care about myself, and it's because of this caring and this love that I hate to see you or anyone else separate yourselves from our awesome God.
So what I am going to ask of you is this, if you find yourself reading this and you are not of my faith, please don't hate me for loving God and for loving you and wanting to see you do right by yourself and I promise not to hate you for injuring my Heavenly Father with your actions. We can all live in peace together, I want this with all of my being, but that doesn't mean I will ever stop encouraging you to be right with my God because I know my God wants to be right with you.
-Blessings
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