stridency

Last week when the California representative for the Miss America contest suggested that her idea of marriage was that it was a union between a man and a woman, the gay judge who asked the question proceeded to publicly denounce her with expletives not fit for reproduction here. Most agree it cost her winning the title.

Stridency.

When Proposition 8 "overturned" the redefinition of marriage to reflect the majority of Californian's belief that it is indeed a union between a man and a woman, those who fianncially supported the measure had their businessed disrupted and their lives threatened.

Stridency.
At the Oscar Awards this year Sean Penn, the actor, made it clear that those who were opposed to gay marriage were ignorant, intolerant and unfit to be true Americans.

Stridency.
Webster defines stridency as "charcterized by a harsh, insistent and discordant sound; commanding attention by a loud or obtrusive quality."

It seems incredulous that the call of those for tolerance and "civil rights" is so intolerant and uncivil. The stridency of their sound bites is so vitriolic and acrimonious that it reveals a deep hatred and antimony towards those who oppose them.

As I consider such anger and hostility I recognize within myself my own emotional mindset against such stridency and have to lobby my feelings so I do not fall prey to the same behavior I deplore.

I feel the same stridency about what I believe--in this case, what the majority have affirmed (although that pales in comparison to the authority of God's Word)--but I wish to respond with love and kindness to those who would rail against us. It is God's Word that tells us "A gentle answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger", Proverbs 15:1.