Mercy, and the Bathroom Bill Controversy

By: Kris I.

The Letter of James is not a book of the New Testament that I have spent much time reading let alone studying, but I found a verse that stuck with me: “For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment,” (2:13).  I love that phrase, “mercy triumphs over judgment.” Think about it – mercy, the quality that is sometimes thought of as a weakness, will triumph over judgment.

I have been hearing a lot of judgment from the Christian community regarding our LGBT brothers and sisters.  There has been opposition to gay and lesbian marriage and lately support of  laws that have passed regarding transgender people and public bathrooms.  Do we all need to carry our birth certificates with us in order use public bathrooms?  Is that really the best use of our police and legal system to monitor the use of public bathrooms?  Is that really going to protect us from … what?

I was listening to the Sunday Weekend Edition on NPR and the host, Rachel Martin, interviewed a pastor of a Baptist Church in Texas, Pastor Mark Wingfield.  Pastor Wingfield decided that he and his church would be better served by getting the facts about the LGBT community, and especially transgender individuals because of the recent “bathroom laws”, before making any judgments.  He wanted to learn the best way for his community of faith to respond to these issues.  After getting all the facts, Pastor Wingfield published an article/blog about the seven things he learned, including the fact that transgender people are not more likely to be pedophiles, a claim that has been touted as a reason for “bathroom laws”.  The typical profile of a pedophile is a heterosexual male, who is most likely to be married.  He stated that if we are all created in the image of God, how can we discount people because of the way they were created?  Pastor Wingfield concluded his interview by saying, “We as Christians, as a church, are called upon to be a voice for those who do not have a voice.” This is an example of mercy triumphing over judgment.  We are called to merciful and to stand up against the judgments, sometimes made hastily or without full knowledge, of all people whose voice has been silenced, disregarded or demeaned because they are different.