QOTD: Courtney Lawes on acceptance
“And by the way If you’re going to say you’re accepting of everyone then be accepting of everyone, not just the people you agree with.”
— (rugby player) Courtney Lawes
Source: Lawes defends Vunipola freedom-of-speech | RugbyPass
Full quote:
“I don’t have a faith like yourself my brother so I don’t share the same views in this matter but I do believe you should be able to voice your own opinions and beliefs as you see fit.
“To everyone getting worked up about these post I ask you if you don’t believe in the same things as them then what do these statements matter to you? Can we not disagree with someone without calling them a bigot or a homophobe or every other name under the sun?
“And by the way If you’re going to say you’re accepting of everyone then be accepting of everyone, not just the people you agree with.”
This is in reference to a specific incident, but it certainly has much wider application! The irony is that it is – as is too-often the case, these days – the supposedly tolerant "liberals" and Leftists that are up-in-arms about supposedly anti-LGBT (actually merely family-friendly, and supportive of traditional mores) comments on social media by a few members of the rugby community.
I have said much the same on a number of occasions and in a number of fora: if you are going to position and present yourself as being in favor of "diversity," "tolerance," and "inclusion," it is a sad irony when you refuse to afford others the right to their own opinions. Yet that is the modus operandi of much of the modern Left.
Those who make no claim to be tolerant of what they see as sins and vices – especially when they are promoted as being worthy of acceptance and even praise – at least have the virtues of consistency, frankness, intellectual honesty, and the courage of their convictions. Those who claim to be tolerant while, in fact, being anything but, have no such authenticity.
Old-school, classical liberals, of the "I may not agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it," would presumably be very disappointed in their present-day successors! At least, I hope they would...
For the record, I am of the opinion that what consenting adults get into, sexually, is their own business, being between them, their understanding of God, and their spiritual counselor or advisor, if any.
Unless, of course, they make it my business, either by requesting my spiritual counsel – in which case I will provide it, honestly but hopefully with compassion – or by throwing it in my face, and the face of society, of which I am a part, insisting that disordered passions be "affirmed" or even "celebrated."
Then I may have no choice but to speak up.