Harmful labels

“So why are you still in the UMC?”

It stung when she asked me the question, her implication clear from the look on her face. I knew she was really asking: Why in the world would I—a Jesus-following, mission-minded Christian who reads the Bible daily and believes in the authority of Scripture—remain in a denomination that was, in her mind, going downhill?

A dozen responses threatened to spill from my lips.

Inside I was hurt, stewing, itching to fire back at her: What do you think you know about my church? About my faith? About my choices? What do you think the people of The United Methodist Church believe, anyway?

But I swallowed back my emotions.

It’s not the first time I’ve heard someone attack my faith for all the wrong reasons, slinging nasty, divisive untruths or polarizing accusations like poison darts meant to do one thing: tear down.

For 14 years I’ve served as the relatively moderate-minded editor of this newspaper, friends with both conservatives and progressives alike, yet shocked to hear the labels each side tosses at the other. Each side seem convinced the other is getting what Jesus taught wrong.

And in the center of it we’re creating so much angst, strife and turmoil the whole world is wondering why Christians spend so much time hating on each other instead of doing what Jesus said to do: love God and love other people.

Here’s one way we can help the problem: Stop with all the labels.

Stop calling someone or even yourself “conservative” or “liberal,” “progressive” or “traditionalist.” Think about how you use labels as shortcuts to wrap your head around someone’s theology, or your own. Consider instead whether you can spend less time labeling and more time truly understanding and talking with someone, getting to know them as a person and diving into what makes them who they are.

Labels can be incredibly damaging, and they run the risk of pigeon-holing us into false identities. They can affect how we see ourselves and place limits on our potential to do God’s work in this world.

Instead, let’s embrace each other as siblings, fellow followers of the Risen Lord, imperfect but striving anyway to know God better and do God’s work in this world. 

We can do better than harmful labels.