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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 14, 2024

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There's a difference between humility and humiliation.

The CEO of a McDonalds choosing to spend a day at the fryer getting shouted at by customers is humbling himself; so is the Pope washing feet. He's the Pope! Even now, one of the most powerful men on earth. Likewise if, say, JK Rowling were to anonymously attend a writing group and read my awful prose because someone did the same for her once upon a time.

Jesus Christ, the son of God, part of the Trinity, letting himself be crucified by a mob is humbling himself. He is deliberately not taking the position that his nature entitles him to, but taking on our burdens because he chooses to.

In this day and age, Christianity does not enjoy a high reputation among the mighty. The sassy gay man can get any Christian he likes fired at any time, purely by accusing him of saying something homophobic. Silent prayer near a girl getting her abortion can get you arrested. Under such circumstances

a Mexican police officer washing the feet of a black man wearing gold chains in an alley; a “preppy” normie-coded girl washing the feet of an alt girl; a cowboy washing the feet of aNative American; a woman washing the feet of a girl seeking an abortion (with pro-life activists sidelined, their signs upside down); an oil worker washing the feet of an environmental activist; a woman washing the feet of an illegal migrant; a Christian woman washing the feet of a Muslim; and a priest washing the feet of a sassy gay man

does not show the mighty being humbled, it reifies the social pecking order. And it throws Christian teaching and Christians themselves under the bus to do so.

Christians are commanded to humble themselves regardless of their station, and are commanded to accept humiliation in service to their Lord, in addition to other forms of mistreatment, imprisonment, torture and death. Not all Christians are good at doing this, but the instructions are quite clear. Whether the sassy gay man can or does get a Christian fired, Christians are still required to love him, to repay evil with good, to not take revenge. That's a mouthful to put into an ad, hence the washing of feet.

it reifies the social pecking order.

Christianity does not aim to overturn the social pecking order through a revolution of the pecked. It accepts being pecked upon, and declines to peck back. That is Christian teaching, which is why most of the complaints from actual Christians are not about Christians being humiliated, but about whether the ad is condoning sin. It is not, in my opinion, but the concern is an understandable one.