Last month, I noted the greeting that a Christian group received when they arrived for a week-long retreat in San Francisco. (A sample, courtesy of Assemblyman Mark Leno: “[T]hey’re loud, they’re obnoxious, they’re disgusting, and they should get out of San Francisco.”).

A gentleman named Paul Jimerson took issue with my highlighting the rude welcome put out by the supposed world capitol of tolerance. Here’s his e-mail, with my responses interspersed:

Hello Mr.Maloney,

As a liberal, progressive and especially as a resident of San Francisco I was most interested in reading your interpretation of the events you detail in your “Tolerance and Hospitality, San Francisco-Style” editorial.  After reading your article I thought about it for a few minutes and would like to share with you my thoughts on the matter.

First, Evangelical Christians who choose to come to San Francisco do so because they’re looking for a fight ....or for a confrontation at least.  By bringing their message to San Francisco they were attempting to soil our progressive nest with what we see as hate speech.

So, what you’re saying is, your “progressive nest” has no room for people who disagree with you. And that people who disagree with you are engaging in “hate speech.”

They had no intention of proselytizing or converting people.  Their actions were provocative and antagonistic....the only metaphor that seems appropriate is “flipping the bird”.  I hardly think that any of those in attendance  were surprised by the reception they met.  A lot of the people here came from small towns and I’m sure a lot of them came here to escape the animosity and hatred of the Evangelical Christians in their home town.  They were victimized, humiliated, beaten, and despised by Evangelical or other Christians until they came here.

All Christians are brutal thugs who beat people up. I’m glad to see that “progressives” have moved beyond the simple-minded stereotyping that exists everywhere else in America.

The counter-protesters were superior in number and they could have done anything they wanted with the Evangelical group who would have been helpless against them.  If you consider how Evangelicals have treated homosexuals throughout history in the countless situations where the homosexuals were the helpless ones, I’d say that your Evangelical Christians were treated VERY WELL.  I bet they didn’t even get spit on.

Wow! San Francisco is tolerant! You don’t beat people up who disagree with you! And you might not even spit on them, but you’re not sure about that.

Consider the following hypothetical scenario .... a small group of gay and lesbian activists come to a small very religious town and start making speeches and  broadcasting sentiment that condemns evangelical Christians for nothing more than being evangelical and christian....while this goes on they pass out leaflets that state un-categorically that God hates evangelical Christians because they engage in un-natural cannibalistic practices every Sunday.....Cannibalism hasn’t been socially acceptable for thousands of years and only the most savage and primitive of peoples today practice it (or so the fliers would say) and those who still eat human flesh ought to be wiped off the face of the earth for the good of all mankind.  After making their speeches and passing out their leaflets the group then proceed to hold a noisy protest/rally on the steps of the nearest big church in town. While they are there they form an effective block of the entrance and nobody can get in or out of the Church until they leave.

That’s a rather extreme hypothetical scenario I’m sure you would agree but these are extreme times and the scenario’s events were intended to be as offensive to you as the Evangelicals visit to San Francisco was to us.  If such a thing should ever take place in small town America what kind of reaction do you think they might receive from the town if/when they came back the next year to do the same thing?  How about the third year?  There would be blood shed and it wouldn’t take long either.  You know it and I know it and it’s typical of Christian tolerance or others and good will towards man.

I’m having a little trouble understanding your bizarre fantasy. On the one hand, you condemn a fictional town for being intolerant of gays in your hypothetical scenario, but at the same time, you applaud San Francisco for being intolerant of Christians in reality.

Either you want a country where a group of citizens can meet openly wherever they want without being harassed, or you don’t. Which is it?

And, I must congratulate you once again for showing such a great understanding of what it means to be a “progressive.” Being a progressive used to mean that you’ve progressed beyond hateful stereotypes. But you’ve just replaced one set of stereotypes with another. Can’t you see that you’re exactly the same as someone who hates a gay person simply for being gay?

I mean your position is rather funny actually.  Christians come to San Francisco and do little more than flip the bird at the entire gay community .. they do it every year on a schedule and then complain when people here get upset about it and give voice to their anger.   If the Perpetual Sisters of Indulgence got dressed up in their full regalia and marched through downtown Biloxi, Mississippi or Birmingham Alabama, all the while shaking their butts in the faces of the city’s residents and carrying on like the outlandish queens they are, taunting and ridiculing the people for being heterosexual, I seriously doubt that all of them would leave those cities alive.... such a thing couldn’t even take place without the National Guard coming in and lining the streets.  That is how tolerant you folks on the right are and you know it.

Yes, everyone on the right is exactly the same. They’re a bunch of intolerant neanderthal murderers. Thanks for pointing this out repeatedly. I was beginning to get the mistaken impression that people should be judged as individuals. But that’s pretty time-consuming. Your technique of condemning large masses of society is much more efficient.

If we on the left were as kind as you some Evangelical Christians would have perished when they first started coming here.  I think it might even be a good idea for the Evangelical Christians who came here to write a thank you note to San Francisco for treating them so well.  They should be especially thankful they didn’t receive a more christian welcome.  I’m a firm believer in treating people in the same manner they have shown to me.  It’s lucky for you that the gay and lesbian community here don’t hold to that philosophy, or the Christians would have all left here for the nearest hospital.  Please don’t misunderstand me ......I don’t engage in or condone violence Mr. Maloney.  I don’t savagely beat people who are different from the norm in my society.  But I have been beaten because I was the different one.  When you folks come here you’re the different ones, and yet we do not beat you for it.

Well, I’m very sorry to hear that you were beaten simply for being who you are. There’s no excuse for that, and I hope whoever did it got what was coming to them, several times over.

I am also very sorry that the lesson you’ve drawn from this is to assume that anyone who calls themselves a Christian is a hate-monger who will beat you up. If you dislike the stereotyping that led to your beating, then why do you continue to engage in it yourself?

It’s funny...... we on the left literally turn the other cheek when struck, we did not treat you as we have been treated by you.  Christian principles come naturally to those on the left it seems even though the last thing I would ever call myself is a Christian.  You should read what Gandhi said about Christians and Christianity sometime.   I couldn’t agree with him more. 

Sincerely,

Paul Jimerson

Thanks for the e-mail, Paul. I hope your future is happier than your past has been.