Does "It Get Better" for Christians?

The “It Gets Better” campaign aims at convincing LGBT teens that life spent openly gay can comprise complete happiness filled with the usual accouterments of human flourishing such as committed relationships, children and social acceptance. It does so in an attempt to deter teens who struggle with sexual identity from harming themselves due to despair over their sexual orientation (or they might say, ‘intolerant’ views of that orientation) and from losing hope over living fulfilling lives.

But while no-one wants any teen to lose a sense of their inherent dignity, or be bullied for any reason, it is just as potentially detrimental to LGBT teens for the media to allay the risks of living an active homosexual lifestyle for the sake of showing youth what their lives ‘could be’ and that ‘it gets better’ for them as time goes on. Statistically speaking, it does not get better with regards to health.

To neglect to inform teenagers of the disproportionate health problems prevalent within the gay community neither genuinely affirms their intrinsic human worth nor is it particularly compassionate. The media’s hush-hush approach to this topic for the sake of political correctness actually destroys many lives needlessly. If we truly love our gay brothers and sisters, the message should be the one of the Church: love yourself enough not to engage in detrimental behavior.

But Christians are lambasted, absolutely lambasted for this message and by the same bully-pulpit media who preaches absolute and unquestioning acceptance for homosexuality.

And so I must ask: since it is getting better for homosexuals (apparently) is it also getting better for you if you are a Christian? The following questions may help us discern an answer:

• In this day and age, do people view Christianity in a more positive light or a negative one?
• Is the media currently making a point not to “offend” Christians by including Christian-sensitive content in their broadcasts?
• Are there coalitions and watch dog groups set up to make sure that Christianity is always spoken of positively on college campuses?
• Do safeguards exist to make sure that one is not discriminated against for being a Christian when applying for a job or career?
• Are our judicial courts tenaciously upholding the right of Christian organizations to adhere to their religious principles as they provide public services such as adoption?
• Are the consciences of Christian medical providers, psychologist and pharmacists being respected or forcibly violated through legislation?
• Is “Christian tolerance” being encouraged in anti-bullying programs?
• Is there a curriculum in public schools fostering knowledge and respect for the tenets of Christianity starting in kindergarten?
• Are Christian parents given the right to withdraw children from class units whose content conflicts with their beliefs?
• Can government judiciary buildings display the Ten Commandments without fear of being sued for blurring the so-called separation of Church and state?
• Are Christian organizations allowed to engage in the democratic process without being blacklisted and vilified as “phobic” or fearful about something?
• Are Christian students being allowed or forbidden to mention Jesus in valedictorian graduation addresses?
• Are people ever fired from their jobs when they utter anti-Christian slurs?
• Have Christians been allowed to run TV ad spots promoting their “agenda” with the same frequency as opposing ideologies?
• Can our political campaigns count on financing by the Hollywood elite?
• Do we have a designated Christian-pride month yet?


The answers to the above questions speak for themselves. It most definitely is not getting better for Christians, at least in a worldly sense. But happiness, for us, is viewed rather differently than it is by the media. It’s not in amassing temporal goods and social acceptance, it’s about living according to God’s law, of which natural law also partakes. Only when we do so can our lives and those of our gay brothers and sisters be truly fulfilled.

Therefore, Christians do believe it does gets better for them, we just may not be able to see and measure it in this life. And thank God for that, I say. If it were measurable either by popular opinion or favorable court decisions, then how empty a “good” or “better” it would be.