In 1999, President Bill Clinton officially declared the month of June to be recognized as “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.”
President Obama and President Biden in 2009 and 2021, respectively, expanded Pride Month into what it is today: “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month.”
While society was certainly aware of these behaviors long before the year 1999, the official recognition and celebration of these lifestyles for an entire month has been a continual slap in the face to God’s created order.
Dr. Everett Piper, a former university president, radio host, and speaker has accurately noted that the month of June dangerously celebrates what has been traditionally known as one of the seven most deadly sins: pride.
“In case you’ve forgotten, up until about five minutes ago, in the course of human history, pride was listed as one of the seven deadly sins. But that is no longer the case. Rather than being considered sacrilege, pride is now sanctified. Pride has become America’s ultimate virtue. Pride is now our nation’s summum bonum. Pride is our highest good. Not courage. Not chivalry. Not modesty, maternity, sacrifice, chastity, family or fatherhood. Not confession or repentance, but pride. Pride is our trump card against all other hands.”
Numerous portions of Scripture warn against those who puff themselves up with pride. James 4:6 declares that God is opposed to those who are proud. Proverbs 8:13 says,
“To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.”
The fear of the Lord is to hate what God hates – pride, arrogance, and evil behavior.
The celebration and participation of behaviors that are adamantly opposed to God’s created order (Romans 1; Ephesians 5; 1 Corinthians 6) most definitely falls under the categories of pride, arrogance, and evil behavior.
This is why Dr. Robert P. George founded the month of June as Fidelity Month, “a positive, grassroots movement to heal division and restore unity in our nation. It celebrates June as a season of recommitment to God, our spouses and families, our communities, and country.”
According to Dr. George,
“We have an obligation … to be faithful in the ways that we need to be faithful – faithful to God, faithful to our spouses and families, faithful to our countries and communities – if we want to continue and have our children continue and our grandchildren continue to enjoy the blessings of living in this blessed land.”
Dr. George is absolutely right: fidelity, not pride, is the true virtue to uphold and promote.
Fidelity, in fact, is the very opposite of pride.
While pride looks to one’s own interests and desires (Phil 2:3), fidelity is self-sacrificing and looks to the interests of others (Phil. 2:4).
While pride prioritizes one’s own self-worth, fidelity looks outward in faithfulness to someone else.
This month of June, instead of focusing on the sickness in our culture which loves what God hates and hates what God loves, let us instead focus on how we as Christians can better serve God and love others through the virtue of fidelity.
As John Stonestreet and Dr. Timothy D. Padgett of the Colson Center note,
“Even if the rainbow flags are flying around you this June, remember: Fidelity is far better for you, your family, your nation, and the world than ‘pride.’”
