by Ian McKerracher

June is Pride Month in Canada. It is to celebrate a particular worldview and to acknowledge, ostensibly, universal acceptance of the tenets of that worldview. It uses the term “Pride” with an assumption of an idea of what they mean by it. Pride Month will usually have flags flying and rainbows painted and include a Pride Parade. The attentions of most Media at these Pride Parades are towards the ones who have disrobed and are prancing down the centre of the street in their next-to-nothings and sometimes in their nothings! The rest of the parade get little video time or ink. Is that what “Pride” is all about? Let’s explore the full array of meanings of the term so that we can have a well-rounded understanding of what we mean when we say “Pride”

When we look at a dictionary, we can get a sense of what we mean when we use the word. I looked at two dictionaries: the Merriam-Webster and the Oxford. The definitions are basically the same in each dictionary, though worded differently and in a different order in their respective list. That there is a list; that Pride has several meanings can get us into trouble. That means that we must take great care because multiple meanings can be a source for misunderstanding. I have decided on the Oxford Dictionary because…well, it’s the Oxford.

I am going to start with the easy one and it is the same from both dictionaries… The collective word of “a group of lions”. If you have ever seen a pride of lions laying around in the grass of the savannah of Africa or Asia, you sense something that reflects majesty. That may be one of two things. Either it is an illusion we give ourselves as we anthropomorphize these animals (to what purpose, I cannot say) or it is an example of the General Revelation of God who expresses his character through his creation (that purpose is well-documented in theological books). I am one who believes the second.

The second definition of the term is “a feeling of being pleased or satisfied that you get when you or people who are connected with you have done something well or own something that other people admire”. For this definition of Pride, I am going to focus on the collective sense instead of the individual. This is pride in some fortuitous circumstance where we are proud to be part of something bigger than us. In the military, the members of a certain regiment will feel a sense of this pride as they consider their part in the history and deeds of bravery connected to it. The same can be seen in the pride of an alma mater institute. A parent could feel pride when their child expresses their first googly sound that might be a word or first step on the way to learning how to run, or when the child plays their first (and every subsequent) concert solo, or when they strut across a stage, adorned with cap and gown, to accept their degree. Potentially, parenting is, obviously, a veritable goldmine for this sense of pride.

The third meaning “the feeling of respect that you have for yourself”. Notice that this is a sense of well-being, justified by some circumstance that you have created. I think that is important. If a tradesperson, for example, has done a good job and the finished product looks good, reflecting their professional prowess, they can have a certain pride in their accomplishment.  A child doing well on a school test, especially if it required some measure of effort, can be justified in their sense of self-esteem. 

The fourth definition of the word “Pride” is the one which is the most problematic. It is “the feeling that you are better or more important than other people”. This definition of Pride is the result of comparing ourselves with others and coming out on top, regardless of the truth. It has little to do with our accomplishments or possessions and is free from any need for justification. It doesn’t matter what we have, just so long as we have more that everyone else or maybe just more than someone else. This is the pride that C.S. Lewis speaks of in his marvelous little book Mere Christianity. In there he says, “According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.” This is very serious indeed if it is where we can stumble on our way to acknowledging God in our lives. 

Now, back to Pride Month, I am going out on a limb here and suggest that most of the time, this Pride is of the second variety. People can find a particular crowd where they feel safe and accepted and by being part of that crowd, they feel a sense of pride. 

The issue arises when they put all their identity eggs into one basket and expect it to be satisfying. It is my hope that people look for a personal identity in something bigger than their sexuality or some other smaller piece of the much bigger whole that is who they really are.  It is my hope also that they are as careful as most Christians in discerning the proper Pride with which to express themselves. 

Unfortunately, given the media coverage of Pride Parades everywhere on the planet, I am aware that there are some who march in these things who believe that the parade is a clothing-optional event. Certainly, not all who march in these things feel any need to doff their clothes, but some marchers are of that persuasion and are not opposed by any authority, organizer, participant, or onlooker. There is no mention of them from any level of government and the heads of those governments have become marchers themselves, including our mayors, premiers, and prime minister. For the people who march sans coverage other than the Media, so to speak, pride is going to be the “the feeling that you are better or more important than other people” kind of Pride. I say this because laws are an expression of a collective decision of an electorate and there are laws that I believe most people still want to be in place, that say that we should remain clothed in public. The people who decide for everyone that nudity is acceptable, regardless of those laws, are revealing a flaw in their collective worldview. Now that the LBGT worldview has been elevated to star-studded status in the “progressive” times in which we live, all one has to say is that they are an insider and, supposedly, we MUST go along with them... for justice and all, you know. The questions arise…If laws are arbitrary and attached to perceived power in our culture, is there a problem of a lack of equality before the law? If they are considered unjust, subject to conscientious objection, how do we determine that. How do we change them if they are unjust? How do we ensure that we are all equal before the law?

Most people of our culture, whether from an LBGT worldview or not, don’t see a parade as a celebration for license, lasciviousness, and lewdness. We are fully aware of worldview elements which follow a dissolution of propriety in a free and open society will, soon and inevitably, dissolute to less free and less open. It isn’t very nice, and it is a short trip from expressions of prideful human nature that are not very pleasant to a disregard for anyone that gets in your way. While it is probably true that there is a majority in the LBGT world who do not pride themselves without justification, in the more radical pockets there is a dangerous element who are working to disintegrate the rule of law, the common good, and the peace of our communities. Of those we need to beware.