It is very easy to laugh at the viral news story about the lesbian bar in Massachusetts that took a great deal of flack for lifting their mask mandate one night a week. (Yes, this was in September 2026, not September 2020.) But once you get past all of the joking about extreme "woke" theology, a deeper lesson needs to be learned here for both sides of the political spectrum: We are far too quick to judge and condemn over disagreements, even people who are on our own side. We are far too quick to become enraged and hateful, with no effort to extend any grace at all, much less have empathy for others.
The Last Ditch Bar was struggling financially and was unable to pay employees, much less the owners of the business. They wanted to be able to maintain a "safe space" for COVID-cautious individuals to gather together, especially people who are immunocompromised. But in order to do that, they knew they needed to increase revenue, so they decided to lift the mask mandate on Saturdays while keeping it in place the other six days of the week. The decision was likely between having a place for people to gather while masked six days a week, or to close completely and have no place to gather at all.
For this effort, they were called ableist and racist, and accused of committing mass murder. They were condemned ex cathedra without a hint of sympathy for why they might be doing this, with no gratitude for providing a place with a strict mask mandate when most of the rest of the country had abandoned mask mandates four or five years ago, and with no gratitude for providing an inclusive space. No, because they committed heresy once, they were no different than President Trump, and we all know the Orange Man is very Bad.
As much as conservatives love to point and laugh at this, look at how much of MAGA treats people who offer even mild criticism of President Trump. They are cucks, traitors, and faggots. They are mercilessly attacked and accused of "Trump Derangement Syndrome," with no effort to actually address the substantive arguments made. The venom is often much more intense when directed at conservatives who criticize President Trump than it is when directed at Leftists who launch much more angry tirades at the President. There is no tolerance for criticism of President Trump from the Right. Oh, did I mention President Trump's critics are cucks and faggots?
Even on masks, the Right can be just as guilty as the Left in showing a lack of grace and a lack of forgiveness. Remember 2020, when some pastors were urging Christian brothers to leave their churches if the church submitted to the civil magistrate's mask mandates? Pastors and elders at those churches were accused of "statist idolatry." Even years later, following the mask mandate in 2020/2021 is still seen as a lack of faith and evidence that those churches are not true churches. This schism is actually much worse than a bunch of crazy "woke" lesbians in Massachusetts throwing a tantrum, because these men were dividing the church of Jesus Christ and pitting Christians against each other over something that - let's be honest - did not really matter that much.
Folks, this is ridiculous and needs to stop. We should be much more willing to assume good will and good intentions, whether people disagree with us on policy or whether people disagree with us on tactics. We should be willing to assume good will if people are generally on our side but take the "wrong" position on policy or strategy, and we certainly need to be willing to assume good will among other Christians. Yes, obviously there are bad people with bad motives. But can we stop assuming that every single person who disagrees with us about anything is irredeemably evil? Could we perhaps have a little humility and consider we might actually be wrong from time to time? Maybe we could extend the same grace to other people that we expect them to extend to us.
A deeper lesson from the lesbian bar controversy
We should be much more willing to assume good will and good intentions, whether people disagree with us on policy or whether people disagree with us on tactics.
