Fear is the opposite of love. This is probably the single most important grounding principle of my own Christian faith and theology. This became so important to me when I was experiencing the full force of evangelical patriarchy as a student at Moody Bible Institute. I was struggling to reconcile my queer sexuality with my white evangelical Christian faith and was forced to have dozens of meetings with professors and administrators from the school who continually used fear as a means of controlling me. There was fear of being expelled for not aligning with Moody’s beliefs, fear of being disqualified from ministry as a pastor, and ultimately fear that God would condemn my soul to eternal torment if I embraced a “homosexual lifestyle.” The truth is that if you seek to control people, fear is the most effective tactic…until they realize that the thing they’re being threatened with doesn’t exist. That’s when liberation emerges.
From “Filled to Be Emptied: The Path to Liberation for Privileged People” by Brandan Robertson – Westminster John Knox Press