Editor’s Note: The following first appeared in the April-June 2026 issue of Good Faith Magazine, a free resource available to all Good Faith Advocates.
June is approaching, and with it, an abundance of rainbow swag. Soon, stores will carry shirts that say “Born This Way,” and my social media timeline will look akin to the inside of a Skittles bag. It’s a bright, celebratory time of year.
Unfortunately, we’ll also see an influx of church marquees saying things like “Pride comes before the fall,” “God hates Pride,” and “Pride is a Deadly Sin.” For some in these communities, it’s a time to loudly (perhaps even proudly) say things like “love the sinner, hate the sin” — as if that statement is anything other than the sin of judgment dressed up in a mask of false piety.
First, the Seven Deadly Sins aren’t listed in Scripture. Sure, we see admonitions against greed and the like, but they are never grouped together as the Seven Deadly Sins. Are the seven concepts, lumped together, things we ought to avoid in order to be decent people? Yes. Are they set apart by the authors of Scripture as an especially egregious list? No, not at all. This list was developed by some leaders of the early Catholic Church in the sixth century CE. To say “the Bible says ‘pride’ is one of the Seven Deadly Sins” is simply false.
Even if pride is listed as a sin in the Bible, we have to consider the nuances of biblical interpretation. Too often, folks believe that translation is a perfect one-to-one ratio: one word in biblical Hebrew has only one equivalent in English, and so on. That’s not the case at all, even in modern languages. Sometimes one word in biblical Hebrew has multiple English equivalents, or one word in English has multiple corresponding words in Greek (as in the three different words for “love” we see in the New Testament).
A Time for Pride
With all this in mind, consider what, exactly, we mean by pride. There are many contexts in our lives where pride is considered a good thing, perhaps even virtuous. Are we not supposed to have pride in our work? Aren’t we supposed to tell our kids we’re proud of them when they overcome a challenge or accomplish something praiseworthy? Aren’t we supposed to tell our spouses, “I’m proud of you,” when they complete a project at work or earn a promotion? If pride is truly a bad thing, why are we taught to express it in so many of our relationships?
Furthermore, is pride a bad thing when we express it as a community? What happens four days after Pride Month ends? Will we chastise folks on July 4 when they shamelessly sing, “I’m proud to be an American?” Can you imagine all those same churches preaching “Pride comes before the fall” on the Sunday of July 4?
We know there’s a time and a place for pride, because the pride Scripture warns us against isn’t the same as the warm feeling that rises in our chest when we watch someone we love succeed or feel deep gratitude for our community. There’s a difference between harmful arrogance and the self-assurance of your humanity or a job well done, be it your own or someone you care about.
When the queer community talks about pride, we aren’t talking about arrogance. We aren’t talking about the pompous hubris that tells us it’s okay to look down on other people because they believe differently than we do, or love differently than we do, or understand God differently than we do. We aren’t talking about the posture of one’s heart that allows someone to believe they are better than their neighbor.
Lessons From a Parent to a Child
When LGBTQ+ people express pride, we’re expressing the same sentiment God expresses at Jesus’s baptism. Jesus knows that John is baptizing people in the Jordan River, so he goes to him to be baptized. John protests, but agrees to do it when Jesus insists. When Jesus comes up out of the water, the clouds part and the Spirit of God descends on Jesus in the form of a dove. God’s voice resounds from the heavens, saying, “This is my son, in whom I am well pleased.”
What does it mean to be “well pleased” with someone? The Greek word used in the Matthean account of Jesus’s baptism is eudokeó, which can mean to “think well of” or to “specially approve of.” To think well of someone might include that warm feeling that rises in our chests when someone we love takes an action that’s brave. In other words, we might understand that moment as God saying, “That’s my son, and I’m proud of him.” Not exactly the Deadly Sin we were conditioned to believe pride to be, is it?
What, exactly, is God proud of here? In this moment, Jesus is taking the first step toward accepting his messianic identity. He’s effectively coming out, announcing the beginning of his ministry. He steps into the water, receives his baptism, and is praised for taking these public steps of accepting who he is. From this perspective, it’s easy to see that God is proud of Jesus for embracing his God-given identity.
That’s exactly what LGBTQ+ people are celebrating when we proclaim “Happy Pride” each June. We’re celebrating the bravery it takes to claim the identities we’ve been given. We’re honoring the bravery it takes to step into the public arena and show the world who we are. Not only are we celebrating these steps in our own lives, but we’re stepping in for every LGBTQ+ person who should have heard loved ones say, “I’m proud of you,” after coming out, but instead had to endure judgment from those closest to them. Here, we step in to follow God’s example in saying, “I’m proud of you.”
This year, how might you understand pride as a spiritual discipline of compassion? Not the pride that’s arrogant and demeans our neighbors, but the pride that empowers each of us to accept who we are and to celebrate alongside our neighbors when they learn to love who God created them to be. That kind of pride is transformative; you already know that to be true. You know how powerful it is for someone to see you — truly see you — and tell you, “I’m proud of you.” How might you bless others in your life with that same pride?
In a society where we are constantly told what we need to be ashamed of — whether our salary, our relationship status, our weight, our credit score, or too many other things to name — pride becomes a balm that nudges our souls toward healing. By following the example God offers, we are equipped to be stewards of that healing. All we have to do is speak.
If no one’s told you lately, beloved, I’m proud of you. Now, go share that pride with someone who needs that affirmation. Let it heal you both of the sins of this world.
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A bivocational pastor, writer and spiritual director based in Williamsburg, Virginia, she currently works as a Spiritual Director at Reclamation Theology. Cawthon-Freels is the author of Reclamation: A Queer Pastor’s Guide to Finding Spiritual Growth in the Passages Used to Harm Us (Nurturing Faith Books), and a contributing correspondent at Good Faith Media.