Believers

I'm reading Charles Baxter's book of short stories called Believers: a novella and stories.  I hit this quote and hurt.  Any time that happens, I think, is a time to stop and reflect. 

Whitman's poetry is about love you don't have to earn.  It's about love that you just have or that you just get or you give but not the kind that you did something to earn. It's not Protestant love.  It's love for being itself. If you're a father, you love your kid, no matter what.  In jail or out.  That's what I mean. 

It's a beautiful quote.  Except the hating part.  

The very name, Protestant, is a name of "against."  Granted, it's a name that, like many names, was given by the opposition.  Still, we often live up to our names, don't we?  

What is it with Protestants that we insist on continuing to protest, even when we've run out of things to protest against?