As if clearing snow first thing this morning wasn’t enough to get my blood pumping, the BBC Whirled Service (which I often listen to on NPR in the morning) spent the first 15-20 minutes addressing the split in the Anglican church over those pesky gays. It was balanced coverage, and I wasn’t too agitated until a bishop from Africa got into detail on his views.
The bible says it’s wrong. Assuming we trust the bible as God’s words and not what people have made it into over the centuries, I’m not even going to debate that. Not that I agree. The bishop and those who are like-minded are wrong, but it’s just not worth debating. They treat the books they’ve been handed as if God gave it to them on a visit to heaven, as opposed to what people wrote down. Even so, it’s not worth debating.
No, that wasn’t it. What got me steamed was when he explained to the interviewer that we don’t simply tolerate or condone the behavior of “an armed robber” when he “chooses” to be an armed robber, so why should they tolerate people who choose to be gay. Even if I could stomach his backward view that we choose to be gay, his comparison of gay men and women to criminals really said it all.
You’re an evil man, bishop, and if you stand before God someday, you’ll have to answer for your hatred of His children. So, too, shall the world (if humanity doesn’t destroy itself first) one day see societies that look back on these attitudes as we now look back on the evil of the Inquisition.
Doesn’t it strike any of these people that their intolerance is completely out of step with the teachings of Jesus? I’m certainly no expert on Jesus (being a fellow Jew, I wasn’t taught a lot about him in religious school), but my understanding of Jesus is that he was very tolerant, open and loving to all mankind. So how do today’s displays of intolerance fit with his example? It really makes no sense.
5 comments:
I can't help but roll my eyes at people like that.
If it were as easy as 'a choice', why would people choose to be discriminated against?
Seriously, I would rebut with an equally irrational argument: "What if everyone thought you were a sinner because you chose to be African."
I wonder what he's thoughts are on the findings of the gay gene.. probably "Science is the work of the devil!"
Wow... now I know where to come when I need my daily Christian bashing fix... LOL... just kidding.
http://ruggerjohnnyd.blogs.com
Well, more to the point...even if, for argument's sake, Jesus himself felt homosexuality was a sin (and he never addressed the subject), more than being "tolerant" Jesus was limitlessly compassionate and forgiving.
Moses brought us ten commandments, but Jesus gave us two: love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your mind, and all your strength; and love your neighbor as yourself. He was the champion of the weak, the oppressed, and the outcast. Whatever the Bible may say about homosexuality, Christ's commands to treat all people with kindness and dignity are being ignored in many cases. I can't picture Jesus marching around with a sign that says, "God hates fags -- Leviticus."
Since Liviticus also says you can sell your wife and sister into slavery, and that it is an abomination to eat shrimp and crab, I really pay those Leviticus spouting assholes no mind. Now...how much for my lovely strong lesbian sister? We start the bidding at...
It seems almost insane to think these jokers that tout this f**cking book don't believe for one moment that it was edited in the least. Taking women out of their places of sacred femininity. Just a huge mass of letters that were written years after the life of Christ. And the clincher is that there isn't a hint of a political slant. What dolts. I refuse to give one ounce of validity to a book that is the basis for so much hate and division in this world. Religion is the bane of our existence and will continue to be so until the sheepish masses start to think for themselves and take some responsibility.
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