Wednesday, February 18, 2015

The religious right does not own Christianity

This was heavily on my mind today. One thing I DESPISE is when anti-gay groups and spokespeople speak as if they are the only Christians in the world and their interpretation of the Bible is the only one that matters.

However, the thing I DESPISE MORE  when members of the lgbt community take the bait and begin disparaging Christianity as a whole. When some of us do that, we make a huge mistake.

We fall into the cog the anti-gay industry wants to us placed. They portray us as enemies of Christianity when such is not true. They push the idea that attaining lgbt equality is somehow detrimental to the survival of Christianity and this is an even uglier lie.

 I don't believe that God thinks that homosexuality is a sin. And I think there is more to the situation than those verses in the Bible that supposedly call out homosexuality. I think the situation is a matter of people reading verses and assuming they know what's going on WITHOUT praying to God for guidance and understanding. That's if they read the verses at all.

Instead of yielding the point to the anti-gay industry, we need to challenge them more on the idea and notion that they own Christianity and their beliefs regarding the Bible are the only ones that matter.

And we should do this also in support of our lgbt brothers and sisters who are Christian. When we take the bait and associate Christianity with people and groups like the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, Bryan Fischer, Linda Harvey, Todd Starnes, etc., we surrender our minds to ignorance and allow them to have something that does NOT belong to them, i.e the belief that they sit on the right hand of God.  I think the video below articulates the point better than I can:


8 comments:

Rick2L said...

Dude, you're a hero of mind, but you are dead wrong. Until the good Christians start insisting on Sunday morning TV shows to counter the bad guys, until the good Christians start walking out on priests and ministers filling a sermon with anti-gay crap, and until I read that good Christians call out the whiners who think they're the ones being persecuted - I have trouble believing in them. Yes, there are some, few examples. But judging by the examples set, the good Christians must be a very tiny, tiny minority. Or are they just afraid of their neighbors?

Erica Cook said...

The interpretation of the, "man shalt not lye with a man as he does with a woman." Is grammatically incorrect in Hebrew. The more likely meaning of the text was, Man shalt not lye with a man in the same bed as he does with a woman. This actually makes more logical sense because there were a lot of taboos in Jewish faith that has to do with both respecting the mother, and maintaining cleanliness in regards to the woman's menstrual cycle.

Gavin said...

Whenever faced with the religious right wing I like to remember this:

"The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 to heterosexuals. This doesn't mean God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's just that they need more supervision." --- Lynn Lavner, Singer/Comedian

JCF said...

"until I read that good Christians..."

None so blind as those who will not read.

As a queer follower of Jesus, I'm really tired of being BOTH sides' punching bag. Christianists threaten to "forcibly convert me" to straight, anti-theists threaten to "forcibly convert me" to anti-theist (yes, the latter threat HAS been made to me). I'm considered "demonic" to the former, and "deluded/deranged" to the latter.

To BOTH of my opponents (opposing sides) I say "WHERE IS THE LOVE???" Why can't I believe that Love Eternally Conquers All, as LOVE made me to (queerly) love? Why am I demonic, deluded, deranged for believing in LOVE?

Joel said...

Sorry, but christianity and its holy book are against gays in every sense. One has to do logical gymnastics to find support for LGBT people in the bible, while a simple reading of the text shows exactly what the Jewish and christian texts say (death and hell for gays). Plus, christians who support LGBT folks are few and far between.

The LGBT movement isn't out to destroy christianity, but christianity is out to destroy LGBT people. Refusing to acknowledge that reality is dangerous.

BlackTsunami said...

Bupkiss,Joel. The only thing we do know are the texts that come from Man talking against homosexuality. None of it comes from God. You cannot apply a lot of the Bible to life today. Remember that women weren't necessarily treated as equals back then also. Lastly I reject the notion that Christianity is out to destroy the lgbt community. Its just like I was talking about in this post. You shouldn't let those who think that homosexuality is a sin have the last word or frame the conversation.

Anonymous said...

I (an avowed and practicing pagan) have spoken before about the United Church of Christ. The local church where I grew up described the Bible as such - These are the stories that define us. Like parables they teach and lead us to do the work of Jesus.

For those who are punching all of Christianity in these comments perhaps you should do your homework. Who was it that sued to perform same sex marriages? The UCC.

In June of 2014 Louie Gohmert used a House hearing to grill the UCC representative over not being a TWUE CHRISTIAN (TM pending). In a freaking House hearing. Rev Barry Lynn advocates for the separation of Church and State. Why isn't he held up as an example of what to do? Where was the outrage then that a member of congress used a hearing to push his own religion?

Another point since I'm on Holy Bullies. Who accepted the LGBT community LAST century? The UCC. They had gay pastors in the eighties. This is the United Church of Christ whose message is No matter where you are in life, you are welcome here.

Those who bash all Christians are guilty of not listening or doing their homework. Lazy intellectually and it embarasses me that I, an avowed pagan, know more of a religion that when applied literally (like Louie Gohmert does) means I must die.

No more burning times. No more whining in the night. We are adults here. Please try to act like it.

BlackTsunami - thank you for being in the trenches. It isn't easy I know. :)

Connie

Frank said...

Your post was referred to on "Joe My God" blog. I would like to share with you my own comments there: Most of the comments here seem not to get the point at all.
I look at the presence of this group of LGBT persons/allies in the Papal audience as a POLITICAL ACT.
Because the Catholic Church, especially under Ratzinger's influence (with JP2 and as Benedict16) has inflicted such harm on LGBT folks, Catholic or not, and because the church still wields such strong influence over conservative Catholics and their allies - influence that often translates into civil discourse and legislation that harms us further - the LGBT community should well be willing to demonstrate our presence as legitimate world citizens in the presence of the oppressors (the Pope and Bishops).
The LGBT contingent in the Papal audience was, in a real sense, making a political demand that we not be ignored (even though on the surface the group was not fully recognized for who and what they were); this was not necessarily LGBT Catholics asking for a place at the Catholic table (as I think that ship has sailed), but rather demanding recognition as citizens of the world fully equal and fully entitled to every human right and without compromise and fully able to dialogue as equals.
One must also not forget the fact that much of Papal communication is done symbolically. An LGBT contingent was there. That symbolic fact cannot have escaped mention among the Pope and his bishops behind closed doors.
Give this group a little credit. They may be the ones who are able to eventually get the Catholic Church off our backs.

*******And in response to another reply:

Thank you. The work of securing LGBT equality is persued on many fronts. Dismissing the work that is being done by Sr. Jeannine and those like her is shortsighted. How quickly we forget that back in the 1960s, 70s, 80's so much of the struggle for LGBT rights and many LGBT organizations were, if not led by, then highly supported by local churches. Here in Connecticut we had "Project H", a group of church and community leaders led by an Episcopal priest who, for many years, provided the only resources in the area for men in the process of coming out to wives, family, friends. The Committee for Sexual Minorities of the Council of Churches, was instrumental in getting legislation passed - legislation without which we might not be where we are today. The churches may have inflicted more harm than good upon our community, and I in no way defend the sins of the churches and their clergy in that regard, but there are individuals who, like Jeannine Gramick are living a more authentic christian tradition.
Religion has been polarizing, for sure, but please, let's be discriminating in doling out condemnations. I don't understand the usefulness of crude and hateful statements (whether coming from anti-gay individuals or coming from anti-christian individuals) that lend nothing to rational discourse. I appreciate various points of view that have substance but I'm totally turned off by thoughtless name-calling, just because one is angry. These discussions seem to revert to the lowest common denominator - and are often an embarrassment to the wider LGBT community.