So I've entered into a semi-slump here, which is both my fault and yours. OK, it's really pretty much all my fault, but I like to spread the blame around. I want comments on this thing, and when I'm basing a lot of my writing around sports, it's not the easiest thing to get, especially as a lot of you just don't have that same baseball obsession I do. Maybe later this week I'll start trying to explore why I give so much of a crap about baseball. But today, as opposed to the usual Monday inanity we're gonna try to go serious. Sorry to ruin the days of all of you looking for something wacky like my vegetable rankings or ideal superhero team or (I swear I have these next two posts written but they suck) grammatical error bitching or who will play the super bowl in 15 years, but my blog, my rules.
And as the last time a lot of people commented on this was about politics, we're going to go back to that well. Specifically, teh gays! oh noes! homersexual agendas!
So as I've mentioned before, I grew up fake Republican. In that, my parents were Republican so I thought I was too. Then I entered college, realized what I actually did believe in, and left Republicanism behind. I basically realized (to sum up all my growth, I think) that my Catholic principles were strongly at odds with most conservative ones. Helping the poor, caring for others, not discriminating, throwing that first stone, etc etc. Yay Jesus. And as we're entering Lent, I'm supposed to care more about my Catholicism and the such, focus more on how God is in my life and all that (I'm sure Alfredo can correct me on what I'm supposed to be doing during Lent). But to make a long story short (too late) I didn't hate gay people. Yes, as a Catholic I'm supposed to be against homosexual sex and marriage. But as a sensible person who realizes that church and state are supposed to be separate and a person who knows gay people, you can't hate gay people. There was never a point in the Bible where Jesus said "Love your neighbor. Except if he's queer, then you can hit him with a shovel for all I care." I mean, hell, Mr. Rogers used to tell gay people that God loved them for who they are. If you can't get Mr. Rogers to believe your cause, then you've lost.
But yet we have gays being hated everywhere by modern conservative pundits. Peter Sprigg wants to make homosexuality illegal and so do I imagine a lot of conservative pundits; mostly the ones who haven't been caught in the embarassing sex scandals. But I have to assume that several of these people know at least someone who's gay. Heck, I just had a friend come out to me 2 months ago. And I'm not sure if it was weird to me because he actually trusted me enough to tell me (which is weird when people are treating me like a responsible adult. For heaven's sakes, I barely think of myself as an adult, and you mean to tell me other people think I am? gah!) or if it was because, huh, I wonder if he was thinking about me. Because you know when some guy comes out to you, you wonder if he was ever thinking about you. That's the guy response, because we're all self-centered idiots. Hell, every now and then I wonder if (random girl) is thinking about me. Because I'm an ass! "Hey, I am pretty attractive. Maybe she is thinking about me." That's why all these pundits are afraid of gay people, because they don't want other dudes to think about them like that. They only want hot 18 year old blond chicks to do that. And you know I'm right about that.
But when my friend came out, I didn't start trying to convert him or shove him in some "pray the gay away" camp with an accountabillibuddy, I didn't tell him he was ruining his life by being gay, I didn't start praying for his soul myself. And you know why? Because a) I don't think he's done anything wrong, b) it's his life, c) I'm not an asshole, and d) I want my friend to be happy. I have to believe that God didn't look down and say, "Hmm, let's make him gay just so I can send him to hell. That'll be sweet." And as David Cross once ranted, it's not a choice. No one who's suffering through the hell that is high school is going to want to make his life an even bigger hell by choosing to be gay; that idea is just dumb. So it's something he was born with, and is now acknowledging. But while I can understand the generic American may not know someone gay (not bloody likely, as it's about 1 in 50 or 1 in 10, depending on the source. Even that conservative 1 in 50 is still pretty huge), why do politicians pretend they don't know anyone gay? Cheney's daughter, Barney Frank, the one guy with the wide stance, they've all had gay encounters and they all know other politicians. And yet they go on tv and treat gays equivalent to terrorists for some reason.
John McCain is now supporting Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) or whatever it is that allows him to be re-elected. As he's facing a tea-bagger in his senate race, I really cannot wait to see McCain sell out all of his beliefs for yet another few years in the senate, even though he's like a million years old and rich as hell. Just retire, dude. The idea that allowing gays to serve openly is going to result in....well, whatever crazy-ass crimes (or is that crazy ass-crimes?) people think will happen is laughable. And I have no idea how to go about fixing those ideas. Well, I can't. But when DADT is repealed and all, I have to think it's going to have the same effect that allowing blacks to serve with whites did: no effect at all. Because our soldiers aren't idiots. Doesn't mean people aren't still gonna bitch though.
I guess the whole point of this long and pointless rant is quite simply, why do gays freak people out so much? Is it the fact that they don't feel the same way about the same and opposite sex as (the metaphorical) you do? Yes, I know that whole Sodom and Gomorrah thing, but eating shellfish or pork is also evil according to the Bible. Why do so-called Christians ignore that whole "treat others as you want to be treated" thing? Why is it the bad Christians who get press for essentially being assholes and ignoring the whole point of Jesus, the love your neighbor part?
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People are afraid of "other," whatever form that takes. It's easy to hide behind religion and say, "well it's God's will" then just admit that something that's different gives you the heebie-jeebies.
ReplyDeleteThis may be longer than your post!!
ReplyDeleteWhenever you mix politics and religion things get pretty crazy and confusing... should you follow what is socially acceptable or what your faith tells you? In this case the two seem to be contradictory.
Socially we believe in equal rights for men and women, blacks and whites, and logically it follows for gays and straights. And by that alone, if we view it from a God-less perspective, we find no reason to prevent gays from getting married, living happy sexually active lives, adopting children, and behaving like any other law-abiding citizen.
However, when God comes into the picture we are in need to interpret His Word. And what does God say about gays? that they are evil? that they are damned to hell? that they were created to suffer? No, absolutely not. That would be inconsistent with the nature of God which is a nature of goodness and love.
What does that book we barely open say about gays? Well not much. Sure some men were punished and killed because they were lustful and practicing sodomy. However, lets assume that God actually punished them for being lustful (which is repetitively considered sinful in the Bible) and not for having sodomized. (After all, if the men were also eating chocolate while lusting and sodomizing, we can't conclude that God hates chocolate!) But the Bible doesn't say much else about gays.
What the Bible DOES teach is that our bodies can be vehicles of the divine ("the Word became flesh"), that they are instruments of love (sex!) and gifts to be cherished and respected.
Just as important, what does the Bible teach about marriage?? Well, like any other Sacrament it is a two-sided coin in which one side constitutes a physical action and the other a spiritual change; one cannot happen without the other. This is why a couple MUST consummate in order for the marriage to count! They have to have sex in order for them to be officially married - physical action. And it is also why premarital sex is wrong - because the physical action violates the lack of spiritual change (union).
And how does the Bible define consummation?? Well, looking at Genesis it seems obvious to be that of a male entering a female. This is, after all, the way God created us to procreate and fulfill one of the reasons for marriage. Biologically it is also true that only a man entering a woman defines the natural method of procreation.
So if we ask ourselves if gays can consummate a marriage it would seem impossible that they could strictly by definition (in a way that is natural for procreation). Therefore a question like "Is it OK for gays to be married?" seems irrelevant because they cannot consummate the marriage as much as a question like "Can a bicycle fly at altitudes higher than 500 miles?" is irrelevant because bicycles can't fly... unless you have one of those hovering bikes that Bart and Lisa almost got after denouncing The Leader.
Having said all that, I have my doubts. Why, then, would God create people gay in the first place? Why tease them with the urge to love and deny them physical union and the ability to marry each other? Well, I could also ask the same question about the handicap. Why are some born without limbs? without normal mental capacities? with other types of physical deformation? I suppose the answer to that would be that God has given them unique opportunities to overcome their obstacles and grow closer to God and at the same time be an encouragement to so many others. Things aren't always so black and white and I think gays may have been given similar obstacles to overcome.
Marriage has been around for longer than Christianity, in fact until I believe 500ish years ago the church didn't really care about sanctioning marriage. So the whole "gays can't marry cause the bible says this or that" is irrelevant, marriage has been around longer than Christianity has cared about it. Sure it might not be the same marriage as what we have now but the general idea.
ReplyDeleteThe whole Sodom thing, my freshman year theo professor said that theologians are still unsure as to why god decided to nuke Sodom. It was either because the men liked to get it on with each other or because, I believe a merchant, threw his daughter into the streets and let her get gang raped for the night.
John, I wonder the same thing. Why are Christians who are supposed to love thy neighbors and be all nice and crap running around spewing hate that makes anyone blush in embarrassment to be associated via species with them.
Nor does it make sense to me how Republicans, who are more or less owned by the Evangelical Right, hate on helping people.
First, Alfredo covers a good amount about the whole marriage issue. Second, Nate, that whole merchant thing seems pretty interesting, where does that come from?
ReplyDeleteThe professor who taught the Theo 001 course I took said that. I will have to see if I have any notes still from that class and if they go into more detail.
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