Religion Based Gay Discrimination
No. I’m not “Christaphobic.” In fact, I have high esteem for how Christ advanced civilization, and wish he would come back again and deflate the excessive self-righteousness that seems to have grown up in Christ’s wake. I am however, afraid of the religion-based gay discrimination, exclusion, and violence even, that happens in Christ’s name.
Indeed, I recognize limits of the teachings that Christians associate with Christ and his disciples. Not everything Christ said is timeless, and I’m certain that we do not have entirely accurate and unbiased accounts of what Christ did say. Nor do we know everything he said. So I will not regard what we think we know Jesus Christ said as absolutely correct under all circumstances, past present and future; he was human after all, and so were the people who’vepassed his word down through the generations. However, based on what I know of Jeaus Christ, I don’t think he’d engage in gay discrimination by rejecting homosexual followers, and excluding him from his flock.
Yes, I believe Christ existed and was indeed a persuasive orator. But as far as the divinity that people associate with him goes, I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. At any rate, it’s not worth discriminating against a whole class of people (the gay, Muslim, and other groups oppressed on religious grounds) based on the bits and pieces we have of Christ’s word. Gay discrimination creates more discord than harmony by far. But since Christ was all about prommoting harmony and discouraging hatret and bigotry, then it’s doubtful that he would support gay discrimination and exclusion.
When exercising a religious preference contributes significantly to ten percent of the word population (at least, that’s the amount we know about) to be excluded from the most rewarding workings in society (the military, teaching, and yes, the ministries) and to be judged with prejudice in their personal interactions, then it should be closely scrutinized, and censored if necessary. It’s indeed nice to see these exclusions being challenged in court, and rejected.
Further, these teachings often cited seem to elevate those who buy into them above the gay community, as if to say that they’re “better” than the gay. Church groups in general tend to do this, sending the message that they know something powerful that those outside the group do not. Again, I find this highly offensive, because there is no human alive, or no group of humans on this planet that is any better or more righteous than me. I’m no better than they, either. But I recognize this implicitly, whereas it seems that they implicitly do not.
Finally, I’m sure any anti gay person with a bit of Google smarts could find a thousand definitions, testimonials, and qualifiers that they would say support their positions of gay discrimination and oppression. But all of it is built on the basic Christian premise that homosexuality is wrong, which none of it really proves.
Those opposed to homosexuality would further advance their case if they focused on proving that their basic premise is indeed correct, in an independently verifiable way. It’s not good enough just to parrot others who, like themselves have accepted this premise without conditions and without said proof, simply because they believe that gay discrimination is what Christ would have wanted. Instead, they would need to eliminate elements of gay discrimination, prejudice and base, knee-jerk reactions of repugnance from their argument to really solidify it and make it persuasive. They should also show why excluding homosexuals from society’s mainstream would benefit society (again, independently verifiable), while including them would harm society in similar fashions. Good luck with that.