It Is Hatred

Several years ago, I was asked to do the funeral of a gay man who had been beaten to death in a hate crime. At that time, I had never thought deeply about the danger many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people face in this culture. That week as I worked on the service, I kept hearing a local "Christian" radio station blaming gay and lesbian people for everything wrong in America. By the end of the week I understood the link between religious hate speech and the funeral I was performing.

I know that critics of homosexuality do not consider themselves to be hateful. They would say they "love the sinner but hate the sin." If the shoe were on the other foot, however, and someone were attacking their families, trying to take their children away, and constantly working to pass legislation to deprive them of basic civil rights, at some point they would understand that "homophobia" is too mild a word for such harassment. "Hatred" is the only proper term.

I was raised in Dallas, Texas and had classmates who were in the Klan. I remember that they did not consider themselves to be attacking other people. They perceived themselves to be defenders of Christian America. Their "religion" consisted of an unrelenting attack on people who were black, Jewish or homosexual. If anyone challenged these views, these Klan members considered themselves under attack and believed that their right to free exercise of religion was being threatened. In other words, they felt that harassing other people was a protected expression of their own religious faith.
[…]
Gay bashing is not just an opinion, it is an assault. Just as the Klan did, religious fundamentalists have a right to believe that homosexuality is a sin. They even have a right to preach a message of hate. But when they harass people in public, it is time for Christians to rise to challenge their intolerance. We have an obligation to protect our neighbors from harassment and slander, especially when it is done in our name.

It is time to say that gay bashing is not only wrong, it is unchristian. If Christianity is grace, then judgment is the ultimate apostasy. If Christianity is love, then cruelty is the ultimate heresy.

[excerpt from: Jim Rigby, "Real Christians Don't Gay Bash", Huffington Post, 12 July 2006.]

Posted on July 12, 2006 at 18.26 by jns · Permalink
In: All, Common-Place Book

One Response

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  1. Written by S.W. Anderson
    on Wednesday, 12 July 2006 at 23.51
    Permalink

    Oh yes. The Bible includes, "Judgment is mine, sayeth the Lord."

    Presumably, Sean Hannity alone is going to have a whole lot of 'splainin' to do.

    That's especially true when it's brought up to him, "Judge not, lest you be judged."

    Does Hannity openly bash gays on his shows? From what I've seen, he doesn't. Not just for being gay. What he does do is backstop and give various kinds of attaboys to those who likely do bash gays.

    And all the while, he, like them, vehemently and constantly makes out Christians are being set upon from all sides by hateful and intolerant people who push their own godlessness as a cause.

    (Where are those nausea pills I had around here somewhere?)

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