I don't believe that all Christians favor discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community. In fact I'm willing to believe that individually, most Christians favor LGBTQ equality under the law, including but not limited to employment rights, the right to same-sex marriage, the right to purchase the services of a baker or photographer, the right to participate in Girl and Boy Scouting, the right to use the public restroom one is comfortable with, the right to be seen in public with one's loved one, and the right to peace and privacy in one's personal life.
But those who oppose certain basic human rights for LGBTQ's, those mongers of fear, hatred and bigotry who are blind to the self-evident truth that all persons are created equal, invariably identify as Christian and support their small-minded prejudice with their belief that in their disapproval, harassment and/or persecution of LGBTQ's they are in fact carrying out God's will, and they're likely to back up their self-righteous anti-gay stand with "The Bible says", "The Church says", or "God says".
Then last week gay-hate collided with ISIS-flavored mental psychosis and an assault rifle and left one hundred people dead, thousands more grieving, our nation traumatized, and anti-gay rights Christians in a dilemma.
The Thoughts And Prayers crowd is having problems verbalizing how exactly they stand in solidarity with the people whom up until this point they've berated and called followers of a morally corrupt lifestyle, people whose very existence they've condemned. These self-proclaimed Christians are now tripping all over their tongues trying to say something compassionate and caring without sounding like blatant hypocrites.
Some, like most Catholic Bishops in the U.S., have expressed condolences for the people of Orlando without specifically mentioning the LGBTQ community. The Reverend James Martin, editor of the Catholic magazine America called out the American Bishops for treating LGBTQ's as if they were invisible in this tragedy and called for the Bishops to stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ community at this time.
But how can the Catholic Bishops now stand in solidarity with a group that they've always stood against?
Uber-Christian homophobe Ted Cruz’s rather clever verbal tactic was to deflect his LGBTQ problem by pointing a finger at the Democrats and challenging them to show their support for gays by cracking down on – what else? – Radical Islam, while Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who fought tooth and nail against the Federal mandate legalizing same-sex marriage in Florida, stumbled and stuttered her way through an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, insisting that her now vocal public support of the Orlando LGBTQ community was not rank two-facedness, that in fighting against same-sex marriage she was merely upholding up the state constitution. As opposed, obviously, to the United States Constitution.
The lamest effort of all to semantically piece together a right-sounding response to the Orlando murders from an anti-LGBTQ rights Christian came from conservative talk-show host Glen Beck who proclaimed that Jesus loved everyone, that true Christians love everyone, that nowhere does it say in the Bible that people should be rounded up and shot – but then had to admit that well, okay, it does in fact say in the Book of Leviticus that homosexuals shall be stoned…and he never finished that thought, but continued to insist that real Christians, like Jesus, love everybody.
And so it appears to be true at this moment. But will that kind of Christian still stand up for the members of the LGBTQ community when they’re not being slaughtered?
But those who oppose certain basic human rights for LGBTQ's, those mongers of fear, hatred and bigotry who are blind to the self-evident truth that all persons are created equal, invariably identify as Christian and support their small-minded prejudice with their belief that in their disapproval, harassment and/or persecution of LGBTQ's they are in fact carrying out God's will, and they're likely to back up their self-righteous anti-gay stand with "The Bible says", "The Church says", or "God says".
Then last week gay-hate collided with ISIS-flavored mental psychosis and an assault rifle and left one hundred people dead, thousands more grieving, our nation traumatized, and anti-gay rights Christians in a dilemma.
The Thoughts And Prayers crowd is having problems verbalizing how exactly they stand in solidarity with the people whom up until this point they've berated and called followers of a morally corrupt lifestyle, people whose very existence they've condemned. These self-proclaimed Christians are now tripping all over their tongues trying to say something compassionate and caring without sounding like blatant hypocrites.
Some, like most Catholic Bishops in the U.S., have expressed condolences for the people of Orlando without specifically mentioning the LGBTQ community. The Reverend James Martin, editor of the Catholic magazine America called out the American Bishops for treating LGBTQ's as if they were invisible in this tragedy and called for the Bishops to stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ community at this time.
But how can the Catholic Bishops now stand in solidarity with a group that they've always stood against?
Uber-Christian homophobe Ted Cruz’s rather clever verbal tactic was to deflect his LGBTQ problem by pointing a finger at the Democrats and challenging them to show their support for gays by cracking down on – what else? – Radical Islam, while Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who fought tooth and nail against the Federal mandate legalizing same-sex marriage in Florida, stumbled and stuttered her way through an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, insisting that her now vocal public support of the Orlando LGBTQ community was not rank two-facedness, that in fighting against same-sex marriage she was merely upholding up the state constitution. As opposed, obviously, to the United States Constitution.
The lamest effort of all to semantically piece together a right-sounding response to the Orlando murders from an anti-LGBTQ rights Christian came from conservative talk-show host Glen Beck who proclaimed that Jesus loved everyone, that true Christians love everyone, that nowhere does it say in the Bible that people should be rounded up and shot – but then had to admit that well, okay, it does in fact say in the Book of Leviticus that homosexuals shall be stoned…and he never finished that thought, but continued to insist that real Christians, like Jesus, love everybody.
And so it appears to be true at this moment. But will that kind of Christian still stand up for the members of the LGBTQ community when they’re not being slaughtered?
 | "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24: 2,15) |
References:
1. https://www.facebook.com/FrJamesMartin/videos
2. http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/14/politics/pam-bondi-anderson-cooper-gay-rights-orlando/index.html
3. http://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-statement-orlando-shooting-2016-6
1. https://www.facebook.com/FrJamesMartin/videos
2. http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/14/politics/pam-bondi-anderson-cooper-gay-rights-orlando/index.html
3. http://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-statement-orlando-shooting-2016-6
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