CHRISTIANITY AND GAYS, PART 1

In the last few months I have been seeing a trend among certain Christians to ratchet up their war against the gays.

A recent newspaper article was titled “Religious right protests tolerance”. This came from Atlanta and the subhead read “Devout cite beliefs in demanding institutions, workplaces end policies that ban discrimination”. You read it right – THEY WANT THE RIGHT TO BE INTOLERANT. They want the right to harass!

Other stories that you may have read include the Christian group that shows up at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. They hold up signs that tell the grieving relatives that God killed their loved one specifically because the military allows gays to serve.

Another story shows how Ford Motor is being targeted by a Christian group for advertising in gay magazines and for supporting charities that may have gays on board. The economic boycott is actually having an affect on sales at Ford.

My question is what in Christianity is making these people so rabidly anti-gay. Why are they so threatened by gays? They feel it is a Christian commandment, a sacred duty to attack and harass gays and wipe them off the face of the earth – why?

Now I realize that throughout history, religious leaders have picked targets that united the faithful in a common cause. We see this today in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and many other countries. Yes it is a religious campaign but also very political because only through politics can you gain dominance and impose your beliefs and therefore your rule on everyone.

The religious zealots in this country may not be as violent buy I think everybody can plainly see the common thread here.

What I would like to find out is the Christian justification for extreme anti-gay feelings and actions. The reason I use the word “extreme” is because I personally feel, as a heterosexual, a good deal of uneasiness and maybe queasiness about male homosexuality but I accept them as human beings with a different biological orientation that they were born with. As fellow human beings and members of our society, I do not wish them harm.

On the other hand, the specific Christians I have mentioned want to deny gays their humanness and reject them as society members; they want them dead or at least gone!

This will take a number of blogs because I want to examine what in Christianity justifies these violent feelings and Christianity is a large area to look at.

Talk to you soon,


Janusz