Something Alvin McEwen of Holy Bullies wrote today struck me and I want to expand on the idea. McEwen points out that of all the things in comic books that go against Christian teachings, violence, torture, murder, religious groups like One Million Moms (Note: does not actually contain one million moms) have chosen tot ake issue with a couple characters who have recently been revealed to be gay.
Which forced me to wonder...why this? Why homosexuality? Of all the things that the bible preaches, and all the things to rail against, why homosexuality? It's not mentioned in the Ten Commandments, and Jesus never talks about it, so why is it so important? What is this really about? Because if it is about the teachings of the bible, then it's a pretty piss-poor thing to pick. Is stopping a man from marrying another man really more important than feeding the hungry, or helping the poor, or fighting corruption and crime?
The National Organization for Marriage raised around $13 million in 2010 and hit $20 million in 2011, and how did they spend it? By producing anti-gay marriage advertisements that aren't even accurate and collecting signatures in a handful of states to either repeal passed pro-marriage equality laws, or to strengthen existing anti-marriage equality laws. There are dozens of other groups that do the same thing, the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, and the American Family Association, to name a few. This, all to fight something that is barely mentioned in the bible, and in God's eyes is less important than at least ten other things. I have a hard time believing that the fight against LGBT and marriage equality is really about any adherence to God. Simply put, there are many better things that can be done.
So the question remains, what is it really about? I think it's about a select group of Christians ensuring that they have someone, some group of people to persecute and in that to lord their supposed moral superiority over. It's about insecurities, not in their own relationships, but in their own faith. If you really are truly confident in your spiritual beliefs and your spiritual position, then you have no need to put someone below you (or put yourself above someone). If the Anti-Gay lobby really was confident in their God, then they would leave well enough alone and let Him judge. But they're not. And so they need an enemy, someone to hold down, someone where they can say "at least we're better than them. Truly we are going to heaven."
And who can blame them. Even their own members recognize how contradictory their holy book is. That's why they're starting to get angry when people bring up all the outdated laws in Leviticus (which is commonly referenced in opposition to homosexuality). 'That's the Old Testament,' they say. 'Read these passages in the New Testament.' So either their God couldn't get it right the first time, or their God's scribes couldn't get it right. It's not difficult to see why they need to use the denigration of LGBT as a crutch to prop the faith that they subconsciously question.
You know what can't be questioned? Helping people. Giving money to the poor and destitute, contributing to the spread of disease and hunger. You know, the kind of things that Jesus did constantly. But that requires time and money, things that the aforementioned type of Christians don't want to part with. They need some way to feel like they're following the rules they claim to so revere, and as it turns out, spreading lies, maintaining a flawed status quo, signing petitions and pulling a lever come voting day is pretty quick, easy, and cheap.
No comments:
Post a Comment