There has been much discussion in the media and across the Internet about the religiously based bigotry of Miss Beverly Hills, Lauren Ashley, and not all too surprisingly self-anointed homophobe in chief, Maggie Gallagher, has now come to Ashley's defense and in typical Christianist form seeks to depict Ashely as a victim of discrimination as opposed to the perpetrator of discrimination. Fortunately, more and more Americans are coming to understand that religious freedom is a two way street and that one does get to impose their religious beliefs on other citizen - something that Gallagher refuses or is unable to grasp. The however, goes even further in the context of Christians like Ms. Ashley who endorse a literal (although too often conveniently selective) interpretation of the Bible. Andrew Sullivan rightly sums it up as to why those like Ashley do not desire a break from condemnation. If one claims to endorse a literal application of say Leviticus to gays, then you are by default endorsing Leviticus taken to its ultimate result: killing gays. Here are highlights from Andrew's point on comments:*
In Leviticus, which Ashley says is "black and white," it is not God who is doing the killing. It is the law. "They shall be put to death." That means they shall be executed. For someone to insist that the Bible is "black and white" and to cite this full passage, while gay people are being hanged in this world by theocrats in other countries and hounded and murdered in Africa by religious fundamentalists, Christianist and Islamist, is simply despicable.
*
(AFP photo of young gay men hanged for their sexual orientation in Iran.)
*
As I have said many times before, Christianists need to be called out on what they are lending their endorsement to - as well as for their hypocrisy in ignoring a literal application of the Bible when it doesn't fit their discriminatory purposes.
1 comment:
It is SO infuriating that those who are complicit with violence against minorities or actively involved in it portray themselves as victims—for instance, the Nazis claiming to be victims of Jews (pretty much taken over by Stalin in his last years), Christians "victims" when they cannot enforce their selective readings (though never of the Gospels that are supposed to be the focus of their "faith") on all.
Post a Comment