By: Jerry Manker
[I hope everyone enjoy Jerry's commentary on bigotry and hate from self-professed christians, and how silence of speaking truth and living in one's truth is killing others! News and story updates from me later today-Justice MH]
"'Whether their sexual preference is to be a homosexual or being gay, that's their problem,' Da' Priest says. 'I'm the street, I'm the street priest, and I have real good Christian values on what I believe in, and I am against homosexuality.'" from Npr.org
I never heard of Dooney Da Priest, a songwriter! However, his above statement is crucial for every single decent person, and for everyone who considers him/herself to be a Christian, to read and understand.
Christianity has become defined in the minds of most people as being not only a judgmental religion, but the rhetoric, actions and/or silence and inaction on the part of all too many professing Christians and clergy has had the effect of equating being "Gay" with being "immoral" in the minds of others, including many, if not most, LGBT people.
The mantra that being Gay is equivalent to being immoral, and is against the will of God, has been spewed so often in and from most churches, and is believed by most clergy and church-goers within the institutional Church, that one can not only believe that lie, but one can feel free to hawk his/her "Christian" credentials by affirming his/her disdain for homosexuality; so many professing Christians can justify to others their homophobia by appealing to the fact that they are "Bible-believing Christians."
As you well know, I lay the lion's share of the blame for homophobia and its destructive consequences at the feet of the institutional Church! It has been responsible for untold suicides, bashings, and murders; it has been responsible for lives lived in quiet and not so quiet desperation; it has been responsible for fracturing families as well as fracturing human beings within their families.
As I've written:
"Make no mistake, every drop of blood shed by GLBT people either through suicide, bashing, or murder, are on the hands of all those religious leaders, their followers, and their allies who spew forth their ignorance, prejudice, and hate against GLBT people and their relationships! These wolves in sheep’s clothing take the Bible, God’s love letter to His children, and selectively and perversely use it as a club to condemn others, and deny GLBT people full inclusion in the Church and in society.
"The tradition-bound parts of the Church have so indoctrinated people, many of whom have never even set foot in a house of worship, that many people even disown their own children when they 'come out' and divulge their sexual orientation to those whom they thought unconditionally loved and cherished them. There are many children living on the streets because their own parents trusted ignorant clergy and their followers over their God-given duty and privilege to nurture and embrace their own children!
The Church should concentrate on the real sins that deserve our attention and that cry out to God for redress, such as invading another country on false pretenses; the working poor who can't afford medical insurance; the Supreme Court ruling that people can't sue their insurance company in state court for denying needed medical services; many elderly people having to decide whether to buy food or medicine; the gigantic rip off perpetrated by drug companies, hospitals, and the medical establishment on sick and vulnerable people. Why not focus on and address issues such as these, instead of obsessing on who loves who and who sleeps with whom? Such obsession tells us much more about the pathetic and moribund state of much of the Church than it does about the reality of the lives of GLBT people".
To the degree that any professing Christian can keep silent in the face of the grinding oppression and destruction of others, it is to that degree that he/she had better examine his/her claim to being a "Christian!"
Rev. Dr. Jerry S. Maneker is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at California State University, Chico.He is an ordained priest in the Congregational Catholic Church, a division of the Independent Catholic Churches International (ICCI}
Visit his site christianlgbtrights.org/
[I hope everyone enjoy Jerry's commentary on bigotry and hate from self-professed christians, and how silence of speaking truth and living in one's truth is killing others! News and story updates from me later today-Justice MH]
"'Whether their sexual preference is to be a homosexual or being gay, that's their problem,' Da' Priest says. 'I'm the street, I'm the street priest, and I have real good Christian values on what I believe in, and I am against homosexuality.'" from Npr.org
I never heard of Dooney Da Priest, a songwriter! However, his above statement is crucial for every single decent person, and for everyone who considers him/herself to be a Christian, to read and understand.
Christianity has become defined in the minds of most people as being not only a judgmental religion, but the rhetoric, actions and/or silence and inaction on the part of all too many professing Christians and clergy has had the effect of equating being "Gay" with being "immoral" in the minds of others, including many, if not most, LGBT people.
The mantra that being Gay is equivalent to being immoral, and is against the will of God, has been spewed so often in and from most churches, and is believed by most clergy and church-goers within the institutional Church, that one can not only believe that lie, but one can feel free to hawk his/her "Christian" credentials by affirming his/her disdain for homosexuality; so many professing Christians can justify to others their homophobia by appealing to the fact that they are "Bible-believing Christians."
As you well know, I lay the lion's share of the blame for homophobia and its destructive consequences at the feet of the institutional Church! It has been responsible for untold suicides, bashings, and murders; it has been responsible for lives lived in quiet and not so quiet desperation; it has been responsible for fracturing families as well as fracturing human beings within their families.
As I've written:
"Make no mistake, every drop of blood shed by GLBT people either through suicide, bashing, or murder, are on the hands of all those religious leaders, their followers, and their allies who spew forth their ignorance, prejudice, and hate against GLBT people and their relationships! These wolves in sheep’s clothing take the Bible, God’s love letter to His children, and selectively and perversely use it as a club to condemn others, and deny GLBT people full inclusion in the Church and in society.
"The tradition-bound parts of the Church have so indoctrinated people, many of whom have never even set foot in a house of worship, that many people even disown their own children when they 'come out' and divulge their sexual orientation to those whom they thought unconditionally loved and cherished them. There are many children living on the streets because their own parents trusted ignorant clergy and their followers over their God-given duty and privilege to nurture and embrace their own children!
The Church should concentrate on the real sins that deserve our attention and that cry out to God for redress, such as invading another country on false pretenses; the working poor who can't afford medical insurance; the Supreme Court ruling that people can't sue their insurance company in state court for denying needed medical services; many elderly people having to decide whether to buy food or medicine; the gigantic rip off perpetrated by drug companies, hospitals, and the medical establishment on sick and vulnerable people. Why not focus on and address issues such as these, instead of obsessing on who loves who and who sleeps with whom? Such obsession tells us much more about the pathetic and moribund state of much of the Church than it does about the reality of the lives of GLBT people".
To the degree that any professing Christian can keep silent in the face of the grinding oppression and destruction of others, it is to that degree that he/she had better examine his/her claim to being a "Christian!"
Rev. Dr. Jerry S. Maneker is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at California State University, Chico.He is an ordained priest in the Congregational Catholic Church, a division of the Independent Catholic Churches International (ICCI}
Visit his site christianlgbtrights.org/
6 comments:
Everyone is welcomed in the house of God, but there is a side of God that deals in judgment and for those who love God, should follow his commandments. Just know that Christianity is not a democracy, nor a republic, it is Kingdom, and principles and standards are establish to reflect the nature of God and the expression of Christ. Unfortunately, no where in the bible has God ever accepted or condone homosexuality. No matter how twisted you gays try to obsecure the bible to fit your purposes, it will not work. When you come to Christ, everything about you change because the sin we are involved in cannot exist in His holy presence.
@Captain: Still ignorant are we? Yes you are, such a shame!
Again, the bible is NOT GOD, nor is it inerrant, or inspired. It's already full of errors, copies, editing, contradictions, and inconsistences! I never Christianity is a democracy, you said mention that. We don't twist bible. Bible literalist like YOU twist it to affirm your negative feeling your gays. My sexual orientation is NOT in any so-called sin!
Again, the bible is NOT God! Get over it!
Then how would you know anything about God without the bible?
@Captain:Well how did humans know about God before the bible can about?
Another silly question from you!
Get over this Captain!
Very interesting question and I DO have an answer.
The bible is a lovely work of FICTION.
Anyone who follows what a
BOOK has to say has a screw loose. Seriously.
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