Sunday Sermonette: Separation of Church and Hate
The man confronted me as I came out of a gay bar. “Homosexuality is an abomination,” he cried.
I’m a peaceful guy, but I’m also a big guy, and I was outraged. How dare he? This wasn’t some wackaloon holding a sign at the fringes of the Pride Parade, this was somebody accosting a complete stranger in the street. I wasn’t inclined to offer any justifications or excuses that I was just meeting a friend. I got very close and warned him in menacing tones about the health hazards of his presumption. I must have frightened him, because he backed off quickly. This was about 30 years ago. Things are different today.
This past week saw the horrific mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Pulse was opened in honor of co-owner Barbara Poma’s brother John, who died of AIDS in 1991, and named “for John’s pulse to live on.” It was just another Saturday night at a perfectly ordinary gay nightclub. And then an armed man came in and shot 102 people, 49 fatally (not including the assailant himself).
LGBTQ people have for the last decade been the most likely target of hate crimes in America. But who encourages it, excuses it, and gives social license for it? Is there a secular case to be made against homosexuality? Some say there is, and roll out a laundry list. In point of fact, I can find only two real arguments, from which all the others extend.
The first non-religious argument against homosexuality is that it is unnatural. The two genders have complementary genitalia. The union of male and female is necessary for breeding the next generation and continuing the species.
I hardly need point out the fallacies to this argument. There are lots of things two (or more!) people can do with genitals and erogenous zones that fit marvelously well, regardless of the gender of the individuals so engaged. That they work so well together for even heterosexuals suggests strongly that reproduction is merely one of the purposes of sex and intimacy, not the sole or even the most important purpose.
Moreover, this naturalistic fallacy threatens opposite-sex relationships. Many people marry with every intention of forming a sexual partnership but no intention of reproducing whatsoever. In a world groaning under the weight of seven billion humans, I think this is a good thing.
The second non-religious argument is from public health. Same-sex activity is a disease vector for such things as HIV/AIDS. Heterosexist apologists will often add bogus statistics concerning the mental health and life expectancy of homosexuals. These arguments are utterly specious. There are many sexually-transmitted infections, and some are very scary indeed, but if you want to make a case for public health, promote lesbianism - they have the lowest incidence of STIs. Otherwise, disease is no respecter of sexual orientation, as is sadly demonstrated in sub-Saharan Africa.
The remaining arguments - that tolerance will increase homosexuality (because everyone is really gay and we’re just being held in check by social sanction), that children will be more likely to grow up queer, that heterosexual marriage will be destroyed - all of these say far more about the person arguing than they do about the truth value of the proposition.
No, the secular arguments are pathetically weak and thoroughly debunked. So what is the biggest cause of hostility to LGBTQ people in this country? Who stands most firmly against civil rights? Who compares same-sex love to bestiality and pedophilia? Who raises and spends millions of dollars to keep lesbians and gays from enjoying the same rights and privileges under law as everyone else?
The church. It’s always the church. Organized intolerance requires organized religion. The hate isn’t restricted to the Westboro Baptist Church or Pastor Steve Anderson. The oft-cited quote of “love the sinner, hate the sin” is just as hateful - it’s saying that you’re perverse and deserve eternal torment for being who you are, for something innate and intrinsic and the most wonderful part of being human - the ability to love and be loved.
Thanks to the gun lobby, the unhinged aren’t just waiting with Bible in hand to harangue strangers in the street anymore. They now have the means to be the Right Hand of God’s Wrath.
Easy availability of firearms with big, easily swapped out magazines made the mass murder in Orlando possible.
Religions scapegoating sexual minorities and the politicians who pander to them made it probable.
The NRA made it profitable.
I’m a peaceful guy, but I’m also a big guy, and I was outraged. How dare he? This wasn’t some wackaloon holding a sign at the fringes of the Pride Parade, this was somebody accosting a complete stranger in the street. I wasn’t inclined to offer any justifications or excuses that I was just meeting a friend. I got very close and warned him in menacing tones about the health hazards of his presumption. I must have frightened him, because he backed off quickly. This was about 30 years ago. Things are different today.
This past week saw the horrific mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Pulse was opened in honor of co-owner Barbara Poma’s brother John, who died of AIDS in 1991, and named “for John’s pulse to live on.” It was just another Saturday night at a perfectly ordinary gay nightclub. And then an armed man came in and shot 102 people, 49 fatally (not including the assailant himself).
LGBTQ people have for the last decade been the most likely target of hate crimes in America. But who encourages it, excuses it, and gives social license for it? Is there a secular case to be made against homosexuality? Some say there is, and roll out a laundry list. In point of fact, I can find only two real arguments, from which all the others extend.
The first non-religious argument against homosexuality is that it is unnatural. The two genders have complementary genitalia. The union of male and female is necessary for breeding the next generation and continuing the species.
I hardly need point out the fallacies to this argument. There are lots of things two (or more!) people can do with genitals and erogenous zones that fit marvelously well, regardless of the gender of the individuals so engaged. That they work so well together for even heterosexuals suggests strongly that reproduction is merely one of the purposes of sex and intimacy, not the sole or even the most important purpose.
Moreover, this naturalistic fallacy threatens opposite-sex relationships. Many people marry with every intention of forming a sexual partnership but no intention of reproducing whatsoever. In a world groaning under the weight of seven billion humans, I think this is a good thing.
The second non-religious argument is from public health. Same-sex activity is a disease vector for such things as HIV/AIDS. Heterosexist apologists will often add bogus statistics concerning the mental health and life expectancy of homosexuals. These arguments are utterly specious. There are many sexually-transmitted infections, and some are very scary indeed, but if you want to make a case for public health, promote lesbianism - they have the lowest incidence of STIs. Otherwise, disease is no respecter of sexual orientation, as is sadly demonstrated in sub-Saharan Africa.
The remaining arguments - that tolerance will increase homosexuality (because everyone is really gay and we’re just being held in check by social sanction), that children will be more likely to grow up queer, that heterosexual marriage will be destroyed - all of these say far more about the person arguing than they do about the truth value of the proposition.
No, the secular arguments are pathetically weak and thoroughly debunked. So what is the biggest cause of hostility to LGBTQ people in this country? Who stands most firmly against civil rights? Who compares same-sex love to bestiality and pedophilia? Who raises and spends millions of dollars to keep lesbians and gays from enjoying the same rights and privileges under law as everyone else?
The church. It’s always the church. Organized intolerance requires organized religion. The hate isn’t restricted to the Westboro Baptist Church or Pastor Steve Anderson. The oft-cited quote of “love the sinner, hate the sin” is just as hateful - it’s saying that you’re perverse and deserve eternal torment for being who you are, for something innate and intrinsic and the most wonderful part of being human - the ability to love and be loved.
Click to viewThanks to the gun lobby, the unhinged aren’t just waiting with Bible in hand to harangue strangers in the street anymore. They now have the means to be the Right Hand of God’s Wrath.
Easy availability of firearms with big, easily swapped out magazines made the mass murder in Orlando possible.
Religions scapegoating sexual minorities and the politicians who pander to them made it probable.
The NRA made it profitable.