Trying to make sense of layered emotions
I just got done watching a little bit of a couple of the "pastors" praising the outcome of the Orlando shootings because at least it took some "pedophiles" off the street. WTF?
I'm just done defending any of this sh*t anymore. Then I remember of course that such a small percentage of Christian ministers share such an odious, hateful, and un-Christlike stance, and it's true. Very few leaders in the Christian faith believe this type of thing, let alone say it. I have no idea why either of these pieces of trash aren't in jail, because this goes beyond any semblance of free speech, into inciting violence of fellow human beings. People can believe what they want, but when it starts threatening someone's safety, it's crossed over.
The aversions that Christianity often has with being LGBT are usually more nuanced like: you can be gay, but just don't act on it. Or feeling like they own the word marriage, so if two guys want to play house, they should call their union something else. The vast majority used to believe that orientation was a choice, and now more of them believe that there is something to nurture or nature.
Then I consider the pro-LGBT Christian organization called NALT, which is an acronym for "not all like that" which of course sounds like a charitable name on the surface. First of all, it acknowledges that there is a problem with some Christians who condemn being gay as sin, it makes a distinction from that ideology, then pledges to be an ally to LGBT in spite of the connection to Christianity.
They actually do good things. I'm not berating them at all. But think about it for a moment, the name: not 'all' like that. If they have a faith that is so off the rails when it comes to treating LGBT people as fellow humans, that as the name implies, most who call themselves Christians are haters, so they don't want you to think they're like 'all' the rest... I mean, you have "ALL" and then pretty much the next segment away from that extreme is "Not All" ...? Do you see what I mean?
Yes, there are good things happening not just with NALT, but in hundreds of other organizations within Christendom, but if at its core the ideology is so broken that they have to turn 180s on the fundamental stances within their religion, what's the point in dragging people through that?
I suppose if I really believed in the god of the bible and I wanted to believe that all the hate stuff is just what came along later, and all we need to do is get back to basics before the religious trappings convoluted and confused everything, then I guess they'd have a point.
So defending the religion has just become so exhausting that I have no desire left to defend it. Which brings me to this: I wonder if I'm even qualified to lead the (mostly) Christian LGBT group I founded on LiveJournal 12 years ago. Can I be impartial and keep it a safe zone?
I'm just done defending any of this sh*t anymore. Then I remember of course that such a small percentage of Christian ministers share such an odious, hateful, and un-Christlike stance, and it's true. Very few leaders in the Christian faith believe this type of thing, let alone say it. I have no idea why either of these pieces of trash aren't in jail, because this goes beyond any semblance of free speech, into inciting violence of fellow human beings. People can believe what they want, but when it starts threatening someone's safety, it's crossed over.
The aversions that Christianity often has with being LGBT are usually more nuanced like: you can be gay, but just don't act on it. Or feeling like they own the word marriage, so if two guys want to play house, they should call their union something else. The vast majority used to believe that orientation was a choice, and now more of them believe that there is something to nurture or nature.
Then I consider the pro-LGBT Christian organization called NALT, which is an acronym for "not all like that" which of course sounds like a charitable name on the surface. First of all, it acknowledges that there is a problem with some Christians who condemn being gay as sin, it makes a distinction from that ideology, then pledges to be an ally to LGBT in spite of the connection to Christianity.
They actually do good things. I'm not berating them at all. But think about it for a moment, the name: not 'all' like that. If they have a faith that is so off the rails when it comes to treating LGBT people as fellow humans, that as the name implies, most who call themselves Christians are haters, so they don't want you to think they're like 'all' the rest... I mean, you have "ALL" and then pretty much the next segment away from that extreme is "Not All" ...? Do you see what I mean?
Yes, there are good things happening not just with NALT, but in hundreds of other organizations within Christendom, but if at its core the ideology is so broken that they have to turn 180s on the fundamental stances within their religion, what's the point in dragging people through that?
I suppose if I really believed in the god of the bible and I wanted to believe that all the hate stuff is just what came along later, and all we need to do is get back to basics before the religious trappings convoluted and confused everything, then I guess they'd have a point.
So defending the religion has just become so exhausting that I have no desire left to defend it. Which brings me to this: I wonder if I'm even qualified to lead the (mostly) Christian LGBT group I founded on LiveJournal 12 years ago. Can I be impartial and keep it a safe zone?