Religion and history
This is an interesting argument for the importance of history when evaluating churches. Not sure if I agree with it (I mean, the Church has thoroughly repudiated Thomas More and his actions against translated Bibles, right?) (right???), but still. Interesting.
This part hurts:
"It is hard for me to be told that, to be told that I am evil, because I think of myself as someone who is filled with love."
That hurts a lot.
And it should hurt.
Updated 7 March: I just read this (a column about a Catholic school which is denying re-enrollment to the child of two gay women). I would like to quote one paragraph in particular:
Let me also just take a moment to note that, even granting the Catholic belief that homosexuality is a sin, it's interesting that a special dispensation is being made for every other child whose parents are sinners. By which I mean all the other children, of course, since Catholic doctrine regards all humans as sinners.
It is spot on. The reason why being told that homosexuality is a sin hurts so much is because the Church treats homosexuality as a special, unforgivable, stigma-bearing kind of sin. "All men are sinners, but some are more sinful than others, and those are definitely the gays" seems to be the message that is being portrayed here. I've never heard of a child being denied re-enrollment in a Catholic school because her parents committed some other kind of sin. (Although examples would be interesting to see.) (For example, "using contraception" or "having been divorced and remarried.")
This part hurts:
"It is hard for me to be told that, to be told that I am evil, because I think of myself as someone who is filled with love."
That hurts a lot.
And it should hurt.
Updated 7 March: I just read this (a column about a Catholic school which is denying re-enrollment to the child of two gay women). I would like to quote one paragraph in particular:
Let me also just take a moment to note that, even granting the Catholic belief that homosexuality is a sin, it's interesting that a special dispensation is being made for every other child whose parents are sinners. By which I mean all the other children, of course, since Catholic doctrine regards all humans as sinners.
It is spot on. The reason why being told that homosexuality is a sin hurts so much is because the Church treats homosexuality as a special, unforgivable, stigma-bearing kind of sin. "All men are sinners, but some are more sinful than others, and those are definitely the gays" seems to be the message that is being portrayed here. I've never heard of a child being denied re-enrollment in a Catholic school because her parents committed some other kind of sin. (Although examples would be interesting to see.) (For example, "using contraception" or "having been divorced and remarried.")