First Confirmation
My mom was scheduled to read at the noon mass today, which turned out to be a first confirmation mass, crowded with tiny people in suits and dresses. They were as adorable as they were numerous. I sat in back with the ushers, so I could more efficiently ush, in addition to having a place to sit. Then, out of the blue, our priest pointed out little petition cards and pencils at the ends of each pew. He had us pass them around and sign them, turning them in with donations at the collection. The petition was against gay marriage. For a bit of uncomfortable irony, since I was an usher I had to collect these so they could be sent in.
"If you love God, burn the Church."
-Jello Biafra
Of course, the American thing to do is support others' freedom of being wrong and not impose my beliefs on others. I had expected a lot more of them to be filled out, though, and I saw a handful of people actually get up and leave. My mom talked to the organist after mass (they're great friends), and he told her that the other priest during the first mass entirely "forgot" the petition thing.
My mom and I got into a discussion about the situation in the car on the way back home. In the Old Testament is a scene where a group visiting Sodom is in a little house, and members of the Sodom military tries to break in and have sex with the men, but they're fought off and locked out. Because Sodom was full of such wickedness, God destroyed the whole kingdom. Most take this as God saying that gay people are evil, but it seems clear to me that the sin is imposing sexuality without consent. And what do you know? Celibate, old, white men imposing their own sexual opinions on others!
What's most important to me is that God chose to destroy all of Sodom. In fact, throughout the Bible, whenever evil becomes institutionalized, God completely crushes that institution. It goes along splendidly with my own view of the world- structure is great up to a point, and after that it's disastrous. God appointed Peter as the first pope, pointing us toward that good degree of structure that Catholicism is based on, and whenever things get too organized and convoluted (like modern politics), He entirely destroys it.
Do you know what that means? God's an anarchist. Deal with it.
Whenever I say the word "anarchy," people roll their eyes and stop listening. No one else's beliefs hold up to reason, in my opinion, and anarchy is all I can whole-heartedly agree with. Remember, I respect everyone else's rights to their own opinions, which is why I went through with that collection this morning. Just be sure to respect mine, because I'm very serious about it.
"If you love God, burn the Church."
-Jello Biafra
Of course, the American thing to do is support others' freedom of being wrong and not impose my beliefs on others. I had expected a lot more of them to be filled out, though, and I saw a handful of people actually get up and leave. My mom talked to the organist after mass (they're great friends), and he told her that the other priest during the first mass entirely "forgot" the petition thing.
My mom and I got into a discussion about the situation in the car on the way back home. In the Old Testament is a scene where a group visiting Sodom is in a little house, and members of the Sodom military tries to break in and have sex with the men, but they're fought off and locked out. Because Sodom was full of such wickedness, God destroyed the whole kingdom. Most take this as God saying that gay people are evil, but it seems clear to me that the sin is imposing sexuality without consent. And what do you know? Celibate, old, white men imposing their own sexual opinions on others!
What's most important to me is that God chose to destroy all of Sodom. In fact, throughout the Bible, whenever evil becomes institutionalized, God completely crushes that institution. It goes along splendidly with my own view of the world- structure is great up to a point, and after that it's disastrous. God appointed Peter as the first pope, pointing us toward that good degree of structure that Catholicism is based on, and whenever things get too organized and convoluted (like modern politics), He entirely destroys it.
Do you know what that means? God's an anarchist. Deal with it.
Whenever I say the word "anarchy," people roll their eyes and stop listening. No one else's beliefs hold up to reason, in my opinion, and anarchy is all I can whole-heartedly agree with. Remember, I respect everyone else's rights to their own opinions, which is why I went through with that collection this morning. Just be sure to respect mine, because I'm very serious about it.