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Everyone I know, gay and straight, are over-the-top excited
this week because of the Supreme Court hearings on Prop H8 and DOMA. So in all
this excitement, I thought I would chime in with a few thoughts.
From what I’ve heard so far the rightwingers’ only arguments
to keep DOMA and reject same-sex marriage is Christian ideals on
homosexuality and procreation. All they can do is thump
their bibles. It’s their only leg to stand on because, of course, both Prop H8
and DOMA are pure discrimination against gay people. No surprise there.
What I find puzzling is the Church’s stance on the subject.
The question popped into my head, How would Jesus vote if he were on the bench.
According to the New Testament, Jesus never said a discouraging word against
homosexuality. His message was unswervingly to love thy neighbor, to do unto
others as you would have them do unto you. So the Church, all Christians, have an
opportunity here to act Christ-like by being compassionate, yet most refuse.
They prefer to pass judgment, punish, and pretend that they are somehow better
than gay people.
Being a Buddhist, I learned early on that sitting in
judgment and punishing are a sickness caused by the duality of the human mind.
It is the very thing that Buddhist’s struggle to overcome. It is the ego
desperately trying to build itself up by putting everyone else down. It is the
human condition when people break away from a holy state of oneness with God.
My point is that by embracing same-sex marriage and demanding that all people
have the same rights would, in fact, help Christians to become closer with
their God. Yet, they choose to distance themselves from Christ’s teachings.
Once gay people have all the rights as everyone else, once
gay is ‘normal’ (or at least not abnormal), who will these haters turn their
animosity on next? Which group will they single out as inferior so that they
can continue to inflate their own egos? I’ve always thought that gay people
were the bottom rung of the hate ladder, but I suspect now that I’ve
underestimated haters. Now I’m confident they will find some group. I simply
have no idea which one.
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2 comments:
I fear that the motivation to discriminate against a group of people lies in a need to feel superior. Which is pitiful and not at all christian.
I also think that a big element of antipathy and prejudice against people who are perceived as 'other' than themselves is due to anxiety. Fear of the unfamiliar, distrust of change - the need to rely on what you (think you) know.
Many people think that when they have deep-seated convictions the more strongly they feel then "the more" right they are.
A reluctance to experience empathy because it seems to threaten their bedrock.
I fear that the next group of people being discriminated and persecuted are trans people (already are). I am appalled to see people's hateful attitudes that sound as if they feel personally attacked by someone else declining the limits of gender binary. I don't understand it but transphobic people react as if a trans person had attacked them, them personally. When the shoe is so very much on the other foot.
I want to be an ally to the LGBT community. I have gay friends though I don't know anyone trans but I know I want to stand up for all LGBT people.
As a Christian, I have used the same points you made in your post to other Christians who preach and spew intolerance. I am always astounded that most have never put their thinking caps on and realized that Christ never uttered a word, at least not in the teachings I have studied, regarding homosexuality. I remind them that he taught to us love, love, love. Love your neighbor, love your enemy. LOVE people!! He taught me to "judge not, lest ye be judged." He taught to care for the downtrodden. Where do they think Christ would be teaching today if he were walking among us? He would be teaching to and caring for those among us who are being "hated" against. Don't people have enough "sins" of their very own to worry about without looking for other peoples' so-called sins? I certainly do.
In a country that is supposed to be about freedom and the ideals of democracy, why are we still living with and dealing with these issues? It astounds me.
In a time where love is hard enough to find, I say if you find it with someone, anyone, you better hold on to it for all it's worth. Cherish it and nurture it because it is a gift.
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