Lets do this...
And by "this" I mean the gay debate.
The only justification I've heard for the opposition of gay marriage is, ultimately, the religious one. God, in the heavily edited King James version of the bible, is not down with homosexuality. Now, if you are a follower of this particular god I don't have any problem with your opposition to the gay lifestyle. It's your right to practice your beliefs as you see fit, so go ahead and be straight as an arrow if you like. I just question the validity of the bible as a basis for one's morality. It only works if you exclude 99% of the text. Christians themselves tend to ignore most of gods word, and I'll give you an example: Thou Shalt Not Kill. How many Christians in this country truly believe that? If you actually accept this commandment you are 1. a pacifist and 2. an opponent of the death penalty. End of story.
But let's focus on god and gays. There is no question that in the Old Testament and again in the letters of Paul god forbids homosexuality. Christians are fond of quoting these passages as a justification for their beliefs. However, you will rarely find a Christian who quotes from some of the more, how shall I put this?....odd....sections of the bible. I attended church for the first 20 years of my life and I never once heard a preacher quote from Genesis chapter 19, verses 30 through 38. This is well after the flood when the earth has fully repopulated, so here are a few selections:
"And Lot went up from Zoar and stayed in the mountains...he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. Then the first born said to the younger: 'Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him, so that we may preserve our family through our father.' So they made their father drink wine that night, and the first born went and lay with her father...On the second day they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him...Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father." Not only are the daughters not punished, but their actions lead to the establishment of two seperate societies, the Ammonites and the Moabites.
So, what have we learned from this: Homosexuality? Bad. But drunken, incestuous, date-rape? Gods okay with that. Nice!
Another bible passage that most ignore: Ephesians Ch. 5, v. 22.
"Wives, be subject to your husbands...for the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church." What are husbands supposed to do in return? v. 25, "Husbands, love your wives." Wow, thats kind of a crappy deal for the ladies...they're subjugated to men, who in turn are asked only to be nice about it. Thankfully, most people today recognize that the superiority of men is a myth perpetuated...suprise!...by men. Strike two for God.
And strike 3: Chapter 6, verse 5 of the same book....."Slaves, be obedient to your masters." Don't think I need to say anything about this one. The point being that simply pointing to gods statements on gays isn't really a strong argument if you're only using hand-picked, selectively chosen passages. God said a lot of things which most Christians are more than happy to ignore.
My other favorite arugment is that homosexuality is not "natural". The naughty bits are there for a reason, after all. We're meant to pro-create, so nature doesn't want us fooling around with same-sex partners. First of all, the animal kindom is replete with examples of homosexuality, it's practice is rampant. Furthermore, it's worth noting that hyienas hunt in packs led by females. They are matriarchal in nature, and this next part is 100% true. It has been established that once a female hyiena assumes command of a group she immediately begins to grow a fake penis, which presumably signifies her leadership role. What this means is that, not only is homosexuality common in the animal kingdom....but there's even a natural basis for the strap-on! Nature, it turns out, is even weirder than the bible! And, more importantly, it utterly fails as an argument against homosexuality.
Thanks for playing....
The only justification I've heard for the opposition of gay marriage is, ultimately, the religious one. God, in the heavily edited King James version of the bible, is not down with homosexuality. Now, if you are a follower of this particular god I don't have any problem with your opposition to the gay lifestyle. It's your right to practice your beliefs as you see fit, so go ahead and be straight as an arrow if you like. I just question the validity of the bible as a basis for one's morality. It only works if you exclude 99% of the text. Christians themselves tend to ignore most of gods word, and I'll give you an example: Thou Shalt Not Kill. How many Christians in this country truly believe that? If you actually accept this commandment you are 1. a pacifist and 2. an opponent of the death penalty. End of story.
But let's focus on god and gays. There is no question that in the Old Testament and again in the letters of Paul god forbids homosexuality. Christians are fond of quoting these passages as a justification for their beliefs. However, you will rarely find a Christian who quotes from some of the more, how shall I put this?....odd....sections of the bible. I attended church for the first 20 years of my life and I never once heard a preacher quote from Genesis chapter 19, verses 30 through 38. This is well after the flood when the earth has fully repopulated, so here are a few selections:
"And Lot went up from Zoar and stayed in the mountains...he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. Then the first born said to the younger: 'Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him, so that we may preserve our family through our father.' So they made their father drink wine that night, and the first born went and lay with her father...On the second day they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him...Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father." Not only are the daughters not punished, but their actions lead to the establishment of two seperate societies, the Ammonites and the Moabites.
So, what have we learned from this: Homosexuality? Bad. But drunken, incestuous, date-rape? Gods okay with that. Nice!
Another bible passage that most ignore: Ephesians Ch. 5, v. 22.
"Wives, be subject to your husbands...for the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church." What are husbands supposed to do in return? v. 25, "Husbands, love your wives." Wow, thats kind of a crappy deal for the ladies...they're subjugated to men, who in turn are asked only to be nice about it. Thankfully, most people today recognize that the superiority of men is a myth perpetuated...suprise!...by men. Strike two for God.
And strike 3: Chapter 6, verse 5 of the same book....."Slaves, be obedient to your masters." Don't think I need to say anything about this one. The point being that simply pointing to gods statements on gays isn't really a strong argument if you're only using hand-picked, selectively chosen passages. God said a lot of things which most Christians are more than happy to ignore.
My other favorite arugment is that homosexuality is not "natural". The naughty bits are there for a reason, after all. We're meant to pro-create, so nature doesn't want us fooling around with same-sex partners. First of all, the animal kindom is replete with examples of homosexuality, it's practice is rampant. Furthermore, it's worth noting that hyienas hunt in packs led by females. They are matriarchal in nature, and this next part is 100% true. It has been established that once a female hyiena assumes command of a group she immediately begins to grow a fake penis, which presumably signifies her leadership role. What this means is that, not only is homosexuality common in the animal kingdom....but there's even a natural basis for the strap-on! Nature, it turns out, is even weirder than the bible! And, more importantly, it utterly fails as an argument against homosexuality.
Thanks for playing....
posted by Samwick @ 4:41 AM
6 Comments:
At 8:57 AM,
littlepage said…
My favorite comes from Leviticus 18-20, one of the more commonly cited sections. The same set of rules that says thou shalt not lie with a man like a woman also states that you cannot be with a prostitute, cannot be with a woman while she is menstruating, cannot have cut skin (piercings/tattoos), and cannot wear clothing of mixed fiber (um, no linen and wool combos here!). Hmmm. I think the last two cut out....almost everyone. I hate hypocrisy.
At 10:00 AM,
Christopher said…
When I read the extract you quoted from Ephesians Ch. 5 v 22. about women being subject to their husbands, the issue of abortion, for some reason, came up in my mind. Abortion is opposed mainly by conservative males, on the grounds that all human life is sacred. Yet conservative males are usually the ones most supportive of wars, where human life is definitely not sacred. Why the paradox? But if you think about it, you’ll realize that sacredness of human life isn’t why conservative males oppose abortion. It is because outlawing abortion is more likely to keep women barefoot and pregnant, and thus more under the control of men for their survival. Of course no conservative male, in our politically correct times, is going to say this, so he hides behind the sanctity of life.
No-where in all the public discussions I’ve heard on abortion, have I ever heard this line of argument. Or is it just me?
At 4:51 PM,
littlepage said…
I think your right, Christopher - there is definitely a great deal of sanctimoniousness in their attitudes...I live in Arkansas, where fundamentalism and anti-abortionism reigns. Not surprisingly, the abuse of women here is high compared to national statistics. I think your argument is right on target.
At 6:04 AM,
Anonymous said…
My grandmother - mother's mother - is dead now but I'll never forget her ongoing insistence that the Bible was a dirty book. She would point out passages in the Song of Solomon and tut (not noticing or caring for the erotic beauty in the verse). She also pointed out another passage, I remember not what, but there was a reference to men being hung like donkeys. It makes me laugh now to think about it, but the fact remains the Bible does not shy away from sex and many instances of it have nothing to do with procreation and I see nothing therein which resembles American Christian sanctioned concepts of 'family' or 'sex'.
The sin of Onanism - where Onan had a wank and spilled his seed on the ground, offending God - is never mentioned these days, presumably because an overwhelming majority of Christians are, truly, wankers like the rest of us. So if they ignore prohibitions against masturbation (turning a blind eye, or pretending none of them actually masturbate), they can and do ignore prohibitions against other behaviours, clothes,foods, etc. Leviticus is the most subjectively-approached book in the Bible.
Homosexuality is singled out for specific focus in the modern world because these hardcore Christians have a hard time being loving towards others as it is, without having to try to recognise same-sex love for the innocent, wonderful, natural thing it is. Remember, these are the same people who bomb abortion clinics - can ya feel the lurve, brothers and sisters? KA-BOOM! Hallelujah!
I feel sorry for the women trapped in joyless relationships with evangelicals who only ever get ardent about Jesus. The idea of being shagged in missionary position through a hole in a sheet once a month doesn't hold much of a hard-on for me, I can tell you that much! >;-)
It's a shame that 'wanker' is a term not often evidenced in America; indeed, when the character Spike used the term in Buffy, I was surprised - then figured the producers/writers had no idea how rude a term it was/is, or, to their credit if so, didn't care. It's one of those gloriously vulgar and undignified words that somehow manages to attach a certain amount of humour to an essentially animal and human act which, like homosexuality, flies in the face of evangelical moral codes and so nature is conveniently ignored. But then again, these are the same people who believe God gave us the earth to rape it - why would we think they might treat human beings any more compassionately, or with any more wisdom and insight and long-term thinking, than they do the earth itself?
Remember, folks: they want the end. They crave Armageddon. They'll do what they can to bring it on, because they think they're going up in the sky on Rapture Day. It's the most terrifying aspect of neo-conservatives holding such sway... the fact that the worse it gets, the better they think it is....
At 8:01 PM,
Stan said…
Good Job Matt. Now all you need is a few million red-state readers, and all of them have to have open minds, let's not forget that.
At 3:51 AM,
Samwick said…
Wanker really is a great word...vulgar, expressive, I love it. I'll make an effort to use it more. And Christopher is absolutely right....the bible, ultimately, is a way to give men power while holding women down, depriving them of their individuality. Let's not forget that in America, women weren't even allowed to vote until 1920! They were deemed mentally inferior and guess what book was always used to back that up? Yeah.
Post a Comment
<< Home