“The church says the earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the church.” –Ferdinand Magellan
I can give an “amen” to that! I just need to vent for a minute. People are absolutely maddening! I’m sure everyone has seen the mass change of profile pictures on Facebook for equality. Red equal signs. Supporting love for all. I’m all about that.
Almost immediately, I start seeing Jesus posts about how those equality “sinners” are paving their road to hell. My questions to those people: who are you to make that call? Isn’t the bible supposed to preach acceptance and tolerance and kindness and to leave those statements and decisions to God? Does this gay couple being in love have a direct negative effect on you and your heterosexual relationship? Hasn’t the church been incorrect multiple times throughout history? How are you going to make your own sinful decisions, such as cursing and drinking on Saturdays but being oh-so-holy come Sunday morning or conceiving out of wedlock, and then try to justify that your “sins” aren’t as serious?
But do I ask these questions? No, and I’ll tell you why. Because I am well aware of how limited the response to any of these questions would be. They would be lacking facts, lacking information, lacking substance, and nothing but righteous opinions based on what has been handed down to these people from generations of close-mindedness. So instead, I’ll take a stand by posting my own views.
Oh, and by happily going on an un-friending spree! Thanks for making it so easy for me to rid my day of negativity by being so blatantly obvious in your lack of acceptance for all humankind.
If I’ve offended anyone with this post, I apologize to you. That is not my intent. But if I have offended you, then that probably means you have openly oppressed others in this manner, so in that case I apologize for you. If I did pray, I would pray that you could all see the beauty in the world for all it is worth, not just the beauty you choose to see while ignoring the rest because it is “different.”
I’m not saying people shouldn’t be able to have their own opinions, I just think adults should be able to express those opinions while still being respectful to each other. Does that make me crazy? If so, I’m happy to be insane.
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Casual, Possibly-Nonsensical Ramblings 
I couldn’t agree more. Please know that not all Christians (Christ-followers) believe the way you describe (though a lot, perhaps most, do). I apologize on behalf of all Christians.
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Oh, I know! It’s just the ones like I was talking about that give it all such a bad image, which is really a shame.
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Love this. I know that I have certainly done the same. I don’t need people raining down a lot of negative closed-mindedness in my life.
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I’m happy to be insane too :).
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Well said- I couldn’t agree more, and I congratulate you for your honesty. For some very extreme believers, it’s very Orwellian: All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. The bigotry that exists within the church is mind-boggling. Here in France, people who get all moist-eyed about loving your fellow man and helping those in need every Sunday have been brandishing homophobic flags and dragging their kids into the equation in a ridiculous attempt to try and force public opinion against homosexuals. They seem to have forgotten that if there are homosexuals in this world, it’s because they were conceived by their heterosexual parents! Their naïvity is touching: None of them appear to have realised that their kids may grow just up to be homosexual. Will they have the same opinion the day that happens, and how will they feel about people taking the same stance and trying to exclude their children from basic human rights? I rest my case.
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*Applause*
I think about that all the time! What would these people do if their own child decides to come out to them? Sadly, I’ve seen too many people hide who they really are because of that or be disowned by the family that raised them because they don’t try to hide it. It’s absolutely heartbreaking.
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First of all none of this is meant to be taken as spiteful……
“But if I have offended you, then that probably means you have openly oppressed others in this manner, so in that case I apologize for you.”
Here’s my issue. The idea of atheist (or deist, or agnostic, which every you prefer)/theist arguments is that in the end both sides degenerate into the same fallacious reasoning and it saturates their rhetoric with an emotional dimension that does nothing productive for the discourse. It’s also noteworthy to add that this is the same dichotomy present in people of opposing political views.
The quote above bothers me because it basically says “you’re either with me or you’re not.” You’re phrasing was much more eloquent but the implied message is tantamount to my paraphrasing. That sort of view point seems counter-intuitive to reason and logic. And why would you feel the need to apologize for anyone? Why is their bigotry your problem?
this quote….
“But do I ask these questions? No, and I’ll tell you why. Because I am well aware of how limited the response to any of these questions would be. They would be lacking facts, lacking information, lacking substance, and nothing but righteous opinions based on what has been handed down to these people from generations of close-mindedness. So instead, I’ll take a stand by posting my own views.”
This is an over generalization of Christians and presumes that no one who is a Christian can be logical and reasonable at the same time. And it is very similar to how the Christians feel about homosexuals. I’ll go out on a limb and say that traditional this sort of emotional reciprocity doesn’t ever lead to common ground that can open the type of dialogue that can facilitate mutual and constructive problem solving.
Also the “questions” preceding the quote above are presumptuous to the point of being prejudicial. Isn’t that the sort of behavior exhibited by some Christians that contributes to your frustration with them? Hating the way they hate no matter they why, makes us more like them.
My final point on the quote above is that you say you will take a stand by posting your own view. If this is truly an issue (equality for the LGBT community) for you then there are more productive ways to take a stand. You can vote, if that applies in your state. You can write your congressmen. You could even start a petition. Have you been following the Supreme Court case on prop 8? Do you know when they are going to decide the issue? Do you know that activists are already considering lobbying Congress to repeal DOMA in case prop 8 still stands?
Now I understand that you were frustrated and venting but I will point out that this is a public forum. and when you rant like this in public it does nothing but hinder the possibility of collaborative problem solving.
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You are correct in your statements. However, allow me to explain. This post was not meant as a country wide assessment. This is solely based on MY experiences of growing up in the south. I have had discussions in faith and sin many times throughout my life and always receive the same response from religious people because of where I was raised. I am well aware that not all Christians would respond in that manner, but in my hometown its damn near impossible to find that. My statement of apologizing for others simply means that I am sorry that other people, especially those from my hometown posting the angry anti-homosexuality things all over my Facebook newsfeed, are only seeing a fraction of the world because they are too clouded with years of prejudice that have been passed down. “With me or against me” is a bit harsh, but ultimately is the truth, and that would go for any differing opinion. Trust me, the people that I was venting about with this post would NEVER have a logical conversation to try to see eye to eye about an opinion different than their own, that’s my problem with it! I say have your own opinions, but if it doesn’t affect you personally then why try to hold others down? That’s why I don’t bother asking any questions or having any discussions with these kinds of people, again I do not mean every single Christian in the world, I mean the subset similar to those plastering my Facebook newsfeed. I fully understand how I should have clarified a little more in my post so not to sound as if I was making over-generalized statements regarding the entire religion, so hopefully this makes it a little more understandable. My “taking a stand” was simply on my own Facebook in response to the overwhelming negative posts I was seeing, and when it is made possible in my state to vote on this, I will be. That is the real stand, I know this. I always try to keep an open mind about everything, but I have a long history of questionable experiences from being raised in a southern church that have led me to my views on religion at this point in my life. This does have an affect on my writing when its related to that subject somehow, and I appreciate you taking the time to read, analyze, and respond to wrangle me back in a bit. A little reality check and a good discussion is always the best way to learn, grow, and open oneself up even more, so thank you for that!
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Anytime, thank you for taking the criticism graciously, And I get the venting. And I did assume that this wan’t intended for public digest. You can just consider it a lesson in making sure you understand how vast your audience has the potential to be.You never know when something really important can come back and haunt you.
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