Sorry for the absence.
The blog problems kept things quiet around here for a day or so and then I am working on something which I will talk more about next week. Let’s just say it involves history.
8 thoughts on “I think we are back”
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Zoe, there are many areas where I believe it might be appropriate to fault Moody Bible Institute, Wheaton College, Southern Baptists and the like. There is also evidence that some of the most strident voices against gays are those who struggle with their own sexuality. There should be nothing surprising in this.
However, to state that there is something systemically wrong with these organizations, presumably that they are “sexual perverts, child-molesters, liars and morally bankrupt evildoers” is to engage in the worst kind of name-calling. We who are LGBT should know better.
As a Christian, I am offended that you would call my God an “invisible sky-policeman.” Zoe, I want to respect you, but you are not making it easy. I am a fellow LGBT person. Please don’t treat me and those who believe as I do as the enemy.
How about current events, Warren?
I’ve come to the conclusion that most of the stridently vehement anti-GLBT religious groups genuinely believe what they say. That GLBT groups are sexual perverts, child-molesters, liars and morally bankrupt evildoers.
Because that’s what they are themselves, requiring belief in an invisible sky-policeman to keep themselves in line, mostly. Except when they slip, as here, as they habitually do. They assume everyone else is like them.
At some point in time, you have to look at the record, and see that these are not “isolated incidents”, or “atypical”. They’re the norm, with those who aren’t thoroughly corrupt the exception. It’s not an individual problem, it’s a systemic one.
Most religious educational institutions are relatively sane. They look at themselves, and say “we’re not like that”, and indeed, they’re not. Just the leading ones. Just the strident ones. Just the politically active ones. The rest? They remain in silent complicity.
This kind of thing should be an earth-shattering scandal, something shocking. Instead, it’s just a normal newsday.
For Evil to triumph, all that is necessary is for good men to do nothing.
There are many, many good people in the Evangelical movement. Doing nothing.
@David, I am also a believer, mom of a bisexual son who is also a believer. I can’t quite fault Zoe however, because if you are in the church you do see the many in silent complicity (as the pastor blanketly condemns LGBT folks to hell without anyone raising their voice in protest), and from the outside you see the incredible number of folks who make a mockery of profession of faith. Maybe that’s why they fall–they only had faith in “sky police” rather than in a God with absolute morality.
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2011/05/23/essay_defends_the_way_christian_colleges_treat_gay_students
Here’s a link to an interesting article about gays at Wheaton–a more moderate and rational voice than is usually heard from evangelical circles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
Warren, how about writing about and spreading the word on “Kony 2012”? Whether he is in Uganda now or hiding elsewhere, I think there’s huge truth to the idea that if enough people are familiar with him, his name, his face, his acts of cruelty and brutality and have the goal of his arrest, we can not only make him recognizable but keep him in the political eye and keep the pressure on and actually see his arrest in 2012.
@David, I am also a believer, mom of a bisexual son who is also a believer. I can’t quite fault Zoe however, because if you are in the church you do see the many in silent complicity (as the pastor blanketly condemns LGBT folks to hell without anyone raising their voice in protest), and from the outside you see the incredible number of folks who make a mockery of profession of faith. Maybe that’s why they fall–they only had faith in “sky police” rather than in a God with absolute morality.
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2011/05/23/essay_defends_the_way_christian_colleges_treat_gay_students
Here’s a link to an interesting article about gays at Wheaton–a more moderate and rational voice than is usually heard from evangelical circles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
Warren, how about writing about and spreading the word on “Kony 2012”? Whether he is in Uganda now or hiding elsewhere, I think there’s huge truth to the idea that if enough people are familiar with him, his name, his face, his acts of cruelty and brutality and have the goal of his arrest, we can not only make him recognizable but keep him in the political eye and keep the pressure on and actually see his arrest in 2012.
Zoe, there are many areas where I believe it might be appropriate to fault Moody Bible Institute, Wheaton College, Southern Baptists and the like. There is also evidence that some of the most strident voices against gays are those who struggle with their own sexuality. There should be nothing surprising in this.
However, to state that there is something systemically wrong with these organizations, presumably that they are “sexual perverts, child-molesters, liars and morally bankrupt evildoers” is to engage in the worst kind of name-calling. We who are LGBT should know better.
As a Christian, I am offended that you would call my God an “invisible sky-policeman.” Zoe, I want to respect you, but you are not making it easy. I am a fellow LGBT person. Please don’t treat me and those who believe as I do as the enemy.
How about current events, Warren?
I’ve come to the conclusion that most of the stridently vehement anti-GLBT religious groups genuinely believe what they say. That GLBT groups are sexual perverts, child-molesters, liars and morally bankrupt evildoers.
Because that’s what they are themselves, requiring belief in an invisible sky-policeman to keep themselves in line, mostly. Except when they slip, as here, as they habitually do. They assume everyone else is like them.
At some point in time, you have to look at the record, and see that these are not “isolated incidents”, or “atypical”. They’re the norm, with those who aren’t thoroughly corrupt the exception. It’s not an individual problem, it’s a systemic one.
Most religious educational institutions are relatively sane. They look at themselves, and say “we’re not like that”, and indeed, they’re not. Just the leading ones. Just the strident ones. Just the politically active ones. The rest? They remain in silent complicity.
This kind of thing should be an earth-shattering scandal, something shocking. Instead, it’s just a normal newsday.
For Evil to triumph, all that is necessary is for good men to do nothing.
There are many, many good people in the Evangelical movement. Doing nothing.