The President of the U.S.
announced that he will sign an executive order that will bar companies with
federal contracts from discriminating against sexual orientation and gender
identity when hiring. On Tuesday,
7/1/2014, a group of 14 faith leaders wrote a letter to the President of the
US, basically asking him to give them an exemption based on their "deeply-held
religious beliefs" to this executive order.
In their letter, they wrote "We
believe that all persons are created in the divine image of the creator, and
are worthy of respect and love, without exception." And then, in the very next sentence, "Even
so, it still may not be possible for all sides to reach a consensus on every
issue." Excuse me but you're the
leaders of your faith communities. If
anyone should be able to lead people to accepting another human being, it
should be you. You've read your
bibles. You know that Christ never said
to make people feel less deserving of life and love and respect. You said in your letter yourselves and yet,
you think that showing them respect and love means telling them they're not
worthy of a job, simply because of the person they love?
Here in the United States, we have this wonderful tradition
of accepting people as they are, into our melting pot of a society. But we haven't always been that welcoming at
first. We took the natives and put them
onto reservations. We made it difficult
for the Irish to find jobs. We took
Japanese-Americans and put them into camps during WW2. And now, we have people trying to make other
people feel like they're less than human.
All because they're different.
Because a book that was written centuries ago, in a different time and
age, translated many many times from the original language by people who wanted
to make their own agendas shine, we have people trying to tell others that
their love isn't real or true. That they
don't deserve jobs or homes. Some so
called faith "leaders" have gone so far as to say they should be
taken out of society, placed behind high walls so none can see them, and have
food dropped to them every so often, until they all die. We even had a candidate for office in one
state say that he believed they should be stoned to death. Is this showing them respect? Is this how you believe they are worthy of
love?
Years ago, I had a priest reach out to me and several other
women and tell us that Christ had loved us so much, he chose to die among
others just like us, criminals. And yet,
a year later, I had a priest tell me that people can't change who they are and
once a criminal, always a criminal and we should shun criminals. Respect?
Love? I don't think so.
Anyone who knows me knows how
much this frustrates me. How these
so-called leaders can be so ugly, I just don't understand and I'm pretty sure
that NOTHING will ever be said that can change my mind. It boils down to a few things for me. As a Christian, you follow the words of
Christ. He never said anything about
discriminating towards anyone. When He
was asked what the greatest law was, He said the first law was to love your God
with all your heart, mind, and soul. And
then He said that the second greatest was just like it, that it was to love
your neighbor as you love yourself. Well,
let me tell you: If these religious leaders are showing how they love
themselves, I want no part of it.
I get it. Sex with a person of the same gender is a sin
and therefore it's wrong. But there is
nothing in the bible that says one sin is worse than another. That's part of the reason why we have the
saying "Hate the sin but love the sinner." Because each of us is a sinner and none of us
are any better than anybody else. So
tell me please, why is it that your faith, the same faith that Christ passed
on, tells you that you can discriminate against someone because of their sin
but you think your own is ok?
The bible said in Leviticus that
lying with a man as you would a woman is an abomination. But it also said in Proverbs that that a
lying tongue is an abomination. So saying
that you respect and love everyone, without exception, in one sentence and then
asking for the right to discriminate (which means you DON'T respect THAT
person) against someone, anyone... what's that?
In my book, that's a lie. Either
you believe that everyone deserves respect or you don't believe it. But don't try to tell me that your faith,
your deeply held religious beliefs, is demanding that you do that. Because it just isn't the truth. No way, no how. And someday, as you keep telling everyone,
YOU will be judged for your words and your actions. I'm just not sure the judgment you get is
going to be what you THINK it will be.
For me, the bottom line is
simple. Treat others how you want to be
treated and leave the judgment to whoever your God is. You'll be a lot happier and less stressed out
when you stop worrying about everyone else's future and concentrate on your
own.
