HYPOCRISYPosted by snarfyboy on 9 November 2006 at 06:13 PM
And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Matthew 19:4-5 I have had that passage from Matthew shoved in my face more times then I care to count in the past couple of months. Yesterday I talked about how I suspect a lot of people were afraid to admit to others that they were voting for the marriage amendment and how they used the anonymity of the voting booth to show their true colours. Well, there is another shield people use to hide their bigotry. Religion. Religion serves, I believe, as a shield to protect themselves from feelings of guilt rather then any real justification. It's a lot easier to be bigoted and hateful when you have convinced yourself that you have God on your side. The Bible has been used to justify a number of great injustices in history: slavery, denying women the right to vote, the holocaust. Now it is being used to deny marriage for homosexuals. While I could go on for quite a while about how most of the passages dealing with same-sex relations in the Bible really don't condemn homosexuality per se, it is irrelevant to the topic I wish to discuss tonight: hypocrisy. We have all heard before about how a lot of people pick and chose the parts of the Bible they believe in, and this justification for the marriage amendment is no different. Christ never spoke directly about homosexuality, but that passage from Matthew does seem to give us an idea of what he thought marriage should be. Again, while I would argue that passage doesn't preclude the possibility of gay marriage, it is not the point. If people think that Christ's words here are justification enough to protect his ideal of marriage, so be it. They can have their opinion. But Christ didn't just stop there. After all, the topic came up because the Pharisees were testing Christ's opinion on divorce. Here are the next few verses from Matthew 19 that no one seemed to bother to talk about during this whole marriage debate:
7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. Well, what does all this mean? It means that Jesus was not talking about how marriage is only for one man and one woman, but rather that the sanctity of marriage is something that cannot be "torn asunder" by any man. In other words, once you're married, it's forever. There is no excuse for divorce according to Jesus, with the only exception being an unfaithful wife. So, where is the amendment to the constitution to outlaw all divorce in the state of Wisconsin? Would these people propose one? Would they vote for one? A few might actually answer "yes". Even fewer would mean it. Certainly not even close to 59% of the voters. Therein lies the hypocrisy of all these holier-then-thou gay-bashers. They have taken a passage where Jesus, being asked about the legality of divorce by the Pharisees, states in no uncertain terms that marriage is basically forever, and have turned it into a definition of marriage to preclude gay people. See, people really don't care too much about what Jesus has to say on the sanctity of marriage when it might effect them personally. But when his words can be used to disparage a group of people other then themselves, suddenly it is the infallible word of God and is not up for debate. Hypocrites. On a final note tonight, I might mention that Jesus always saw through the Pharisees, and had some choice words for them (Matthew 23):
14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Jesus goes on for quite a while, but I think you get the idea here. So, those of you who voted "yes" on the amendment because you think Jesus told you too: see above. Think about it. Permalink | Comments (1)ANGERPosted by snarfyboy on 8 November 2006 at 06:13 PMYou say - U2, "One" U2 has said that the song One is about AIDS and intolerance of homosexuals. They have also claimed that it is about the Berlin wall and a city divided. The song's video, featuring cars driving around Berlin alternating with shots of U2 in gender-bending drag, doesn't answer the question very well either. Today, I take the former explanation, because the lyrics - one of my all time favorites - is very apropos. I have always been proud to be a Wisconsinite, but yesterday, my state hurt me. The people of Wisconsin, by a 59% - 41% vote, added discrimination to our constitution. Marriage is now defined as only being between one man and one woman. Not only that, but no arrangements that approximate marriage are also illegal. So you can forget about civil unions in my (un)fair state, too. There are so many things I could say right now, I don't even know where to start. Let's just say it amazes me that in the 21st century, people could still be so hurtful even hateful to people they don't even know. Have we learned nothing from our history? Well, the gloves are off. I have always been nice about dealing with this subject. I avoided words like "bigot" and "hate". But I have been stepped on one too many times. I will now call them like I see them. You think telling me that whom I love is less special then your love for your spouse? Well, that's bigoted. You think that treating me like an outcast, a second-class citizen, is democracy in action? Well think again. It's hate. Yes, I'm angry. Maybe I will regret some of the harsher words in my postings over the next few days. But I will let them stand, regardless. I know some people will tell me I need to be more sensitive and not use such inflammatory words. But personally, right now, I am tired of trying to win over people who hate us with niceness. It's not that I didn't expect this to happen - I knew the measure would pass. But I had hoped the vote would have been much closer. Previous polls showed that people favored the amendment by less then 10 points. So what happened? My guess is this: when asked whether or not they supported the amendment, people were more apt to say "no", even though they planned to vote yes. This is because those people knew that underneath it all, the only reason to vote "yes" was prejudice and bigotry. No one wants to admit to this in a public setting, but in the anonymity of the voting booth - well then it becomes a lot easier to be a bigot. Why do you think the KKK wears hoods? Anonymity. On November 7th, as far as I am concerned, Wisconsin's voting booths became little white hoods for 59% of the voting public. Why does this bigotry still exist? Because gays are still an enigma to so many people. We are not a visible minority; there is nothing external to show that were are different from your average heterosexual. It's easy to be a bigot when your prejudices are directed at people you have never seen or known. That is, at least, people you think you have never seen. Gay people - we are everywhere. But even those of us who are out of the closet remain in a "public closet". We don't show it to the public on a day to day basis. Maybe at big events like pridefest sure, but when it's just a day at the grocery, no, we don't show that our relationship is more then just friends. We don't hold hands in malls. We don't kiss at airports when we greet a loved one. At least, most of us don't - myself included. Kudos to those brave ones of us that have always been unafraid to show the world their love. From now on, I won't hide it - ever. I think that the gay community's response to these hateful amendments should be to do everything the bigots claim we do anyhow: shove it in their faces. At least, do it as much as the heterosexuals do. Hold hands while you walk down the street. That in itself can go a long way. I'm not saying, "Go out of your way to advertise it". Don't stick your tongue down your partner's throat in front of a kindergarten class. But if something is acceptable in our society for heterosexual couples to do, don't hold back just because you're gay. Put your arm around your partner at the theatre. Cuddle up under a blanket when watching the fireworks on the Forth of July. The point is, to use an aphorism I hate, "We're here, we're queer, get used to it." Well, I have talked on this more then I planned already. More thoughts on this travesty are forthcoming, though. Permalink | Comments (1) |