Christian churches, citing Ebola, behind escalating violence against LGBTs in Liberia

[theHandpuppet]

DAMMIT!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/23/liberia-gay-ebola-outbreak-_n_6034256.html
Liberia's Gay Community Under Attack Over Ebola Outbreak
Reuters
10/23/2014
By Misha Hussain and Maria Caspani

DAKAR/NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Leroy Ponpon doesn't know whether to lock himself in his flat in Monrovia because of the deadly Ebola virus, or because he is gay. Christian churches' recent linking of the two have made life hell for him and hundreds of other gays.

Ponpon, an LGBT campaigner in the Liberian capital, says gays have been harassed, physically attacked and a few have had their cars smashed by people blaming them for the haemorrhagic fever, after religious leaders in Liberia said Ebola was a punishment from God for homosexuality.

"Since church ministers declared Ebola was a plague sent by God to punish sodomy in Liberia, the violence towards gays has escalated. They're even asking for the death penalty. We're living in fear," Ponpon told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone from Monrovia...

...Francois Patuel, Amnesty International's representative in West Africa, said there had been reports of threats and violence against the LGBTI community in Monrovia since the incendiary remarks made by the local Christian leaders.... MORE

[uppityperson]

1. So much fear, rumors, wild speculation leading to pain, death, destruction

k&r for "ebola hysteria never hurt anyone" bullshit.

[AlbertCat]

13. So much ignorance...

...church sponsored ignorance.

[defacto7]

2. Eeee gads...

Religion strikes again where the most vulnerable have little or no power against the disease, or Ebola.

[trotsky]

3. Once again illustrating the danger of religion.

Basing your beliefs on what you think an unproven, undetectable, invisible deity wants you to do. What could possibly go wrong? You atheists need to leave believers alone! Stop being so bigoted!

[theHandpuppet]

4. People attacking and killing one another across the globe in the name of their gods

Insanity. Sheer insanity.

[trotsky]

5. What I don't get are the folks who defend religious belief by saying things like

"Well if you can't prove so-and-so's beliefs are wrong, then you have no right saying that!" while being completely unaware of how that helps shield monsters like this. I can't prove his god doesn't hate homosexuals. I can't prove homosexuality isn't a sin. But somehow by merely saying his (and other) religious beliefs are bogus, we're the problem.

[FiveGoodMen]

10. The same folks that want you to put up or shut up regarding the bible

have no problem at all dissing every other "holy" book.

Can they prove anything with regard to those?

'Corse not. Double Standards R Us!

[Curmudgeoness]

6. The punishments from God just never end.

Hurricanes that devastate cities---punishment from God. Earthquakes and drought in California---punishment from God. AIDS---punishment from God.

Of course we should expect Ebola to be considered punishment from God. That seems to be all he ever does, with a sprinkling of saving a few houses from a tornado or a person from cancer.

[theHandpuppet]

7. God seems to be in a state not of grace, but perpetual pissedoffness

End hunger? Nope.
Put an end to war? Nyet.
Cure disease? Our problem.
Break one of his arbitrary rules? By gum, he'll kill us all, the guilty and innocent alike. Plus he'll come up with some really horrible ways to do it. Because he loves us, of course.

If god were truly flesh and blood, they'd call this a classic example of an abusive relationship.

[Curmudgeoness]

11. Pissedoffness!!!

[theHandpuppet]

12. Pontificating Potentate of Pissedoffness!!

Flinger of Foreskins!
Bringer of Boils!

Honestly, "God" is just too boring. He needs titles.

[onager]

8. He turned me into a newt.

I got better. When I became an atheist.

My (least) favorite example of the Blame Game as demonstrated in the OP - after 9/11, when every Dollar Store Ayatollah in America started blaming the attacks on the usual suspects.

In the link below, noted philosophers/Sophisticated Theologians Falwell and Robertson blame 9/11 on "gays, lesbians, feminists...and the ACLU."

The Sophisticated Theology comes in with their theory that God had "protected us wonderfully" ever since we were founded as a Xian nation back in 1776:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=121322

Falwell is the guy who once claimed, during the Reagan years, that he had a mandate from God to walk right into Congress and get laws passed to "clean up America."

And people in Other DU Groups wonder why we get mad, when they tell us not to worry our little heads over the Fundies. Since they are only a tiny minority, who can be easily countered by the harsh looks and tut-tutting of the mightly Liberal Xian political bloc in the USA.

[JNelson6563]

9. Amen brother!