Contempt for Gays Unites Black and White Christians

[Quixote1818]

People, this election was a wake up call for us! This crap has to be stoped and has to be stoped NOW! I am furious about the state of the Republican Party right now and if any of you have socialy liberal Republican friends you need to tell them to speak up about this kind of crap!


CONTEMPT FOR GAYS UNITES BLACK AND WHITE CHRISTIANS

Sat Nov 6, 8:00 PM ET

By Cynthia Tucker

"The Old Testament did sanction slavery. God said, 'Both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you. ... And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children. ...'" -- "Domestic Slavery Considered as a Scriptural Institution," Rev. Richard Fuller, 1847


Cynthia Tucker





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Last Tuesday, there was at least one thing about which blue states and red states, black Americans and white Americans, Northerners and Southerners could agree: Gays and lesbians should be denied the right to full citizenship. Constitutional amendments to ban same-sex unions appeared on the ballot in 11 states and passed easily -- from Michigan, Ohio and Oregon, to Georgia, Mississippi and Arkansas.

It was a triumph for bigotry based on the Bible. From conservative pulpits around the country, pastors had implored their flocks to go to the polls and vote against the "abomination" of homosexuality. They claimed that preventing gays from getting married would shore up the institution among heterosexuals -- though it is not clear how.


It was also a triumph for the Machiavellian madness of Karl Rove. He understood only too well that many Americans were willing to ignore a sputtering economy, a profoundly flawed war and soaring health-care costs for the opportunity to enforce discrimination against a despised minority. Rove also knew that calling out the legions of ultraconservative Christians who abhor equal rights for gays would ensure that President Bush (news - web sites) won not only the Electoral College (news - web sites) but also the popular vote.


And they weren't just white voters. Homophobia oozes across lines of color, linking black America with white in a common contempt masquerading as morality. It is deeply disappointing to see black churchgoers enthusiastically wield the Bible as a bludgeon against another group, since Scripture was also used against us, as a justification for slavery, in the 19th century.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ucas/20041107/cm_ucas/contemptforgaysunitesblackandwhitechristians

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. Where do I sign up to STOP this crap!!!

:grr:

This is a wedge issue to divide us as a nation and nothing else!

[HEyHEY]

2. Well, it's good to know gay people are bringing people together

:eyes:

WHY? WHY? WHY? Can't people keep their noses out of other's bedrooms?

[rockydem]

3. Kerry got 89% of the African American vote

They vote for him for reasons that have nothing to do with gay marriage. Most of them hate Bush, and they hate his damn war.

[JI7]

4. and for economic reasons

[smirkymonkey]

13. Exactly. This is another attempt by the right to create divisions

within the Democratic party. You know "white christians" means Right-wing fundamentalists, and they are trying to force religious blacks to choose their loyalties.

It's bullshit. I simply cannot understand why gay marriage and gay relationships are such an F***ing issue for these people! They are pitting one oprressed group against another and it's all part of the plan to destroy us.

[seabeyond]

5. you just told us in another thread to back off the people

who used this stuff in the bible to hate. now here you are saying it has to stop as you pull the crap out of the bible justifying slavery as they are attacking the gays.

hard to back off such hate and meanness. i mean i ask you as the right shows me how to be a christian. show me how much i am suppose to hate the gay, how much i am suppose to punish the girl who aborts how much do i assulat the female to keep her in her place how much hate do we spew towards the blacks.

we cannot back down from this any longer. for real the fundamentalist is the minority. the oterh religious have bought into the koolaide but they can be saved, the elite in fundamentalist, they will never awaken. allow them to be as we have thru out time. but it is the catholic and other moderate are able to see how wrong all this is.

[Quixote1818]

6. Look, I want to make a difference and I want to do it in an effective way

me being upset about the fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible is one thing but across the board Bible bashing does us absolutely no good. If you cant see the difference their is nothing more I can say to you. We are talking about apples and oranges here!

[seabeyond]

15. i am on your side

i think the majority of us was doing exactly what you suggest on htis thread. being a christian, a christian that has spent 6 years amongst the fundies, and though they want to reject the pagan us, they see the lite love and kindness in us. we feel we are sacificing self, (a bit of drama here) in order to understand and aprticipate in this in a christian way to help them see the lite.

what we seem to do on this board is take a few, and paint all of us in the same.

the same happened in the support soldier thread today.

the majority are reasonably exploring ways of dealing with this issue

[Quixote1818]

17. It's good we are having these discussions today

We need to be steadfast but also be careful not to offend people and turn them off. The far left can sometimes be just as venomous as the far right and venom simply gets no results. Her article is blunt but she also points out in the end that most Christians are good people. She finds the right tone. In the past I have struggled to find the right tone and have turned people off to my message. I simply want to help people learn from my mistakes. The most important thing is getting our point across in a way that it makes a difference. I think you understand that and yes we most certainly are on the same side!

[BeyondGeography]

7. Let's not forget to thank Cynthia Tucker

for a brilliant piece of opinion writing. She uses multiple citations of Scripture to illustrate how the Bible condones slavery, a wrong turn that she forcefully equates with homophobia.

Check out the ending:

<Some 50 to 100 years from now, no doubt, some Christian churches will find themselves apologizing for their contemptuous treatment of gays and lesbians, many of whom are fellow Christians. For now, however, the conservative Christian church -- black and white -- has forsaken two of Christ's most profound injunctions: "Love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matthew, 22:39) and "Judge not, that ye be not judged" (Matthew, 7:1). >

[Quixote1818]

9. Good Point! I never even noticed that! Send this to any Black friends!

[burrowowl]

8. Thanks for article!

Thanks again!

[idiosyncratic]

10. I almost thought after the Matthew Shepard incident

people would realize where this kind of hatred would lead.

The passage of those amendments gives ammunition to bigots.

So sad! :cry:

In her column she gives us a sliver of hope for the distant future:

Some 50 to 100 years from now, no doubt, some Christian churches will find themselves apologizing for their contemptuous treatment of gays and lesbians, many of whom are fellow Christians. For now, however, the conservative Christian church -- black and white -- has forsaken two of Christ's most profound injunctions: "Love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matthew, 22:39) and "Judge not, that ye be not judged" (Matthew, 7:1).


Matthew Shepard Foundation

[d_b]

11. It's going to be a long 21st century

[hippywife]

12. We all need to stop trying to induce hatred

If you are spiritual in nature, work with your local chapters of the Interfaith Alliance to spread the message of tolerance. If not, work with the peace and justice groups in your community. Hate only breeds more hate.

Nothing in this election or in life is black and white. There were people in red states that worked hard to get votes out there against Bush and against the anti-gay amendments. Many of us in red states or churches are working against social and cultural bigotry.

[Quixote1818]

16. I agree 100% however something needs to be done and yes it should

be done in a respectful way towards the Christian Religion. This article does not bash Christianity it points out the problems with the radicals. Good Christians need to speek up about these things.

[RPM]

14. Why do i want to...

Round up all the Hotel Bibles I can and have a big book BBQ...

Too bad the nazis ruined the book-burning thing.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. Not all Christians

My church had an out lesbian priest on staff until a couple of months ago (she left to take a parish of her own), and there are a couple of GLBT people on the lay staff, as well as dozens of rank and file members, including the transgendered leader of a rock band.

Of course, your average fundamentalist thinks that we (Episcopalians) are even worse than atheists, so what do I know?

[Loki]

19. I am so tired of calling these people Christian

they are not Christian and we need to start calling them what they really are - bigots. They are the modern day Pharisees and we need moderate and liberal religious leaders to come out and start talking about the very stark differences between these religious bigots and mainstream Christians. Where are their voices? How can they let this continue?