Thursday, November 12, 2009

Acceptance, Tolerance, Unconditional Love

Another hypocritical Christian, another controversy that highlights the gray area that is free speech. What happens when your personal views potentially interfere with the welfare of your employer? When your championing of a cause appears detrimental to your ability to make a living? When your personal and professional life clash?

I don't have any good answers. I don't think there are any good answers. And, though I may despise this man's views, I am compelled to agree with his right to make his views known. His actions are no different from mine on this personal blog (though I have to admit that my posts are filled less with preaching of exclusion and hatred than with pretty shoes and stylish handbags).

This man's views are incomprehensibly ignorant (he seems to be stuck living in the 1980s when the popular notion was that AIDS was a gay man's disease. Please, tell the men, women, and children who live (and die) with the disease every day that funding should be cut for research because a portion of their group lives a lifestyle with which you do not agree. I did not realize that these homosexual deviants don't get cancer or heart disease like us heteros! I don't want either of those diseases...perhaps I should look into becoming gay.)

People like this make me ashamed to have once claimed the Christian faith as my own. The one consistent Sunday school lesson that I received every week was about God's unconditional love. It's terribly unfortunate that some people prefer to interpret this tenet of Christianity as "He loves you unconditionally...unless you're one of those people..."

But write on, my friend (because if we all were to subscribe to the Christian idealism, you would still be my friend). You have the right to do so and still keep your job. Just as I do. Because we live in the United States and have the luxury of self-expression without reproach.

But I hope you aren't too terribly attached to your views, my dear, for the times they are a-changin'.

7 comments:

Belisarius said...

It's a pretty good article, brings up a lot of interesting thoughts and questions. I too disagree with his way of thinking. Fortunately, we live in a place where I can disagree and he can have his freedom to say such things.

blind irish pirate said...

The terrible thing is that it shouldn't make you feel ashamed to have once been (or in my case, still am) a Christian. You know, and I know, that Christianity (the faith taught by Jesus, NOT by conservative Christians) is not about condemning other people. Why should it be?

And I'm curious to know if he something like this would be such a huge deal if it weren't touching such a sensitive and hot topic like homosexuality.

KittyMarie said...

I agree on all counts, BlindIrishPirate. It's an incendiary topic, and if he is willing to make these statements, he also must be willing to stand up and defend them - that goes right along with free speech, being accountable for your words!

I've just found way too many Christians like him in the world (heck, in my own family) and it has really turned me off to organized religion. I am much more interested in learning about other faiths and being spiritual at this time. Everyone has their own journey. (Uhm...and is it completely selfish that I am in love with my Sunday mornings spent sleeping in after a lifetime of going to church? Because I am. That's more logistical than spiritual reasoning though...:))

blind irish pirate said...

The most wonderful thing about a post-modern approach? Sunday morning worship does not a Christian make.

KittyMarie said...

;-) Round my neck o' the woods it still does, unfortunately.

pb said...

-- being a Christian has nothing to do with religeon. being a Christian means you know Jesus died for your sins, is your personal savior...
Homosexuality is wrong. God did not create us for that. BUT, you can love the sinner and hate the sin.

KittyMarie said...

Sorry, pb. I have come to believe that homosexuality is something one is born with - be it a chemical imbalance or an innate trait, that remains to be seen. This isn't something they choose (and is not a new phenomenon in any way, shape, or form). And they were created by God (if that is what a Christian believes). My point is that religion often gets in the way of displaying a Christian mentality, causing intolerance and hatred toward those that Christians are charged to love.