Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Yes, this is in reference to Duck Dynasty and Phil Robertson

There is nothing wrong with being religious. If it gives people hope and strength, purpose and comfort, that is great, wonderful in fact. Religion can be a positive force to many people. But, when it is used as a smokescreen, to allow for bigotry, then it becomes an evil force. When the bible or Quran is used as a justification for homophobic speech, it becomes dangerous. They turn from books of hope to books of pain and discrimination. Furthermore, to say homophobic things and then turn around and say, "These are my Christian values!" reflects poorly on the religion. Worse yet, when people say something like, "But, I'm not for treating people who are gay badly," I can't help but think, "Really? You just said homophobic things based in a complete lack of understanding of human sexuality and relationships, justifying it using your holy book, thus saying things that treat people badly, then turn around and say you are not for treating people badly?" Is this like "Native people are all bums and alcoholics, but I believe in treating them equal." Really? Because a statement like that shows otherwise....and it's basically the same thing. The first one, however, is justified as being a religious view, and therefore, somehow, valid and unquestionable. Religion can be wonderful...but it can also be shockingly terrifying. We are celebrating Jesus' birthday this week. There are a lot of mysteries around him, his existence, who he actually was, BUT, if his mission was to teach peace, love, harmony, respect, understanding and fairness, I think it is fair to say that he would be against homophobia, and probably stand for absolutely NOTHING that Phil Robertson and his many supporters, including Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck seem to stand for which is basically the opposite of what it seems Jesus is all about.