CommentaryRE: Gay Pride Day
The following was originally going to be a comment on this blog post by Jeff Pearlman, a bestselling sports biographer and SI.com columnist. I decided not to post it there because it became ridiculously long.
Basically, Jeff wrote another one of his scathing rebukes toward those demonizing homosexuality and fighting gay marriage. Some comments that followed ripped Jeff for decrying bigotry when he comes off as a bigot himself when he, as one commenter wrote, "spews similar hatred toward people that [sic] worship differently [that is, Christians]...or (heaven forbid) accepts [sic] a different political party [Republicans]."
I'd encourage you to go read his post and the comments first for a more clear background.
About a year ago, I emailed Jeff after I began reading The Rocket That Fell To Earth, asking for advice about journalism, book-writing, and the like. I'm a young writer writing my first book and wanted some insight from someone who's been where I want to be and done what I want to do.
Didn't really expect a response.
Jeff wrote back the next day.
We've stayed in touch ever since. He's actually endorsed the book. He's taken more time to help me than he probably should have, given all he's got going on. I consider him a friend now, and count myself lucky to have "met" him, though we've never once shared a conversation in person. Ah, the wonders of the Internet.
I'm a Christian. This central character of my book is a Christian.
Christianity plays a large role throughout the book. (And in a beautiful way, which is why I wrote it.)
Jeff doesn't hate Christians.
Sometimes, yeah, he comes off as pretty harsh on this blog. But it's because he remains a man of passion. He cares about how people are treated. And he lets it be known when he believes people have been treated wrong. He can do this because he treats others right.
You know the saying. Something about it being what a man does when nobody sees him that reveals his true character.
Jeff has character. Quite a bit. I don't agree with some of the things he posts. But Jeff, at his core, is more "Christ-like" than many Christians I know. That is, he treats others well.
Of course he's not perfect. Is anybody? No, of course not.
That's what blows my mind about the way people are treated by the religious. Christians, the religion predominantly responsible for what homosexuals suffer, are Christians in theory because we are broken people needing someone to help us survive our fallibility. By that theory, we're all equal. Some of us perhaps know how to make better decisions than others, but we're all equal in that we're all imperfect.
And yet many Christians expend untold amounts of energy proving how much worse others are. Why?
Christian or not, there's no logical reason to demonize someone for being different. Jesus Christ himself never attacked anybody....except the religious leaders of his time, the ones who were corrupt and deliberately misleading people for their own profit.
It's fear that drives people to attack what they don't understand. That's why abused animals bite you even when you're trying to help them. But if we all treated each other with respect--and dare I say, even love--there'd be no need for Gay Pride Day and its parade.
Of course, this world is unbelievably broken. That's why Gay Pride parades happen. That's why oil's wrecking the Gulf Coast. That's why Christianity, which was birthed out of love, has become perhaps the most hated religion in existence.
I will admit that I don't get homosexuality. Truly, I don't. It baffles me that a man would want to be with a man over a woman. Also, I really wish that some homosexuals didn't make such a spectacle of themselves. If you want to do what you do with someone of your same gender, that's fine....just don't turn your sexual preference into a circus, please?
But then, I don't get a lot of things. And my lack of understanding shouldn't be countered with an increase of hatred.
Reader Comments (4)
Why would someone be labeled "Christ-like" if he helps other human beings? What if that someone is a through-and-through agnostic, or atheist? Or a Muslim? Or a Hindu? When can someone help humanity without the invocation of a god or a religion in general? Can a human being help another without doing so under the all-seeing eye of a god, or...rather...as a religious duty? Why is god necessary for enforcement of kindness or moral constitution, or virtue? Is it not possible for mankind to help its own without a god, out of sheer altruism?
God is necessary the way my wife is necessary. Without her, I could survive and thrive and be completely happy. But with her, my life is more full. If I'd never known her love, I wouldn't feel like I needed it. But now that I know it, I can't imagine living without it.
There's nothing wrong with being altruistic solely for altruism's sake.
The "Christ-like" sentence was to make the point that many people who call themselves Christians don't actually seem to know what the word Christian means. Which is, basically, "like Christ" or "from Christ" or "in Christ," the same way a New Yorker is one from New York.
Look, God can be pretty confusing. But at his core, He is Love. I don't have everything all figured out yet. But I believe He's real, and that He is Love. So I just try to approach everything from that point of view, and go from there.
Even if it turns out that I'm just crazy, at least I'm crazy in trying to love. That's all Christianity was ever meant to be about, anyway. God's love for us, our love for Him, and our love for others. Jesus Christ exemplified that love, and that's why I try to follow what He started.
Oh I wasn't trying to incense anything; these were just questions I was asking in general. I always try to understand how Christians/Muslims/Hindus/Buddhists/Tao-ists/etc. try to reconcile the fact that their gods are competing with other people's gods. But it seems to me in my travails, a lot of faithful depend on the watchful eye of god and lead their lives accordingly and in harmony because of an all-watching deity. And I wonder what they think of us atheists who have compassion for humanity and a moral compass NOT guided by a deity. It is, in fact, insulting that a believer look down upon someone like me--someone without the perceived watchful eye of a higher power--and think I would fail, or I would lack morality or virtue. In fact, it is the opposite. I have faith in Man, despite the historical atrocities we've inflicted upon our own race. I have faith in myself as a thinking, intelligent human being. And so it becomes an insult when the faithful look upon me with condescension because I am, for some reason, not checked morally by a higher power. I am no slave to anyone or anything. I am not here to SERVE. But I have the sensibilities and freewill to help others, without condition, and without judgment, regardless of reciprocation. And I have the moral compass and virtue to do so because I am a thinking human being. And for no other reason.
I find that my position as a non-believer, or atheist, is constantly being bombarded and criticised by the faithful and fail to understand why the mission is to always convert or spread the gospel to others. Is it not enough that it exists and plays an important part in your own life? And why is the aim of most (if not all) organized religion to homogenize? Is it not in order to exert power and control population/masses? Once upon a time the Vatican was THE ruling entity over the Western world. All politics went through the Vatican.
As an immigrant from a totalitarian regime, I am leery of such an idea of centralized power--no matter if it's labeled as "love." Individuality, for me, is an important element of humanity. I do not see the mutual exclusivity between belief in a higher power and morality or virtuosity. I wholeheartedly believe they can function separately and independently of one another. I am not against religion. I am for freedom of thought--whichever way it oscillates. But I am against repression and control via any and all means. And that most certainly includes religious.
Cheers,
Lx
Great and fair questions. Questions, I think, we'd all do well to ask.
And nah, I certainly wasn't incensed. In fact, it was a healthy question for me to answer. So thanks for asking.
And just to clarify .... God is Love, but people have made Him out to be other things that aren't really true. It wasn't until I fully explored God as Love that I felt like I grasped who and what He really is, and that's when I really discovered a love for Him.
I know. It's pretty heady. I'm still figuring a lot of it out. And I sense that I will be for a long time.