Category Archives: Religion

Religion, Witchcraft

Musings on “All the Magics”

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The other day I got thinking about the Myth of the Goddess as published in Gerald Gardner’s books, Witchcraft Today and the Meaning of Witchcraft.  I’m not an initiate of Gardnerian Wicca nor any of the traditions related to it. In fact, I prefer to call myself a Vanic witch in recognition of my close ties to Freyja and the fact that much of my spiritual and magical practice revolves around her. And yet, I love and identify with this particular piece of Gardner’s writing.  I think because while it is from another tradition, it resonates very well with my own path and spiritual views.

The part that I’ve really been focusing on and want to write about is the end of the myth, after the Goddess’s encounter with Death is complete and things have moved from narration to discourse:

For there are three great events in the life of man; Love, Death, and Resurrection in a new body; and Magic controls them all. For to fulfill love you must return again at the same time and place as the loved one, and you must remember and love them again. But to be reborn you must die, and be ready for a new body; and to die you must be born; and without love you may not be born. And these be all the Magics.

That closing sentence has always spoken to something deep in mind to me.  Birth, love, death, and rebirth. These things form a cycle which is governed by and defines all magic. To me this is an incredibly profound statement which I feel like I don’t fully understand and probably wouldn’t have to words to explain it if I did.

The paragraph reminds me of how I previously wrote about the fact that I serve a goddess who is life-affirming. But whereas I spent that post talking about celebrating life, reading the quoted paragraph makes me think about how devotion to Freyja is also about maintaining the cycles of life. We do that by living our lives and working our magic, remembering that those two things aren’t as separate as some people may think.  After all, to a witch, every act of will is an act of magic. So living life continues it on.

In the cycle described in the paragraph, love is also mentioned. The obvious face-value reading of the text suggests that it is primarily talking about romantic and sexual love.  But I don’t think that is a deep enough reading.  Other forms of love and relationships are also important to the continuance and abundance of life. No man is an island and neither is a couple.  Friends, family, mentors, helpers, and many other people in various roles are need in order for one to have a truly prosperous life. So we celebrate and work out our wills to strengthen our relationships with others in our communities.  Indeed, it’s how we build communities in the first place. Our communities themselves have lives, and we are a part of those greater organisms and its lifeblood.

I feel like there’s more there, but I can’t quite put my finger on it tonight.  Maybe another time.  In the meantime, may your life be blessed and a blessing to those who share it with you.

 

Religion

Sharing Your Beliefs vs. Selling a Religious Product

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Last week, I had a chance to discuss my beliefs with a coworker, who I will call Nick for this post.  I don’t think it lasted more than five minutes, but I feel there was a lot I told Nick in those five minutes.  Enough information at I worried I was overwhelming him with more than he really wanted to know.

I won’t get into a lengthy backstory about how the conversation came up. I’ll just note that we were discussing a different topic and I made him ask me if I had any religious beliefs. I said, “Yeah, I’m actually a witch.”  He asked me to clarify what that meant and over a period of five minutes I told him about my personal affinity for the Norse deities, what I perceived as the subtle differences and relationship between the terms Wiccan, witch, and Pagan, and a brief bit about my beliefs surrounding magic.  Eventually, the conversation was over and we both fell silent as we continued doing our jobs.

I was instantly reminded of this experience later in the week when Libby Anne posted a link to an article about evangelical Christians looking for ways to “share the gospel.” The article talked about how evangelicals weren’t doing it enough (as determined by the author of the article, I guess) and often struggled with it.  Given how easily I just discussed my beliefs with a coworker mere days before, I found this somewhat amusing. I considered why it was so much easier for me, and I wanted to share my thoughts on the matter with my readers.

I was only interested in sharing what I believed.

Nick asked me a question about a topic that is important to me and that I’m passionate about, and I told him about it.  But in the end, I was just sharing information with him about what I believe.  I had neither the desire nor the need to get Nick to strip down1 and declare his devotion to Freyja. I wasn’t out to convince him that lighting certain candles would somehow shape what happened in the future. All I expected him to do is listen to the answers I gave him like any polite person who asked any question.

To most evangelical Christians (and to me, back when I was counted among their number), “sharing the gospel” is not about usually just about telling other people what they believe. It’s usually about trying to convince people that they should believe the same thing they do. It’s about getting them to say the sinner’s prayer, accepting Jesus as their personal savior (which means convincing people they need a personal savior in the first place), and so on. At best, that turns into a sales pitch, and most of us don’t like sales pitches. At worst, it can turn into an argument. Is it any wonder evangelical Christians find it so hard to keep doing that?

I followed Nick’s lead.

If Nick hadn’t asked me that first question, the whole conversation never would have happened.  And the conversation ended when I answered his last question.  Actually, there were several pauses in the conversation.  I would finish answering a question and I would look back down at my work computer to continue editing my document that was under peer review.  Several second later, Nick would ask another question and I’d look up to give him an answer. I can get passionate about my beliefs and spiritual practices and I wanted to take care that I didn’t turn into a boor that started spouting things Nick wasn’t interested in hearing.

In my experience, evangelical Christians tend to try to control the conversation when they share the gospel.  There’s a definite point B they want to get to and they will often plow right on through, trying to get there.  They’ll have some sort of prepared script (such as the Romans Road or, especially when dealing with younger children, the Wordless Book) they plan to work through.

Perhaps they have one or two standard opening lines, like “Oh I see you have a tattoo, tell me about it.”  And then they try to figure out how to use your answer as a segue into their sales pitch.  As Libby Anne pointed out, that sort of approach often comes across as insincere and manipulative (because, let’s be honest, it is both of those things).  At any rate, this sort of “sharing” isn’t about “sharing” anymore.  It’s about making a sale and acting completely like a salesman to do it. I don’t know of anyone who actually enjoys conversations with door-to-door salesmen or telemarketers, unless they just enjoy messing with them.

Nick and I have a working relationship and casual friendship.

Nick and I have been working on the same project for over a year now. We’ve had ample opportunities to work together to solve problems and help each other with our work-related tasks.  We have a great deal of respect for each other.

During that year, we’ve also spent a lot of time talking about various things.  We’ve each talked about our day-to-day lives, our relationships, and our interests.  We’ve even shared a bit of our personal histories with each other.  All of this added up to an organic relationship which allowed Nick to ask me about my beliefs.  I didn’t have to look for an opportunity to bring them up myself.  I didn’t have to figure out a way to steer the conversation where I wanted it to go.  (Again, I just followed Nick’s lead the entire way.)

Many – and I would even daresay most – evangelical Christians live rather insular lives.  They don’t know many people outside of their own families and their church circles.  Regarding those few people outside those circles, they don’t really take time to get to know or build mutually fulfilling friendships or acquaintanceships. So there’s no way for discussions about beliefs to come up naturally.

If an evangelical Christian does decide to make friends outside of their family and church circles, it’s often explicitly for the purpose of “sharing the gospel.” To be blunt, that usually taints the whole endeavor. Instead of looking for common ground, common interests, and learning about the other person, it usually becomes all about talking just enough to find that “hook” that will get the conversation to the “sales pitch.” No one wants to be a “project” or part of a “target market.”

Not many people have a lot of exposure to or experience with my beliefs or those who follow it.

Nick didn’t know much about witchcraft, let alone the particulars of how I practice it.  He knew one other coworker that identifies as Pagan, and he had had a few conversations with that coworker. Those experiences shaped some of the questions he asked me.  His limited knowledge also inspired an open curiosity to learn more, which I was happy to oblige while (again) not overwhelming him or turning into a bore. This created a large space in which our conversation could occur.

Despite many of them insisting that we live in a “Christian nation” many evangelical Christians seem to believe that the rest of us have never heard about what they believe.  Or they assume that we heard wrong or misunderstand what they believe. I personally find this belief amusing. I suspect it would be difficult to live in this country and never once hear about the belief that Jesus is God’s son, that he is (or wants to be) the savior of the world and that people need to believe in him in order to be saved.  So many evangelicals start out foolishly trying to tell us things we already know, then jumping to trying to convince of us why we should believe those things (often without ever asking or listening to why we don’t already believe them). Again, this often and even usually leads to an antagonistic exchange rather than a comfortable and open dialogue.

People’s knowledge of and past experiences with Christianity in general and evangelical Christianity in particular also negatively impacts future conversations on the topic.  While this may not be the fault of the evangelical now trying to share what they believe, they still have to accept and deal with that reality in a compassionate and constructive way. Telling people that their past experiences (or the past history of Christianity that’s less personal but may still be equally troubling) are just because those other Christians “got it wrong” and you’re not like that just isn’t going to work. It usually comes off as dismissive.  Sometimes, the only hope is to put the desire to “share the gospel” on the backburner and sit with that person’s distrust of the Christian faith and the reasons for it for a time.  But again, this is the different between trying to build a relationship with someone and looking for an opening for the “sales pitch.”

Those are the fundamental differences that I perceive between my experiences sharing my beliefs with Nick and the attempts to “share the gospel” that I’ve seen.  I think they are important differences and serve to explain why I find my approach to be much easier, organic, and successful.  I imagine that some evangelical question might rightly ask me how many such opportunities to share I experience.  I will admit that this is the first time at my current job (which I’ve had for seven years) that I’ve discussed my beliefs with a coworker.  I also don’t know if Nick and I will ever discuss the topic again.  At this point, that depends on whether it comes up again (and possibly whether Nick brings it up again).  I suppose that if you’re an evangelical Christian looking for a large number of opportunities to make your “sales pitch,” that will be a problem. But then, I think you need to be honest about what you’re really after and how that makes other people see you. You can be a religious salesman making dozens of “cold calls” or you can build friendships in which you can occasionally discuss something that is very near and dear to your heart in a sensitive and compassionate manner. I doubt you can do both.

1Getting naked isn’t strictly necessary to declare one’s devotion to Freyja. I’ve just personally found that doing so has certain beneficial impacts on the process and experience. But again, I have neither the desire nor the need to convince other devotees of Freyja or those who might consider devoting themselves to her to follow suit.

Gender and Sexuality, Religion

Let’s rewrite the dialogue!

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[Content Note: Transphobia]

Adam4d comic panel.
A panel from Adam For’ds web comic, “Hate Speech.”

Today, I thought it would be interesting to take Adam Ford’s most recent web comic and write some new dialogue for it.

Random Person: Do you accept the scientific research that strongly that brain chemistry, hormones, and other factors can cause a person experience themselves as a gender that differs from the biological sex they were assigned at birth?

Transphobic Christian:  Well no.  That doesn’t fit in with what I believe the Bible says, so I assume that it’s false.  I choose to believe instead that people just decide they want to be a different gender.

Random Person:  Interesting.  There is actually over two decades worth of peer reviewed scientific research that shows that such discrepancies occur and are a natural phenomenon.  How do you address them.

Transphobic Christian:  Well, here are some articles written by a handful of Christians I consider authorities on the subject, and I choose to believe their conclusions because they match what I’ve been taught the Bible says.

Random Person:  Interesting.  Have those articles been peer reviewed?

Transphobic Chistian:  Well, no.  [Alternative:  I don’t know.]

Random Person:  I’m actually familiar with this article and its author.  Are you aware of the huge methodological flaws other experts in this field found with this work?

Transphobic Christian:  No.  I’m not sure I believe you.  And even if you’re right, I’m still inclined to believe the article’s conclusions.

Random Person:  Because they confirm what you believe?

Transphobic Christian:  Well, yes…..But I think it’s important to remember that God says there are only two genders.  And I think it’s important we have a conversation about…

Random Person:  Conversation!  Okay.  There are hundreds of books, articles and blog posts written by transgender people.  Many of them have gone to great lengths to share their stories and their experiences and how they’ve felt.  How many of them have you read?

Transphobic Christian:   Well, none of them.

Random Person:  So let me get this straight.  You’ve failed to look into any of the many scientific studies that have been made on this topic.  You’ve failed to listen to transgender people’s own lived experiences and instead choose to reinterpret their lives to fit your predefined beliefs.  So it sounds to me like this important conversation has been happening for some time without you.

Transphobic Christian:  Well, when you put it that way….

Random Person:  So why do you expect anyone to listen to you in a conversation you’ve completely ignored up to this point?

Fin.

Well, that’s my take on it.  I welcome my readers — especially those who are are transgender or are far more knowledgeable about the issues involved than me — to write  their own dialogue.  Or point out where I got something wrong or wrote something troubling.

And now I will specifically address any transphobic (and yes, I get to decide whether that label applies to you on my blog, though I will listen carefully to the counsel of any trans person — except your “one transgender friend”) Christians who may want to respond:  Your best bet is to just not do it.  This is probably not the thread for you.  If you want to defend yourself or argue with me, be prepared to immediately demonstrate that you have done your homework and actually know the issues and not the usual straw men arguments. Failure to do so will get you shown the door faster than defecating on my living room couch.  So like I said, your best bet is to just keep silent and move on.  Or remain silent, listen, and learn something.

Paganism, Religion

A few Yule Thoughts

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Happy Yule!1

This post should go live right at sunset here in Rochester, NY. When it does, I should have about an hour and a half left at work before I run home, pick up Hubby, and head to the covenstead to prepare and share some tasty stew and share in one another’s company. What better way could there be to face the longest night of the year than with good food and good company?

Some days, I think many Wiccans and Pagans (or maybe I’m just incorrectly generalizing from my own experiences) forget the importance of community when it comes to the Sabbats, especially this one. Traditionally, this was the time of year when people in Europe were staying inside and out of the cold as much as possible. They relied on the food stores they had managed to gather up over the warmer months and hoped and prayed it all held out until they could start growing food again. And they relied on one another to make it through that process. If your neighbor was running on supplies, you gave them as much as you could simply because you might need your neighbor to help you with as shortage next year.

To the best of my knowledge, no one is my coven is in danger of running out of food this winter. But we do rely on one another in other ways. At least some of us do tend to suffer from seasonal depression at this time of year, and I think having the group to turn to on nights like this is a comfort that helps us to navigate through the emotional lows. It also hopes give us hope that just like this longest night, this will pass, the days will grow longer, and our moods will brighten along with those days.

That is something to celebrate. Or at least something to think about while we eat yummy stew and ride it out together.

1Happy Summer Solstice to any readers from the Southern Hemisphere. Sorry, but as is my tradition, the rest of the post will focus on Yule, as that’s what I’m experiencing right now.

Religion, Spiritual Development

Prayer to Tyr for Justice

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Having recently run across a couple of posts where I wrote various Pagan prayers, I decided to bring back the practice.  As today is Tuesday and I’m very much interested in social justice, I decided a prayer to Tyr was an appropriate thing to write.

Great Tyr, I call out to you on this day, which is named after you. Guide me and teach me to be an instrument of justice. Help me to be mindful of the ways, both large and small, that those less fortunate are wronged and harmed. Instill in me the obligation and help me to find the courage to speak out against those who would injure and exploit others.

You who gave your own hand in order to bind the Wolf of Destruction, remind me that justice comes with a price. Help me become more aware of the luxuries and comforts that I will have to give up so that those less fortunate may enjoy more freedom. Urge me to develop the compassion that I might make those sacrifices and count it both my duty and honor.

By your guidance and my will. So mote it be.

 

Gender and Sexuality, Religion

Side A, Side B, Moralizing, and Heterosexual Silliness

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In Christians circles, especially among those associated with the Gay Christian Network (GCN), there’s much talk about Side A and Side B. They’re shorthand for what an individual believes about same sex relationships and how gay people should choose to live their lives. A person who is Side A believes that gay people should be allowed to enter into same sex romantic and sexual relationships — though possibly with some caveats, such as only with a long-term partner with whom one is committed to lifelong monogamy. A person who is Side B believes that gay people should seek to maintain a life of celibacy.

As I understand it — though I can’t find the sources that led me to this understanding to confirm it — the concepts of Side A and Side B originally started among gay Christians themselves and indicated a personal choice of how the individual felt it best to respond to their sexual orientation in their own life. This is reflected in that GCN welcomes both people who are Side A and people who are Side B.

At some point, heterosexual people who started joining the conversation about gay people in the church also began to adopt the labels Side A and Side B for themselves. The thing is, heterosexual people are not gay, so the original understanding of the concept that which “side” they belonged to no longer represented how they chose to respond to their own sexual orientation. Instead, for heterosexual people, their Side A or Side B status mostly began to represent how other people — namely people who actually are gay — should choose to live their lives1.

This has apparently caused some problems for at least one person.  Yesterday, Misty Irons blogged about the misunderstandings that tend to be formed when she identifies as Side B:

A recent article written by Stephen Parelli, who was present at the conference, called “Celibacy at Gay Christian Network: What’s that all about?” characterizes me as advocating celibacy for all gay Christians.

She spends a good deal of time in her post making it clear that she does not advocate celibacy for all gay Christians. She makes it clear that she believes that Side A Christians — even Side A gay Christians — are saved. She states that she believes Christians should follow their own conscience in this matter.

I would argue then, that calling herself Side B is pointless, meaningless, or both. She’s not telling other people what they should believe or how they should live. She’s not making a choice about how to live her own life since — to the best of my knowledge — she’s heterosexual and she doesn’t even have to answer the underlying question for herself.

So why pick a “side” at all? Why not simply say “I believe those who are in a position where they need to make that choice need to pray and follow their own conscience” and leave it at that?

If a heterosexual is not prepared to moralize — that is, tell others how they should live their lives or even look down on those who choose to live their lives differently — then declaring oneself Side A or Side B serves no real purpose. Other than possibly to promote the silly notion that their opinion on the matter is actually important. And who has time for that silly notion and the privilege it represents?

1I suspect at least some gay Christians also feel that other gay Christians should be making the same Side A or Side B choice they are and would like input on how other people are living their lives as well. Moralizing is not the sole domain of the heterosexuals after all. However, at least with gay Christians, there’s still the sense that being Side A or Side B is (hopefully) about a personal choice in their own lives first.

Religion

Going to Church and Attending Sporting Events are not Comparable

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Yesterday,  Hemant Mehta wrote a post about about meme where some pastor mocks excuses people use for not going to church by turning them into excuses people use for not attending sporting goods. He also posts a video response from someone that is absolutely wonderful. However, I wanted to take a closer look at some of the things that make this meme ridiculous right from the beginning.

A sad meme comparing apples (going to church) to bicycles (going to sporting events).
A sad meme comparing apples (going to church) to bicycles (going to sporting events).

The most obvious is that church attendance is often seen — at least by many Christians — as an absolute and even universal obligation. I’m not aware of anyone who views attending sporting events — either occasionally or regularly — as an obligation. Certainly not a universal obligation. No one has ever questioned my moral character for not attending sporting events. No one — not even exuberant sports fans — have treated me condescendingly for not attending sporting events. No one is trying to convince me that I will be condemned to eternal torment if I don’t attend the Amerks games and believe that their players are the best hockey players ever.

Instead, attending sporting events is entirely optional with little to no pressure on me to do so. I can simply choose not to attend any sporting events. The only “excuse” I need for not attending one is “I didn’t feel like going.” In fact, I’d be hard pressed to think of even five instances in my forty-one years of life where anyone even inquired — let alone demanded to know — as to why I didn’t attend some sporting event.

I have had people ask why I don’t go to church. Several times. And each time, there was a clear implication that the person asking felt I needed a good reason — good enough as determined by them — why i didn’t go. This is why people make all kinds of excuses for not going to church, and seldom make any excuse for going to sporting events. No excuse is needed for the latter.

The excuses in themselves are equally problematic. For example, the first excuse makes no sense because there’s no expectation that a coach at sporting event will come visit me1. That’s not the case for a pastor of a church. There is an implicit — if not explicit — understanding that a pastor is there to provide spiritual care and guidance for the people in his church and even the rest of the community.  When a person says that they quit coming to church because the pastor hasn’t come to see them, this means that the pastor and the church as a whole has failed to live up to their obligations. (John Pavlovitz put it perfectly on Tuesday when he wrote, “If you have no scalable system of pastoral care other than telling people to get into a small group, you have a lousy pastoral care system….
Pastor, if all you want to do is preach from the stage or the pulpit, stop calling yourself a pastor and admit that you’re a preacher or a religious celebrity.“) So it strikes me that it is perfectly reasonable for a person to leave a church that is failing to meet its obligations to that person.

There are similar issues with the meme-creator’s other “excuses” when you consider the fundamental differences between the nature of church attendance and going to sporting events. Sadly, this is just another case of a Christian leader thinking he’s being clever when he’s really just demonstrating that he hasn’t really thought any of these issues through. This also leads me to conclude that he’s not really trying to convince people who offer these excuses to come to church so much as he’s sharing a moment of smug self-righteousness with those who already agree with him. Frankly, I find that sort of thing ugly when displayed by an alleged spiritual leader.

1Naturally, I’m assuming that I’m a spectator rather than a player. If the latter were the case, then I see that this could be a legitimate reason for not only not attending those sporting events, but quitting that team.

Religion, Sexuality, Society

Open letter Christian webcomic artist Adam Ford

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[Content Note: Homophobia, transphobia, mentions of anti-gay and anti-trans violence, mentions of suicide]

My niece posted a link to this webcomic earlier today. I decided the webcomic artist deserved a response.

Dear random Christian dude who wants to reassure me he doesn’t hate me by writing a lengthy and completely impersonal webcomic,

Look, I get it. Your uncomfortable with the fact that many LGBT people think of socially conservative Christians as hateful. The thing you need to understand is that A LOT of your fellow Christians do indeed act terribly hateful. Some of them may even be people that you and your church support and revere.

Plus, the other thing you need to understand is that you don’t have to be screaming obscenities or anything equally obvious to act in ways that are hurtful and even come across as hateful. So let me do you a favor and go through your webcomic and point a few things out to you that you get terribly wrong.

I am a Christian who believes the Bible is the Word of God, any homosexual practice is sinful, and marriage will only ever be the life-long union between one man and one woman.

But I promise you, I don’t hate you.

You know, it’s hard to believe you don’t hate me — or at least that you have my best interests in mind — when your first volley in your “reassurance” is to state unequivocally that you will never consider any emotionally and sexually intimate relationship that I might build with someone to be anything other than irredeemably sinful and illegitimate. I mean, you could have started demonstrating your commitment to loving LGBT people by talking about what you are trying to get the church to do about the fact that many states still allow employers to fire  people simply for being LGBT. Or you could have talked about what you’re trying to get the church to do about anti-LGBT violence — especially violence against transgender people who are most often targeted. Or you could have talked about what you want to do about the problem of increased instances of homelessness and suicide rates among LGBT youth.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. There are a lot of very real problems that LGBT people face, and you could be doing something right now to help alleviate and address those problems. But instead, you decided to start by drawing your line in the sand. Or let’s call it what it really is, your chosen battle line. Try and understand just how false that makes the rest of your claims sound.

The world sets us up as polar opposites, though. It says we’re bitter enemies in a “culture war,” lobbing Molotov cocktails at each other on the front lawn of the White House.

Do you know who actually uses the phrase “culture war” regularly, and insists they’re fighting one. Many of your fellow Christians. People at the AFA. People at the FRC. People at Focus on the Family. Pat Robertson. These are extremely visible and powerful Christians. They’re the ones pushing the “culture war” framing. And that’s when they’re not comparing LGBT people to sexual predators, calling us mentally ill, or saying God sent AIDS to punish us. There are a lot of other terrible things they say, too. I encourage you to do some research.

So my question to you is what are you doing to real in your fellow Christians who are pushing this “culture war” frame? Are you pushing back and telling them to shut up? Are you making sure that neither you nor your church supports the Christian organizations that are actually promoting and acting as aggressors in the culture war? Or are you just remaining silent and hoping that I and every of LGBT person will magically know you don’t agree with them and “aren’t like those Christians” (or believe it just because you say so)?

If you are gay, your fallen heart tells you to lust after people of the same sex.

God calls that sin.

My fallen heart tells me to lust after people of the opposite sex who are not my wife.

God calls that sin.

Did you notice the major difference between those two statements. You see, according to you, God offers you a context in which you’re allowed to embrace and explore your sexual desires. But according to you, God offers LGBT people no such context. Any such exploration we may consider is sinful. Full stop. End of story. Try to understand how cruel that makes your vision of God in my eyes.

Also, stop to consider how you’ve just implicitly reduced all same-sex relationships to nothing more than sexual gratification. You’ve completely ignored and invalidated the fact that many same sex relationships also involve deep emotional intimacy, mutual care, nurturing, and many other qualities that I’m sure you value in your own marriage. Again, when you start trying to caricature our relationships to fit your “sin” narrative, it’s rather difficult to accept that you’re as hate-free as you claim.

The liberal “churches” which are now saying, “Oh hey! God changed his mind and is totes cool with the gay stuff now 4 real!” do not really love you. They want your approval.

Sounds to me like you need to write a follow-up comic to let liberal churches know you don’t hate them, too. Though I’m not sure they’ll believe you any more than I believe you. But on a more serious note, I think it’s entirely condescending of you to claim you know the hearts and motives of others. Also, I’ll note that many of those liberal churches have actively backed their claims of love by actively doing things to address all of those serious issues facing LGBT people that I mentioned earlier. You haven’t done that yet. I trust you’re familiar with he phrase “action speaks louder than words.”

Not because I say so; because God says so. (See: entire Bible)

There’s a problem with that claim — and it’s really relevant to your rather disparaging comments that liberal churches say God “changed his mind” by the way. People have been saying “God says so/the Bible says so” for centuries, only to later decide that maybe the Bible doesn’t actually say that after all. I mean, there was once a time when many Christians insisted that the Bible said that it was okay to own slaves. In fact, at least one denomination (hint: it’s the largest and most well-known Baptist denomination in the United States of America) was founded on the principle that the Bible clearly states that slave-owners are allowed to own slaves. I don’t know any Christian who would insist that the Bible says that anymore. I doubt that you or any of your fellow Christians today would phrase that change in belief or interpretation of the Bible as “Oh hey! God changed his mind!”

Truth of the matter is, the Bible is hugely open to interpretation and always has been. There have been huge arguments over what the Bible allegedly says, and people on both sides of many of those arguments have insisted that the Bible “clearly says” whatever position they happen to hold. So please, accept that liberal Christians might actually legitimately come to a different interpretation of the Bible, lest you fall into the hubris of thinking you are the authority of what the Bible says. Trust me, history is rife of examples of why that may not end so well for you.

Repent and believe that gospel.

The word “gospel” means “good news.” I ask you, what “good news” are you offering to LGBT people. Quite frankly, I don’t find “you have to live your entire life without any sort of sexual or emotional fulfillment or intimate companionship” to be all that good of news. Can you do it? Why not? After all, the Bible also makes it clear that it would be better for you to remain unmarried. And yet, you mentioned having a wife. Why are you trying to place burdens on other people that you have not accepted for yourself?

We love you, so we must tell you the truth.

Okay. You’ve told me. You’re at least the 100th person to tell me this. (Seriously, do you really think LGBT people have never heard all of this before? You might want to check your facts.) I’m telling you, I don’t buy it and it stinks like yesterdays garbage after it’s sat in the sun all afternoon.

But while we’re on the topic of how much you allegedly love me, let me ask you something: What good is love without relationship. You don’t know me. You haven’t taken a single moment to get to know me. You haven’t listened to my story or shared in my joys or my woes. To be frank, all you’ve done is preach at me, possibly hoping that the cutesie webcomic format will make it more tolerable. If your love is that impersonal and impersonal, then I think I’ll still with the “vote seekers” and “approval seekers.” Once again, at least they seem to understand some of the real and serious problems I and many like me face and are actively trying to do something. They’ve shown real, tangible acts of love.

So thanks, random dude who knows nothing about me and likely will do absolutely nothing to change that. I hope that your webcomic gave you that sense of “being loving” you were trying to create for yourself. It did absolutely nothing for me.

Best wishes,

Jarred.

A gay man who just doesn’t quite believe you.

Moderation Note: This is a no proselytizing thread. Comments trying to convince me that I need to “repent” will be deleted. Commenters that repeatedly ignore this rule will be banned. But don’t worry, there’s no need for you to tell me the truth. Adam Ford has already taken care of it. You can even see the proof for yourself.

 

Religion, Society, Witchcraft

Pat Robertson’s world is a scary place

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Tuesday, Right Wing Watch reported that Pat Robertson warned pregnant women against putting pictures of their ultrasounds on Facebook.  His reasoning, according to the report, is rather interesting:

“I don’t think there is any harm in it,” he said. “But I tell you, there are demons and there are evil people in the world, and you post a picture like that and some cultist gets hold of it or a coven and they begin muttering curses against an unborn child. You never know what somebody’s going to do.”

This is yet another glimpse into the dark, horrible world that Pat Robertson believes he’s living in. He believes that there are “Satanic witches” who have nothing better to do than scour the Facebook to find random ultrasound pictures from people they don’t know and curse them. In Pat Robertson’s fantasy world, people unlike him run around looking to commit evil for evil’s sake. It leaves one wondering if he also imagines us laughing maniacally and twirling over-waxed mustaches or cackling around cauldrons1.

The thing is, most witches don’t work curses at all. Those who do are really unlikely to curse random strangers for a number of reasons2. If a witch is actually going to work that kind of magic, said witch is going to work it against someone they have a personal investment in hurting.

So why on earth does Pat Robertson imagine evil figures doing all kinds of evil that makes no sense? Does he enjoy the way that it ties his followers to him with fear and terror? Is his desire to paint himself and those like him as the soul heroes of the world so great that he needs to paint everyone else in the world as evil as he can?

Or is he actually trapped in his own fear? Has he warning about evils for so long that he actually sees and fears them wherever he looks? If so, I have to say, that’s a horrible way to live.

1Okay, I’ll confess. The cackling around cauldrons thing actually happens. I mean, every now and then you’re in the middle of a solemn ritual and someone flubs a chant or sends one of the ritual tools skittering across the room due to clumsiness. That’s bound to crack up anyone with a sense of humor.

2The two major reasons are “trying to curse someone you don’t have a connection to is nearly impossible” and “no one in their right mind is going to work with and connect themselves to the kinds of energies a curse entails unless there’s a deeply personal reason to do so.”

 

Gender and Sexuality, Movies, Religion, Society

Movie Review: Impossible Choice

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[Content Note: Homophobia]

Last night, as I scoured both Netflix And Amazon Instant Video for gay-themed movies to watch, I came across Impossible Choice, an extremely-low budget film that came out in 2012. The brief description on Amazon caught my eye:

For the minister’s son, Brandon, this is a summer of awakening and acceptance of his homosexuality. For his father, this is a challenge to his roots in the bible.

In many ways, that description reminded me of the movie Rock Haven, which I love (and still wish I could find my copy of). I decided to watch it.

After watching it, I skimmed through the customer reviews on Amazon. This is a movie where it seemed like either reviewers loved it or hated it. In many ways, I agree with the negative reviews, as they all brought up great points. This was an extremely low-budget film. The writing was awful. The story — actually at least two different plots that were only related by the fact that they happened at the same time and in the same place — jumped all over the place. And there were several questions the story left unanswered. (Like whatever happened to the criminal charges that were brought against Lance? You get the sense that they were trumped up, but it’s never shown that the police learn this fact.) Or there was the sudden shift of Captain Dan from being totally opposed to the idea of running a gay cruise (in the first scene or two, he throws around the word “fag” quite liberally) to being entirely in favor of it and defending the idea in front of the people of Palmyra. In fact, I had to go back and verify that the virulent homophobe I remembered from the first few scenes really was Captain Dan, because they seemed like completely different characters.

The best part of the movie — as many of the negative critics noted — was the ten minute “play within,” a play created by some of the movie characters for a college drama class. In the “play within,” Matthew Shepard and Tyler Clementi meet up in the afterlife and tell each other about the events leading up their eventual deaths. It was well acted, moving, and possibly the only truly memorable part of the entire movie. It also really didn’t seem to have any bearing on the rest of the movie, which made it odd in context.

I will admit that despite all its technical flaws, I do have some warm feelings toward this movie. This is partly because its setting is local to me, as the gay cruise that serves as subject matter of one of the plotlines and the setting for the climax of the other takes place on the Erie Canal and starts from the nearby town of Palmyra New York. There’s something about seeing shots of local geography — and having it recognized in the film as such — that’s just touching to me.

Also, the themes of the movie, while poorly executed, are near and dear to my heart. Granted, in many ways, that makes the poor execution of the movie all the more sad. In the long run, I think it would have been better if those who made it would have focused either on the work to get the gay cruise approved or on the story about Brandon’s relationships with his father and his love interest, Lance.

Would I recommend watching it? If you have a couple hours to spare and access to Amazon Prime, sure. Especially if you live in or around Monroe County New York. Especially if you’re also gay.

But if you have access to a movie like Latter Days or Rock Haven (and haven’t already watched it to death), you may want to check one of them out instead.