it doesnt make sense to me that anyone, not just imparticular LGBT's, but anyone who had been continuosly wronged by the church would attempt to change it. I know all i wanted was to get as far away as possible. the only thing i want from the church is that they leave me and my rights alone.
If faith is such a huge place of a gay person's lifestyle that they can't imagine giving it up, I think that churches becoming more accepting to gay people is an obvious plus. Of course, becoming an theist would be the best, but meh. Whatever cooks your beans. :icon_wink On a side note, that guy's blog is a touch on the melodramatic side, but he gets a pass because he's quite attractive.
I've changed the religious references in your quoted post into a societal context. Why? Because the reasons we want to change social attitudes are the same reasons religious LGBT members will want to change the way their faith institutions treat them. We all have the exact same aim in mind when pushing for tolerance and acceptance, regardless of whether it's an institution or society as a whole.
Faith is Flexable and Religion is Flexable, this has been proven throughout history from Christianity branching into The Catholic Church and The Protestant Church and the many churches residing within the Protestant church such as Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostalism, Anabaptist, Lutherans etc. Many different religions have branched off or just completly spawned due to conflicting opinions on just about everything and it's not as-if that has just stopped so in my opinion he should just carry on trying to change his church as it could be resculpted. As much as the variouse religions like to think their beliefs are set in stone, there wouldn't be the variety there is if they were.
He may have been wronged by his family and his church, but that was only because of a single doctrine in the church. There is a lot more to a faith than their views on Homosexuality and he obviously believed in the rest. The thing is, they aren't going to leave you and your rights alone unless someone changes things in the church. Someone who fights to change a religion that wants to hurt us is helping all of us, not just church-going people. I'm behind him 100%. The article in question was a bit melodramatic, but he is an effective writer. Did you see his post about Mara Phelps a couple of posts down? Absolutely brilliant. I now feel really sorry for those people.
There is no reason why you can't be both gay and Christian. Anyone who says otherwise is quite simply wrong. I was raised Christian, and although my beliefs are more agnostic than anything, I'm still quite involved in the Church. Thankfully, I was brought up in a very progressive church, which is near the centre of the current debate over gay clergy in Scotland, with close ties to a group called Affirmation Scotland, who are working and campaigning for the inclusion and celebration of LGBT members of the Christian faith. edit: - link
There is traditional christanity *christs message*, then you have the catholics, mormons, and fundementalists. you judge each by their actions and inactions.
lovely christians forcing someone to have an excorcism every week and convincing him that if he doesnt get better he will eventually end up raping little boys. I don't know how any one gives religion any merit in this day and age. its so archaic and illogical
Not really. There just isn't enough data to either prove or disprove these things. Everyone, religious people and athiests alike, just believe what they want to believe and assume they're right without any substantial proof. It's really just guesswork on both sides. We humans are still working on very limited knowledge, yet everyone seems to think that they know everything. I really don't understand it to be honest. That's why I try to live my life assuming that anything that I think I know, may actually be proven wrong someday. That's why I'm always trying to learn as much as I can about everything.
That is why I love science. scientist *outside of the fundie christian anti-science intelligent designers "ugh... hello, but your poop chute is right next to your sex organs... does that really sound intelligent or hygenicly designed?"* will be the first to tell you that finding answers is only the invitation to ask more questions. They admit that they only comprehend part of what makes existance tick, because when they discover, test, and verify things as true, they realize that there is always something they have to reconsider they thought was true. Religious zealots claim full ownership to truth, and their truths cannot be proven, so therefore, they are merely opinions. faith is taking the step to believe in something that is not quantifiable or verifiable. we still need science though a heck of alot more than we need religious zealotry.
First you make a sweeping generalization and then you make a fairly offensive statement without backing it up in any way, how is this any different from what you accuse Christians of doing? Gays aren't all rapists and Christians aren't all illogical dicks.
I was having an interesting discussion about this yesterday. We came to the conclusion that, conversely to what many people would suggest, the more science advances, the more important religion and spirituality becomes. Science explains the hows of our universe. It may one day be able to explain everything, though that seems unlikely to me. But it will never be able to explain why everything exists. This is a question that religion discusses. The more we find out about science the more insignificant we seem in the context of the entirety of existence. Now i think the human brain can cope with many things, but it cannot cope with insignificance. The idea that it is totally unimportant and will soon be gone without the universe noticing. Thats not a concept many people can deal with. Religion provides people with a forum to have answers to why we are here, and gives meaning to our lives, rather than showing them as insignificant. Personally i think thats why alot of people turn to religion. The alternative is too unsettling and mind boggling. Anyway thats just my opinions Religion may seems illogical and archaic but to alot of people it probably seems more logical than the idea that everything in existence just happened due to a long series of chance and freak occurrences.
I personally don't seem to be compatable with religion as to my mind it seems a very foreign concept however, though I am comfortable with how I percieve things, I can't help being a little bit envious of those who can listen to idea like god and truly believe it as the truth as then they have little to fear, even from death. Though I would say that since religion and beliefs keep changing and so do not have a stable base (though I'm sure I would be corrected), I can see why people are accustomed to it. Religion being illogical to me would only make it more human as many would say homosexuality is illogical which as much as I would like to say it isn't, it in many ways is, the impractabilities of such is what I believe sets us apart from the majority of the animal kingdom as we as humans don't judge things soly on a logical and practical basis but also listen to our emotions and see more than meets the eye, that is one of the many things that defines us, without it we woudn't be human. As for it being archaic perhaps it is getting to be an old concept and state of mind, and perhaps it will one day fade from our society however that would mean little to those who believe in it today and I doubt that faith in the unseen will ever leave society as that is a part of us and defines all religions.
I was actually touched by this...and not just because I've had a few drinks. I second this. I hope the world doesn't self-destruct...because I believe this is the first thing we have ever actually agreed on.
Yes I suppose religions aren't that illogical since their reasoning is usually sound but yeah, as you say, zealotry and close mindedness are.
