Five more members of the LGBTQIA+ community have been murdered in Colorado Springs. Why?
My take: The constant negative derogatory rhetoric about “gays” from those who call themselves religious keeps killing (literally and figuratively) the members of the LGBTQIA+ community. These “religious” people come dressed as Christians, Mormons, Muslims, and Orthodox Jews as well as some of the lesser-known religions such as Zoroastrianism and Baha’i. Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism seem to be silent, which, for me, leans anti-LGBTQIA+. I have a sign in my front window that says “Silence Is Violence.”
The most boisterous anti-gay double-talk comes from Roman Catholics, especially some of its hierarchy, who must know that many of their clergy are closeted gay people. How hurtful must the church’s words be for them!
The fundamentalists, who like to use the word evangelical to disguise their fundamentalism, hide their venom behind the robes of Jesus and have zero tolerance for gay people. They cloak their sanctimoniousness with “We love the sinner, not the sin,” which falls into the same category as those who send only “thoughts and prayers” after mass murders. Neither statement means anything useful.
The constant negative verbiage from these groups fuels the fire of homophobia and thus the continual murdering of those whose sexual orientation is not straight heterosexual.
The man who did the Colorado Springs executions was a lapsed Mormon, but you can bet your bottom dollar that he had been brainwashed about the “evil gays” from birth.
Let me share some thoughts:
My Jesus, also my Christ, was all about agape, or unconditional love. This kind of love includes everyone, no matter where they are in their life’s journey or what their sexual orientation is.
Any form of Christianity or pseudo-Christianity that judges anyone can’t really be Followers of the Anointed but instead are self-righteous, judgmental cults who seem to have a long list of those who are not welcome into their club. (I’m one.)
My Jesus never spoke about what goes on in people’s bedrooms. He was too busy building the inclusive Kin-dom of love, the agape kind, and not an exclusive Kingdom of Self-Righteous Bigots who love to tell folks who they can and can’t love. Jesus said it loud and clear: “First take the log out of your own eye” (Matt. 7:5).
Early in my life, I learned that when I point my finger at you, three are pointing back at me, the moral being, don’t point fingers. I can’t stand it when the Roman Catholic Church points its finger at the LGBTQIA+ community as being “unacceptable,” but then its other three fingers are pointing at its own sick history of sexual abuse, pedophilia, and denial.
The shootings and the murders of those in the LGBTQIA+ family will continue as long as the religious and political bigots are allowed to exist. The best we can do is to continually call them out for being who they are: haters of anyone who isn’t a conservative straight white guy.
What are your thoughts?
Peace Love Joy Hope
Photo by Aiden Craver on Unsplash
One of my dearest friends had a son who was gay. He let our church, Community of Christ, when he went away to college and he joined the Catholic Church. There he found many gay men and seemed to be happy. My friend and her husband never accepted that he was gay but promised him if he would leave the Catholic Church they would pay for his education anywhere he wanted to go. He chose Portia Rico. Later he married a women but of course, that was doomed from the beginning. She quickly divorced him. My friend was a nurse and she moved to Independence Missouri after she learned she had cancer. Her sister was also a nurse and lived there and helped take care of her before she died. But before sh died, her son came up there too and took care of her until she died. The whole affair was tragic.
Bil, Merry Christmas to you and Annie, I agree with everything you stated here! Jesus would be horrified, Much Love, Julie
Bil, you keep saying just the way I think. Thank you for saying it so very well. I have many stories of sadness as well as acceptance. Merry Christmas. May Christ be born over and over until bigotry is overdome.
Keep rolling B-man.
Thanks Bill I agree with you. Wishing you Annie and family a healthy and happy New Year.