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Tuesday 
11 April 2006
god versus gays
tolerance is bad. hate speech is good.
hate speech hiding behind religion…that’s perfect.
Ruth Malhotra says her Christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality. But the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she’s a senior, bans speech that puts down others because of their sexual orientation.
Malhotra sees that as an unacceptable infringement on her right to religious expression. So she’s demanding that Georgia Tech revoke its tolerance policy.
woo hoo! way to go ruth. the gloves are coming off now, ain’t they? and just in time, too, ’cause i recently joined up with a new religion, and the admission policy is kinda strict: i’m required to speak out against intolerant, hypocritical christians.
so, while ruth is on campus trash-talking gays and lesbians for having the audacity to exist, i’m obliged to stick my bullhorn in her ear and tell her to “shut the hell up and quit annoying people.” (my reward in the afterlife, i’m told, will be endless good wine, bread, and extra virgin olive oil. or something like that.)
see, ruth is one of those folks who thinks homosexuality is a “lifestyle choice” deserving of derision and oh i don’t know, stoning. imagine if she had to adjust her world view to accept gays and lesbians as “part of god’s plan.” poor thing would probably have a come-apart.
because as blasphemous as it may be to ruth, not everyone is on board with her draconian definition of holy.
As for the New Testament, Jesus never said a word about gays, while he explicitly advised a wealthy man to give away all his assets and arguably warned against bank accounts (”do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth”). Likewise, Jesus praises those who make themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven, but conservative Christians rarely lead the way with self-castration.
tsk, that’s the thing about cherry picking the bible to support this or that political cause…you have to overlook all kinds of inconvenient admonitions that contradict you, or make you a hypocrite, or call your fealty into question if you fail to kill your neighbor for hot tubbing on the sabbath.
faith can be a bitch, huh?
anyhoo, it’ll be fun to hang out with ruth and follow her around wherever she goes and point my bullhorn at her ear, and her other ear when she turns the other cheek.
the beauty part is, there’s not thing one she can do about it without infringing on my right to religious expression.
is this a great country, or what?
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…and the world is right again.
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I wonder if this “Ruth” character is as sanctimonious toward other sins as she is toward homosexuality. Usury and greed are condemned all through the Bible, not just in one or two obscure passages. But it’s more fun to just cherry pick.
Blast her a good one with your bullhorn.
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I about had a “come-apart” when I read…
“i’m obliged to stick my bullhorn in her ear and tell her to “shut the hell up and quit annoying people.” (my reward in the afterlife, i’m told, will be endless good wine, bread, and extra virgin olive oil. or something like that.)”
Nice job. Here’s one of my favorites for good gospel: http://www.venganza.org/
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Good post, Spaceneedl! Why try to regress values back to the stone ages, except as an act of personal desperation. Sheesh lady - you can blame your god for not giving you the open-mindedness and compassion to understand the rights of the people around you!
As an atheist reading the bible (most of the way through the Old Testament now), I find it a real hodgepodge of times, philosophies and points of view, gathered from so many different times and cultures, retold and retold for differing social or political purposes (over the past few thousand years no less). IMHO, it can’t be relied upon as a guide for modern living. Any quote is “out of context” unless you include a whole half a page.
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y’all are a bunch of sabbath hot tubbers, i can see that right now.
s’aight, i can respect that…
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God Versus Gays
Seems like self-castration might preclude making offspring to protest the Theory of Evolution….
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Interesting - you seem to be saying that banning speech that you don’t agree with is a good thing.
So hate speech is bad, speech banning is good.
I would be much more worried about a “university” than bans the expression of any opinion than I would about said opinions.
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no, i’m saying ruth is an idiot.
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i fully agreee with you spaceneed i reckon if someone is gonna point at someone then they gotta get all their points rite!
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alyssa, the religious (and political) right is not terribly interested in being rite. they’re more into making sure everyone falls into line and stays there. quietly.