news is always depressing

[kodalai]

Christians sue for the right to harass homosexuals, claim it as part of their religious freedoms.

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.

I recognize the thorniness of the legal issues, the tough ground of freedom of expression rights, and personal commitment, but I think it should go without saying that I am.... nauseated that some Christians -- any Christians -- feel that the right to berate, harass, denounce, and condemn their coworkers, costudents, cocitizens is intrinsic to their religion and fundamental to their faith. Hatred is not a Christian value. If you've been taught that it is, you've been subjected to the most disgusting lie in this world.

Comments

[velvet-mace.livejournal.com]

There is no place in the bible where it says "Thou must harrass homosexuals." It ain't against their religion to live and let live, no matter how much they might claim it.

I hope they lose and are ridiculed.

As for the whole poor pity me I'm persecuted Christian -- obviously they don't believe in the golden rule, either that or they don't see irony in their claim.

[kodalai.livejournal.com]

The pity-me-I'm-a-poor-persecuted-Christian thing is getting a lot of play in the last few years -- just look at the "War on Christmas," which basically boils down to "I have a right to demand that public spaces decorate in a way that caters to my sensibilities, regardless of the preferences of others."

It's hard to pinpoint the source of it, but I'd attribute it to certain demagogue leaders attempting to adopt the 'winning strategy' of the rights campaigns to try and cultivate similar success for their own personal agendas. A sort of "if whining for priviliges worked for the wimmin and the darkies and the queers, why shouldn't it work for us?" mindset?

[velvet-mace.livejournal.com]

It's mass brainwashing pure and simple.

The principle is if you yell something often enough and loud enough, people will start to get confused and forget the facts. And those who resist the message will either be cowed or drowned out. You can shout ANYTHING, as long as you do it often enough, eventually you will wear down your opposition.

Then you, this very vocal minority, can force your agenda on everyone else.

And since the religeous right think that they are GOOD, they can justify being underhanded -- after all, they are doing the rest of us a favor, because they know better than we do what we need.

[ginalin.livejournal.com]

Yes, I well remember the part of the Gospels were Jesus led the crowd in throwing rocks at people that some religious leaders had deemed immoral...No, wait..wasn't it him who said that thing about the person who was without sin casting the first stone?

[granate.livejournal.com]

Any time I see Christians shrieking about persecution, I have to share this: (And I wish I knew where it came from)



And that bullshit will totally not fly. Think of the precedent that creates... it boggles the mind. I hope other Christians will stand up to this. I'm an atheist, but I was raised Christian and NEVER did I see hate as part of teaching. It seems a lot of Christians don't follow Christianity at all, they've only been told, as you so eloquently put it, a disgusting lie.

[aging-parents.livejournal.com]

What is called "Christian" in the media today is the most anti-Christian movement in American history; the greatest fear of these people should be, if their beliefs about salvation and damnation prove true, God's judgment of them. They call themselves "Biblical," despite the fact that, for every out-of-context verse they cite to justify their bigotries, there are dozens or hundreds of verses that contradict their message; and all of those are concentrated in the most primitive writings of the early Hebrews, times of polygamy, slavery and mass slaughter of defeated enemies -- long before they learned the morality, mercy and compassion that the world came to respect -- none are from the New Testament, which is supposed to be the source of moral authority for Christians.

In reality, what is going on has no precedent in the history of Christianity (at least in this country); rather it is the coming to America of the great plague of Europe 80 years ago -- Fascism. The twisting of objective reality by a manipulated or intimidated press, ever-growing brutality and violence, much of it in the name of religion, the notion that other people living their own lives are an affront to my "freedom," for which I am right to punish them; it has all happened before. What hasn't happened before is the coming of Fascism to the most powerful country on Earth (though Germany in 1939 came close).

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

>When they protest tolerance codes, they're labeled intolerant

Um... yeah. Duh.

>Others fear the banner of religious liberty could be used to justify all manner of harassment. "What if a person felt their religious view was that African Americans shouldn't mingle with Caucasians, or that women shouldn't work?" asked Jon Davidson, legal director of the gay rights group Lambda Legal.

Why is he saying this as if it were some kind of theoretical projected future as opposed to our actual historical past?

[samikitty.livejournal.com]

my favourite "i'm sorry, wtf???"-moment with this article is this:

"Think how marginalized racists are," said Baylor, who directs the Christian Legal Society's Center for Law and Religious Freedom. "If we don't address this now, it will only get worse."

i understand that he doesn't want "christian" to be analogous to "racist"... but... is he implying that racists *shouldn't* be marginalized and that we should be sympathetic to them, that it's all be one great misunderstanding???

when my parents were minty "new christians" they told me that my attitude towards intolerance was intolerant and therefore i was arguing against myself. that was a Special Moment too.

it's a weird world out there. i'll never understand why we can't just live and let live. who cares if you think the gay guy down the street is going to hell? doesn't affect you, to my knowledge! let him deal with it himself! :D

[meritjubet.livejournal.com]

So... as an atheist, I can harass Christians because they are morally repulsive to my beliefs? Sweet... Or does it have to be written down 2000 years ago?

*stares blankly* Oh well, I only hope that they lose and have to pay legal fees. It's just so wrong. What is wrong with being tolerant? That's what strikes me.