Crosses to Bear

I am Catholic.

(DISCLAIMER! - You do or don't do whatever you do or don't want to do.  This is not about trying to convert anyone.  I only bring it up to give you perspective.)

I've been trying to get Amanda Marcotte from Raw Story on the air to talk about her sensational article which absolutely tags the conservatives behind the Kim Davis debacle correctly.  Here's a link:

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/09/the-kim-davis-ordeal-reveals-a-frightening-truth-about-a-desperate-radicalized-christian-right/#.VfQXAYtzlUc.twitter

I don't want to break down the article too much, outside of saying her analogy about the sore loser baseball player is spot on, that these people have an agenda which may or may not include overthrowing the Federal government, and they have a violent temper.

Christianity is being ruined by people who have an agenda, wether political, monetary or personal.  Let's call this what it is; Kim Davis, Mike Huckabee, and numerous other anti-gay freaks dislike the sex acts gay people commit.  They don't seem to mind when heterosexual couples partake in the same sexual acts, but fine.  It makes them uncomfortable.  Good news for them, the vast majority of them will never have to participate in said sex acts.

But for some reason, that's not good enough.  They want to kick open the doors of gay people's houses and stop them from doing the gay sex in private, or, if they legally can't do that, they want to  be able to treat them differently in society.  They are obsessed with stopping gay people and in turn, gay people sex.  I know they'll say, "it's not about the sex Matt."  Let me respond:  Yes it is!  I'll let everyone ponder that.

In a desperate attempt at legitimacy, they wrap themselves in the handful of passages the Bible has on the issue, freely and gleefully distorting them a will.  Mind you, Jesus never preached against homosexuals (just because he praised heterosexual marriage doesn't mean he condemned gay marriage), so the anti-gay folks need to find other places in the Bible to validate their hatred.  They focus on two parts of the Bible they insist proves all Christians need to hate gay people.  First, Paul's letters to the Romans.  That was Paul, not Jesus or God, but Paul.

Second is an Old Testament goodie, Leviticus! If you really are insisting Leviticus is God's word on this earth, verbiage which can't be challenged and distorted, you really need to go read Leviticus, and the rest of the Old Testament, before you open your mouth.  There are plenty of things we no longer follow or believe from the Bible (but Matt, God would want us to eat shellfish now!), but because gay sex acts done within the privacy of a gay person's residence so offends some people, they'll distort and manipulate scripture any way they can to prove their hatred is righteous.

Jesus didn't hate gays or lesbians.  He loved us all.  If you say the Bible needs to be followed to the letter, but you're not practicing the Bible as written (does your church have a roof?  Oops!) then it is YOU, as an individual human being, who is choosing to hate, and YOU are ruining the good teachings of Jesus by picking and choosing the Biblical passages that fit YOUR ulterior motives, stoking YOUR anger, while ignoring all the biblical passages which YOU find inconvenient or contradict YOUR outrage.

Christianity can be a good thing.  As these opportunists make the church an unappetizing litany of hatred and condemnation, they overshadow the positive messages the church has, messages we all can rally around.

My church is a progressive Catholic church in Eden Prairie.  I love it.  The priests we've had/have are exceptional, and have helped guide me and my family through the sex abuse scandal, and around the diocese leadership, whose misguided, anti-gay campaign emptied out the pews of many Twin Cities churches.

My priest had a sermon a few months back, which included a slide show.  "Where do we find God's love and happiness?"  The slides started with a picture of a young adorable baby, a kind looking grandmother, a puppy.  He stated, "It's easy to see God's love in those faces isn't it?"  Then came a picture of someone sick, followed by one of a homeless person.  "Same God.  Same love, but a different perception, isn't it"  Then came the picture of President Obama.  "What's the matter?  Wasn't he a cute baby at one point too?  Doesn't God show his love through him as much as anyone else?  Just because you don't agree with him, does that make him less of a symbol of God's love and happiness?"  It was a strong message.

On Sunday, he pointed out something many people ignore; the cross itself is a symbol of a horrible death, a tortuous method of punishment at the time of Christ.  I asked myself, how many people would be Christian today if instead of a cross it was a noose, a electric chair or a lethal injection hanging around their neck?  The cross is not just a gold "t", and we shouldn't become ambivalent to the violence it represents from back them, OR the violence of today.  As Kim Davis' supporters talk about throat punching anyone who disagrees with them, or wants to follow her around, armed, in the 'hope' there is an opportunity of a shoot out with government officials, how many of them would eagerly grab the wood and nails if it meant crucifying gay people?

We are often told in my church to welcome all, and our priests hammer that home.  Not just in a casual greeting on Sundays, but we are encouraged to welcome everyone, like the family who is escaping violence in their homeland, the migrant worker just trying to find any job, the hungry children whom we walk past everyday, the homeless person who might be dirty and smells, or any person who is different from ourselves.  Do you welcome them?  You should.  It's very likely your ancestors probably fell into one of those categories.

On Sunday, at the beginning of his sermon, the priest brought up a story about being Christian in our modern world.  He told of a college student, majoring in business, who went onto a great job, fast tracked for upper management.  A senior executive decided to take him under his wing and show him some of the benefits of senior management.  At a conference, they walked into a room, were offered drinks, and he was told the women there were purchased for the evening, a perk for the senior executives, so he should indulge himself.  The young man didn't.

When they had returned from the conference, he was called into the senior executives office and sternly asked what his problem was.  He said, "I'm Christian and I wasn't comfortable with that."  The senior executive told him they would 'excuse' his behavior, this time, but he needed to get on board with the program.  He was gone from the company a few weeks later.

A lack of humanity, spirituality and morality is a plague in our corporate world.  Many in that world worship money, wealth and power over all.  The family of the kid who died after eating tainted food gets sued out of court.  The refusal of the insurance company to cover the claim they promised they would.  The tricks and legal acrobatics designed to take advantage of people.  For profit colleges which don't offer a good education or any future, eagerly taking thousands of dollars from the students they've lied to.  The corporation who knowingly poisons the land, water and air in the name of profits.  The under the table negotiations which end up costing hard working people more, because of cronyism.  The outright stealing of people's money, but because it was done in a suit and tie in an office building, it's somehow considered less of a crime.  The mistreatment and abuse of the workers, with long hours, low wages, no benefits and no retirement, just so executives can have their conferences.

This is why I laugh at these modern Christian movies which vilify gay rights activists, college professors, scientists, journalists, the medical profession and anyone who thinks screaming prayers in someone's face, even as they are dying at an accident scene, is not a good idea.  They have their agenda too.

We have too many people ignoring the truly needy in our world, who instead choose to focus their attention, purposely or blindly, on a minor issue, a molehill issue they want to turn into a mountain, an issue which they insist is the primary purpose of the Christian faith, but an issue God and Jesus would never endorse, all the while turning our attention away from the real problems plaguing us as a society.

But enough of me preaching.  Stop hating gay people due to your over fascination with the sex acts they perform.  That's on you, not them.  And stop taking a good religion and destroying it by trying to fulfill your personal agenda.  Please.  Individual crosses are hard enough to bear with out you guys weighing them down.