As you may already know, there is much controversy swirling around this video of Dan Savage the creator of the It Gets Better Project).
Such headlines as Gay Conservatives Demand Dan Savage Apologize for Anti-Christian Tirade, Christian students walk out as Dan Savage attacks the Bible, Anti-Bully Advocate Dan Savage Bullies High School Kids With Profane Bible Rant, and Rabbi compares Dan Savage's anti-Christian bigotry to Westboro Baptist Church tell the tale.
The controversy is due to Mr. Savage calling bull**** those parts of the Bible that throughout history been used by "Christians" unworthy of the name to justify the Holocaust, condone slavery, oppress women, and victimize gay people.
He was speaking on April 12 to attendees of the National High School Journalism Conference, sponsored by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. The four-day conference, featuring over 200 sessions, two keynote speakers (Dan and Jennifer Sizemore), more than a dozen featured speakers, and more events and activities than you can shake a pen at, was titled Journalism on the Edge.
The conference's promo material begins with:
You are already on the Edge. Journalists have always lived on the edge. Deadlines, and the edge of time. Facts, and the edge of truth. Authority, and the edge of free expression. We balance on the edge of legitimate public interest and the interests of those who would rather we not publish.
Just who does this podium-pounding pontificator peddling in people's perplexingly perverse predilections think he is, anyway?
I, for one, have no idea what the world has come to, when a person who has made his career out of speaking, in the most unadorned language possible, directly to great numbers of young people about some of the most important issues in their lives, dares to speak in unadorned language directly to a great number of young people about one of the most important issues in American life today.
Besides the fact that he was raised in a devoutly Catholic home and is the country's leading gay activist, who is Dan Savage to say anything at all about the ages-old Christian condemnation of gay people? So what if his claim is manifestly valid that nothing contributes more to the destruction of the lives of gay people than do Christians falsely and hypocritically using the Bible as an instrument of brutality? So what if he believes that among the most egregious of all Christian sins is daring to proclaim that God's love ends where their own fear and hatred begin? So what if every day, for decades on end, Dan Savage has dealt with young lives obliterated through violence informed and buttressed by the bedrock "Christian" view that gay people are less than human?
So what if any reasonably compassionate person should be expected to vigorously assert that it's time for all Christians to reject using the Bible as a means of justifying the persecution of an entire population whose only "crime" is to prefer to spend their lives with same-sex partners?
Why should any of that matter? What matters is that Dan Savage cursed. He said bull**** not once, but three times.
Three! That's one more than two! Which is two too many!
You know, it's almost like the people who put on this conference, as well as a small but now (thanks, media machine!) significant number of individuals who attended it, don't even know what the word "journalism" means.
Well, thank you, young people who walked out of Dan's speech the moment he began talking about the parts of the Bible to which he takes exception, for reminding us of what beats so passionately in the heart and soul of every true journalist. Speaking as a person who for twelve years made his living as a journalist, I admire your dedication to the journalist's creed: When you personally disagree with something someone is saying, get up and leave.
If that's not what Jesus meant by, "The truth shall set you free," I can't imagine what he did mean.
P.S. What immediately become a meme amongst Dan's critics is that those who walked out of his talk felt bullied by him. But that's impossible. People get bullied because of who they are: how they look and act, what they say and do. Perceived as being in some critical way weak or lacking, victims of bullies are selected for persecution; they are pulled from the pack before being pointedly and repeatedly victimized. The people who walked out during Dan's talk were not separated from their peers by anyone. They were content to do that themselves. They were not frightened or cowed. They were offended. They felt that by disparaging what amounts to their God, Dan had transgressed beyond their capacity for toleration. And they were pleased to show their intolerance of Dan's words by protesting against them in the manner they did. Theirs was not an act born of suffering. It was a proud show of disdain.
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Christians hate homosexuals.
Homosexuals hate Christians.
Christians hate homosexuals.
Homosexuals hate Christians.
Round and round. Again and again. Both sides allow the hate to build. Both groups hate each other, and keep making speeches - which the other sides ignores and condemns.
What on earth is the point? These are two groups who will never agree. It just won't happen. Just stop the screaming and carrying on and let it go.
There is more to life than hate.
Luke 9:41a And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you?
Read The Bible for inspiration? Fine. Read The Bible for information? You do so at your own peril.
Not everyone accepts the gay lifestyle. Get over it.
also, the bible does not condone slavery
Heathens were slaves for 10 generations. It was believed that they were better off with the Israelites than worshipping pagan gods, often becoming like members of the family.
Mostly the slavery was of a temporary nature. The Israelites were not to mistreat anyone.
Other cultures also owned slaves. It should be taken in context to that period of time
And the bible DOES condone slavery, just as it tells women to be subserviant to their husbands...
He also used his column and star power to unfairly bully and blame the black community for Prop. 8, when this community doesn't have the numbers to influence Prop. 8 one way or the other.
Being that he is from an intolerant background himself, he used this to avoid the people of his same background (the majority) who use their numbers, power, and privilege to deny him equal rights under the law. He famously "forgot" that there are blacks and other minorities who are gay, and that the people who funded Prop 8 on the ballot is a predominantly white christian group (Mormons/Catholics). He also forgot that most of the law makers are from his own group as well.
It does no good to advocate for your rights, but then revert back to historic type, and become one of "them" again, when it suits you.
And he is not calling for bullying against Christians, just for rejecting the hateful parts of the Bible, like pro-slavery etc. With his experience of anti-gay bullying, he has the right to argue for that viewpoint. Even President Jefferson rejected parts of the Bible, so why can't Dan Savage? It is his right to argue for that viewpoint. But he is not saying we can't tolerate Christians.
"The same voters who turned out strongest for Barack Obama also drove a stake through the heart of same-sex marriage. Seven in 10 African Americans who went to the polls voted yes on Proposition 8, the ballot measure overruling a state Supreme Court judgment that legalized same-sex marriage and brought 18,000 gay and lesbian couples to Golden State courthouses in the past six months."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/06/AR2008110603880.html
Who put funded Prop 8, and put up billboards against gay marriage all across the state of California? Why, a white majority religious group, the Mormons and the Catholic Church? No, Mr. Savage reverted to racist type, as many in the mainstream do when economic times are bad, and there are few jobs to be had: blame the black and the poor.
Nice finger pointing. By your account and the actions of the world around us. We are all at blame under your view of how things should be done.
If you won't listen to anything that you don't agree with or if your "truth" can't stand one man talking then you have failed completely and have no faith.
The majority of student stayed and the majority understood the lessons.