My hometown newspaper, the Abilene Reporter News, recently carried my new, all-time favorite political cartoon by Branch. It depicts Governor Rick Perry holding a newspaper with the headline, "Perry prayer event to be sponsored by prominent anti-gay group. Perry responds to the headline by saying, "Show me where in the Constitution it says anything about the separation of church and hate."
That says it all, doesn't it?
A few weeks ago, I promised readers a series on how we care for one another in America. This is the second installment. In the last article I expressed my concerns about the systematic dismantling of services for aging Americans by the radical right, many of whom profess that our churches and local communities can take over the responsibility for us when we no longer can care for ourselves.
I now have to ask: Which churches? The ones like the Church of God in Hemphill, Texas, which just put up a marquee saying, "Homosexuality is an abomination to Jesus and to our Country"?
Or, perhaps a church like the International House of Prayer in Kansas, led by Lou Engle. Engle's group is the organizer and lead sponsor of Governor Rick Perry's "The Response," scheduled in Houston on Aug. 6.
Pastor Engle's ministry, TheCall, openly supported the "Kill the Gays" bill in Uganda.
In February, I went with Soulforce and Human Rights Campaign volunteers to Engle's church and presented a petition of 70,000+ signatures asking him to cease and desist from inciting violence against gay people in Uganda.
We asked him to go back to Uganda and retract his support of David Bahati, the MP of Uganda, who proposed the bill that would (1) sanction extra judicial killings of gay people or (2) people who gave safe haven to gay people, and (3) allow vigilantes and police to kill people who just look like gay people.
Engle blew us off and sent his lieutenants Luis and Jill Cataldo to deal with us. We went to a church service with them. They received our petition. They promised that the church leadership would review it. Engle promised to meet with us face to face at a later time. We have followed up often with his office as has a reporter from The Associated Press. No response.
Understandable since Engle believes that the world would be a better place if lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their families and allies were dead. I am still waiting for his phone call so we can have a respectful conversation, pastor to pastor, about what Jesus really says about homosexuality.
I have to say that as a pastor and a lesbian who will soon have to refer to herself as eligible for Social Security, my confidence is pretty low regarding the Lou Engle-like churches' abilities and willingness to take on the task of providing care for my partner and me and my two gay children when we are in our most vulnerable years of life.
It sounds more like Engle and dominionist followers around the world plan to extinguish me before I am eligible for benefits.
Solves the fact that they find me unworthy of respect and life and saves money that would be frivolously spent -- always a core principle at the center of the ultra-radical right agenda.
Another of Governor Rick Perry's The Response endorsers is on record for blaming homosexuals for the Holocaust and for Hurricane Katrina. Engle is on record for suggesting that America needs to raise up a generation of people willing to be Christian martyrs so the scourges of homosexuality and abortion can be ended once and for all.
This rhetoric is all too familiar in our history. It's a Perry-Engle sanctioned ethnic cleansing campaign against those who are most obviously not like them. At minimum, it is a form of intentional inciting of people who will throw caution to the wind in attacking people who are non-gender role conforming and who choose to terminate pregnancies. Both are at high risk right here in America.
The Perry-Engle Partnership was not, I fear, made in heaven, but in a back room where the radical right is planning its win of the Presidency of the United States. They've lined up a row of ultra conservative dominionists (Palin, Bachmann and Perry), who have no discomfort calling other Americans names that incite violence against them and who apparently have no hesitation in suggesting that it is OK to exterminate those with whom you disagree about the interpretation of the Bible. They are smart, savvy, politically super-charged and capable of winning.
But in the final analysis, it doesn't matter if any of them really win. All they have to do is distract middle America and those who lean toward true democracy (the one that Gandhi reminds us is tolerant by its very nature). If they can stir the waters enough, they can ensure that fair-minded, true citizens of democracy will be worn down and worn out by the time people go to the voting box. And then, they can win. Or the person they were helping will win.
One way that we can care for one another in America is to just say no to the use of political office and power to systematically discriminate against any group of citizens in the United States, many of whom would have been considered abominations under the law of the land in Jesus' era: single women, people with life-threatening illnesses, unwed pregnant teenagers (like Mary, the Mother of Jesus), eunuchs and Samaritans.
Christ came to clarify what an abomination really is: the absence of love and the intent to harm. His life makes this very clear.
For those who insist that we are and must be a Christian Nation, may I suggest that the current "Kill the Gays" strategy of Engle and his cohorts (sadly, even the Governor of the Great State of Texas) is not only flawed, it is anything but Christ-like.
Follow Rev. Dr. Cindi Love on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SoulforceLove
Gov. Rick Perry's: 'The Response': Solving America's Problems With ...
Is Perry trying to bring other states to their knees, too?
Church, state and Gov. Rick Perry's 'Response' - USATODAY.com
Waymon Hudson: American Evangelical Lou Engle Promotes 'Kill the ...
Bishop Gene Robinson: Uganda's "Kill the Gays" Bill Must Be Stopped
[Anthony Feluz]
San Fransisco Press
Further Study and Review:
"The Lord is my Shepard, and He Knows I'm [Gay]
[The Reverent Troy Perry]
Keystone Pulishing
- my super smart awesome mother.
Unlike you, I don't believe that your brand of Chr.istianity is going to change anything, it won't.
When you have a problem that is caused by religion, the very last thing you need is MORE RELIGION.
Chr.istianity is like any other infection, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Any infection starts small then the infected cells multiply until the immune system either gains the upper hand and kills the infected cells or the infected host dies.
The infected host in this case is America, it has a bad case of "The Jeebus" and we have to choose which future we will live in. On one hand we can continue down the road we are on and end up with sectarian violence and hate during a time when our economy will be in decline.
Or we can leave Chri.stianity behind and look to education and the individuality of Americans to pursue Freedom and economic stability.
Drop the religious aspects of what you are doing and I think we'll all be better off.
I think not.
Compared to what? Most mainstream Churches now welcome homosexuals, and indeed more and more of them are ordaining those in same-sex relationships for the ministry. It is definately changing some people's attitudes. Christianity has been around for 2,000 years, and over the years it has evolved, changed and adapted to new situations. I know of no good reason why it won't continue to do so.
Love the sinner." This is indeed a delicate subject, but I do not want to bandy words, I do not read anywhere where Jesus blessed the union of a same sex couple, quite the opposite. You have the right to choose your lifestyle and live in peace, as we do, as long as you do not make laws that make us go against our beliefs, such as making a preacher marry a same sex couple if it goes against his/her beliefs. I lost a very good friend because of my beliefs, he is gay, I refused to go to court to help him and his partner gain custody of his son. But I stood up for what I believe in, as you do, and I am not sorry, I am sorry I lost his friendship, but not sorry for doing what I believe is right. He knew where I stood on the subject of gay couples, and challenged our friendship to get me to do as he ask. You may live as you choose, we could be friends, but do not make the mistake that people like me or God sanctions a same sex union. Please I challenge you to show me where the Bible sanctions homosexuals.
The bible is a great tool for deflecting blame and criticism about ones own prejudices and bigotry, its much easier to take a hateful stance on issues when you can just lay all criticism at the feet of an invisible man in the sky.
Perhaps the biggest irony is that many of these people consider themselves claim to be highly religious. Well, if thats the case, what happened to loving your fellow man? Judge not lest ye be judged? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone? Its so amazingly hypocritical that it almost gives me a stroke.
Perhaps the even further irony is that many of these so called Christians are some of the most vile and hate filled people I have ever seen, yet they will unironically claim that the only way to lead a moral life is to believe in god and jesus. I find it especially ironic that I myself, who doesn't believe in god, have more compassion for my fellow man in the tip of my little finger, than most of these people do in their entire body.
You want to quote the Bible to make a point then turn around and say you don't belive in God. You're confused. That is not surprising since denial and anger are the classic symtoms of a person that doesn't want to come to grips with reality about the being of something. Yes, Christians are hypocritical. Thery are also world class sinners. Tell us somethig that we don't know. In reality, it si teh gays that are projecting that "hate" nonsense. Its your own conflict that you must transfer onto others to ease your own convictions.That fact that you constantly rely upon slander proves that you're in denial and conflict. Well, you just keep whining about the "mean old Christians" and maybe you'll find a few converts.
I suggest you take a look at your own lifestyle and this feeling that you have some kind of superiority just beacuse you have a need to believe in your imaginary friend.
If you want to follow the words of this archaic and disgusting book, why not go the whole hog and murder your children the next time they talk back to you, or how about killing all these people who work on the sabbath? No more waltzing down to Wal-Mart or filling up with gas for you!
If you didn't know, this is the 21st century and it's sad that people like you still follow the words of semi nomadic goatherders and hang onto every word as if they were relevant in today's society.
I also suggest working on your posting, spell check is your friend!
If you want to give people your love and support, fight for their rights. No one is saying you have to like it, and certainly no one is saying you have to be a part of a gay marriage, but if you want to come here and tell everyone that you want to love your fellow man, then fight for their rights.
It takes Obama over two years to realize DOMA is unconstitutional?