So here I am cruising through some of my favorite blogs, when I came across two articles which caught my attention. The first one was an essay written last week by His Grace Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu (In Africa, a step backward on human rights) in which he (a) basically expressed that hate had no place in the house of God. No one should be excluded from our love, our compassion or our concern because of race or gender, faith or ethnicity -- or because of their sexual orientation, and (b) that no one chooses to be gay. Sexual orientation, like skin color, is another feature of our diversity as a human family. The second was an article written about a school that canceled the high school prom after a student asked whether she could come with her lesbian girlfriend as her date (US school cancels prom 'over lesbian date').
And I stopped to think. Real hard. Because the debate on same-sex anything has raged on for much too long. I mean, from the POV of my Christian up-bringing, same-sex anything is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. Why, then, would a man as esteemed and respected as His Grace try to preach otherwise? I quote, 'Show me where Christ said "Love thy fellow man, except for the gay ones." Gay people, too, are made in my God's image. I would never worship a homophobic God.' That having been said, I do not believe in gay-bashing and do not support the waves of attacks that have been perpetuated towards this particular group of people. At the end of the day they are human beings and deserve every fundamental human right out there that is to be accorded to every citizen of the world.
These attacks that are being carried out in the name of whichever God in question are just but an excuse. Even Jesus loved the sinner but hated the sin (for example in Matthew 9:10 - And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples...) Tolerance and separation of person from deed are just but some of those things that have become a rumor with society today. Don't get me wrong when I say tolerance: my definition of tolerance in this context is exactly that of loving the sinner and hating the sin. Isn't it about time we actually stood for something because it is right and not because it is politically correct?
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I love this post. I have been meaning to post something in the same lines...My father is an Anglican Priest who quit refused to endorse gay clergy in the church..while I have not totally made up my mind whether I would be comfortable having a gay priest preach in a church that I am attending; i was shocked by my father's passionate demonization of gays.
ReplyDeleteI do not attend church for many reasons especially for the hypocrisy practiced within those "holy buildings".
Archibishop Tutu is right; the church should be the first place that tolerance is extended. Unfortunately, 11am on sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week and thats when the most demonization takes place.
I chose to be spiritual but not participate in formal religion.
@ Empower Kenya, thank you for reading and commenting. Just to make clear my stand, I believe homosexuality is wrong. I am a firm believer in the school of thought of nurture versus nature. I do not believe gay people were born that way; rather, they were socialized into being. I also do not agree with His Grace saying that sexual orientation is another feature of our diversity as the human race. I should also make it clear that I am not making a case for extremist homophobes who use any weapon, including religion, to justify their vile acts of condemnation and taking it further by being the first to cast stones. I fully agree with you that 11 am is indeed the most segregated and the most hypocritical time of the week. As a spiritual person (of whatever religion I may profess) I believe that love is the greatest. And with love we should take our stand, without making certain people feel excluded. Love the sinner, hate the sin.
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