How the Christian Right's Homophobia Scares Away Religious Young People

[bodecea]

If the media blog "alter-net" was honest and really wanted to make a difference in the world for homosexuals it would concentrate on Sharia law which is spreading throughout the world and authorizes the murder of homosexuals. The truth is that Christian religions embrace everyone no matter what their sexual orientation is and the left wing uses homosexuals as a political tool. If the radical left was fully in power you can guarantee that homosexuals would be the targets for extermination right after Christians and Jews. There is a lot of hatred on the left and it is mostly directed at their own country.

Muslim rules suck too. But you already knew that....it's just another "Gays should be grateful we don't kill them like the Muslims do" post.

 

[bodecea]

Homosexuality has existed far longer than any religion known to man.

So has rape, pedophilia, and murder.

What does that prove?

Rape...owned by Heteros

Pedophilia...owned by Heteros (usually MALE family members of young girls)

Murder...owned by Heteros.


Not to mention that you are too stupid to know the difference between activities that hurt others and those that do not.

 

[bodecea]

Why would "religious young people" be scared away by anything about homosexuality. If they are religious then they would know that homosexuality is a sin, and should be discouraged and not condoned.

If there is any "hate" on display, its by anti-Christian and anti-religous folks like yourself who attack people for their religious beliefs that have been in place for thousands of years.

Well, more are close with gay friends/relatives and possibly themselves. Imagine that you are best friends with one and he came out to his parents, just to end up calling CPS on them. You wouldn't want to become religious with those retards.

Being gay is generally accepted by our younger generation, despite religion because they are human beings, too.



And lol@ attacking religion. Don't give others a reason to attack your hate.
Where I live, people don't care about who believes in what. But when you impose religion, expect alot of people up in arms.

Real Christians knows which has more value...HIM or the world.

That is true. But, IMO, there are not that many Real Christians out there (using your definition).

 

[BDBoop]

Good song that fits the questions herein.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R0eFEQYwBw]Don Francisco - Steeple Song - YouTube[/ame]

I don't care how many buses you own
Or the size of your sanctuary
It doesn't matter how steep your steeple is
If it's sittin' on a cemetery
I don't care if you pave your parking lot
Or put pads upon your pews
What good is picture perfect stage
If you're missin' all the cues?

I don't care if your pastor's super-powered
And your program's always new
What you need is love and truth
And men are going to come to you
It doesn't matter that you know the Bible
If it's all just in your head
The thing I need to ask you is
Have you done the things I said?

Do you love your wife?
For her and for your children
Are you layin' down your life?
What about the others?
Are you livin' as a servant to
Your sisters and your brothers?
Do you make the poor man beg you for a bone?
Do the widow and the orphan cry alone?

I don't care if you pray for miracles
I don't care if you speak with tongues
I don't care if you said you love Me
In every song you've sung
It doesn't matter that your sacrifice of praise
Is loud enough to raise the dead
The thing I need to ask you is
Have you done the things I said?

Lord, when were You a prisoner
That we did not come to You?
When was it that we saw You sick
That we didn't follow through
Every time you turned your head
And pretended not to see
When you did it not to the least of these
You did it not to Me

 

[bodecea]

America is the most tolerant Nation in the world but the homosexual lobby continues to wish for what they will never get and that is acceptance. Instead of whining about homosexual marriage why don't the sissies march on Sharia law countries and see how far they get?

Another "You gays should be grateful we don't kill you like the Muslims do" post.

 

[hortysir]

No "an". It is abomination.

I don't remember how that makes it different, but just sayin.

'Abomination' would be that it goes against His creation.
It was never meant to be this way.

We can thank the deterioration of original Sin through the generations for this mess.

Homosexuals are born that way. Does that mean they are part of God's creation? I'd say so, meaning they are not abomination.

We were created perfect and in His image.

Cancer or the Flu or acne or moles or even homosexuality wasn't part of that original creation.

 

[Si modo]

How the Christian Right's Homophobia Scares Away Religious Young People | Belief | AlterNet

May 16, 2012 |




Christian Right activists who give money, pressure politicians and organize against gay rights may think they’re accomplishing a couple of goals, like rolling back gay rights and asserting their religion’s primacy in American culture. Unfortunately for them (but fortunately for the rest of us), one of the things they're doing in the long run is alienating their young people -- not a good long-term strategy. Short-term victories like passing more bans on gay marriage, sometimes repeatedly in single states, might feel good for homophobic Christians, but in the long run, it’s their religion that will pay the ultimate price; available evidence shows that anti-gay activism is souring young people on Christianity.

In response to the latest gay-bashing vote in North Carolina, evangelical writer and speaker Rachel Held Evans wrote an impassioned plea to her fellow Christians to just cut it out. She points to statistics showing how much damage the church has sustained because of its anti-gay crusade. Research conducted by the pro-Christian Barna Group in 2007 on Americans age 16-29 found that “anti-homosexual” was the dominant perception of modern Christians. Ninety-one percent of non-Christians and 80 percent of Christians in this group used this word to describe Christians.

She also points to research documented in the book You Lost Me by David Kinnaman showing that 59 percent of teenagers who grow up as church-going Christians abandon their faith in adulthood. One of the major reasons is the gay rights issue. Overall, the perception--a largely correct one, I’d add--is that modern conservative Christianity is dominated by sex-phobic bigots who use God as a cudgel to beat all sorts of people, but especially gays and lesbians. No wonder many in the younger generation want out.

Unfortunately for Evans, these kinds of numbers probably won’t do much to convince the Christian right to give up on gay-bashing, at least not until it's done even more serious damage to the Christian brand. Evans may be drawn to Christianity for fellowship and spirituality--many more tolerant Christians are--but the dominant function of conservative Christianity in the real world has never been to offer comfort and solace to believers. Religion is about power and giving up the war on gays would mean relinquishing power and control over their adherents' most private selves. Thus, we can guess that the Christian Right won’t stop fighting gay rights until it’s way too late for them to take it back.

Right-wing American Christianity is rife with contradictions. The content of the church’s actual teachings are centered around the figure of Jesus Christ, who is renowned as the lover of the meek and the powerless. Yet right-wing Christianity in America has often served to comfort the powerful and afflict the weak.

In fact, when you look away from the “meek shall inherit the earth” text to the actual uses of Christianity throughout history, a different picture emerges. God has been used to rationalize the power of kings over the people, men over women, rich over poor, Westerners over the rest of the world, and has even been used to justify slavery. In the latter half of the 20th century a particular brand of American Christianity called the Prosperity Gospel began to celebrate obscene wealth, taking Christianity far away from its progressive elements. And of course, conservative Christianity in America has spent much of the last century and the start of this one demonizing and oppressing LGBT people.

As devoted as it is to its anti-gay agenda, the Christian Right will be paying the penalty as gays are increasingly accepted in mainstream culture. Most political watchers are downright astounded at how quickly gay rights activists have turned public opinion around to favor their point of view. Less than two decades ago, most of the country had never even heard of the concept of same-sex marriage. Since then, there’s been a steady rise in support for legalizing same-sex marriage, with the most recent polls showing a majority of Americans supporting legalization.

Conservative Christian activists know that the perception of homophobia is damaging, which is why they try to avoid speaking of the issue directly at all, instead saying that they support “traditional marriage.” But the attempts to seem less hateful toward gays while attacking their rights fail repeatedly because homophobes can’t stay on message.

Virginia legislators this week blocked the nomination of highly regarded prosecutor Tracy Thorne-Begland to be a district judge for no other reason than they disapproved of his homosexuality. Del. Bob Marshall went on the record tut-tutting Thorne-Begland for “his behavior,” even though Thorne-Begland lives a quiet life with his partner and their adopted children. The whole situation exposed the emptiness of the “traditional marriage” rhetoric, demonstrating once again that the Christian Right’s views regarding gay people are rooted in a very un-Christ-like hate.

With all this hatefulness on display, no wonder conservative Christianity is losing young people. While just a little over half of Americans supporting gay marriage, nearly two-thirds of adults born after 1981 do. The Christian Right is increasingly out of step with how Americans feel about gay rights. This issue, even more than abortion rights, might be the one that destroys them in the end

I wonder if Muslim homophobia scares folks away?

 

[BDBoop]

'Abomination' would be that it goes against His creation.
It was never meant to be this way.

We can thank the deterioration of original Sin through the generations for this mess.

Homosexuals are born that way. Does that mean they are part of God's creation? I'd say so, meaning they are not abomination.

We were created perfect and in His image.

Cancer or the Flu or acne or moles or even homosexuality wasn't part of that original creation.

Neither were needing glasses (like me)

Or mental retardation

Or deafness

Or babies

I could go on all day, but I'm pretty sure your point was rendered moot when you hit the post button.

 

[Dr.Drock]

'Abomination' would be that it goes against His creation.
It was never meant to be this way.

We can thank the deterioration of original Sin through the generations for this mess.

Homosexuals are born that way. Does that mean they are part of God's creation? I'd say so, meaning they are not abomination.

We were created perfect and in His image.

Cancer or the Flu or acne or moles or even homosexuality wasn't part of that original creation.

That and much worse would've come with all the inbreeding God forced people to do in order to keep the species going, that is if you believe in the story of creation.

 

[wjmacguffin]

Homosexuality has existed far longer than any religion known to man.

So has rape, pedophilia, and murder.

What does that prove?

Rape...owned by Heteros

Pedophilia...owned by Heteros (usually MALE family members of young girls)

Murder...owned by Heteros.


Not to mention that you are too stupid to know the difference between activities that hurt others and those that do not.

Actually, most pedophilia is by males against young males as far as I know, but remember that pedophilia is not about sex but about power and corrupting the innocent.

The fact that homosexuality has existed forever is pointless, as Sunni Man pointed out. I think it's much more powerful to say that "homosexuality" was invented in the 18th Century. Before that, there was no straight vs. gay.

 

[BDBoop]

So has rape, pedophilia, and murder.

What does that prove?

Rape...owned by Heteros

Pedophilia...owned by Heteros (usually MALE family members of young girls)

Murder...owned by Heteros.


Not to mention that you are too stupid to know the difference between activities that hurt others and those that do not.

Actually, most pedophilia is by males against young males as far as I know, but remember that pedophilia is not about sex but about power and corrupting the innocent.

The fact that homosexuality has existed forever is pointless, as Sunni Man pointed out. I think it's much more powerful to say that "homosexuality" was invented in the 18th Century. Before that, there was no straight vs. gay.

Pardon?

You're not saying that there were no gays before the 18th century, are you? I'm assuming I am just not understanding your point.

 

[bodecea]

'Abomination' would be that it goes against His creation.
It was never meant to be this way.

We can thank the deterioration of original Sin through the generations for this mess.

Homosexuals are born that way. Does that mean they are part of God's creation? I'd say so, meaning they are not abomination.

We were created perfect and in His image.

Cancer or the Flu or acne or moles or even homosexuality wasn't part of that original creation.

Oh really? How come all of us look different then?

 

[wjmacguffin]

'Abomination' would be that it goes against His creation.
It was never meant to be this way.

We can thank the deterioration of original Sin through the generations for this mess.

Homosexuals are born that way. Does that mean they are part of God's creation? I'd say so, meaning they are not abomination.

We were created perfect and in His image.

Cancer or the Flu or acne or moles or even homosexuality wasn't part of that original creation.

Really? Equating homosexuality to cancer? And how do you know what was or wasn't part of God's original creation? I don't think the Bible explains there was no zits in Eden.

Homosexuality is not a choice. It is how some people are made. Therefore, God made them gay.

 

[hortysir]

Homosexuals are born that way. Does that mean they are part of God's creation? I'd say so, meaning they are not abomination.

We were created perfect and in His image.

Cancer or the Flu or acne or moles or even homosexuality wasn't part of that original creation.

That and much worse would've come with all the inbreeding God forced people to do in order to keep the species going, that is if you believe in the story of creation.

"Inbreeding" within a Pure breed works fine.
It's the yeast of Sin that ate away at us through generations that made it necessary to make it against the Law.

 

[KevinWestern]

'Abomination' would be that it goes against His creation.
It was never meant to be this way.

We can thank the deterioration of original Sin through the generations for this mess.

Homosexuals are born that way. Does that mean they are part of God's creation? I'd say so, meaning they are not abomination.

We were created perfect and in His image.

Cancer or the Flu or acne or moles or even homosexuality wasn't part of that original creation.

I think what it comes down to is this:

Either…

1.) You’re a know it all who thinks that you’re smarter than everyone, and live only to force your personal values upon the entire population (regardless of what anyone else thinks or has to say about it).

or

2.) Trust the virtue of liberty and freedom and let other individuals live their lives in any way they like, so long as they’re not infringing on your personal rights.


Which option do you choose?

 

[bodecea]

So has rape, pedophilia, and murder.

What does that prove?

Rape...owned by Heteros

Pedophilia...owned by Heteros (usually MALE family members of young girls)

Murder...owned by Heteros.


Not to mention that you are too stupid to know the difference between activities that hurt others and those that do not.

Actually, most pedophilia is by males against young males as far as I know, but remember that pedophilia is not about sex but about power and corrupting the innocent.

The fact that homosexuality has existed forever is pointless, as Sunni Man pointed out. I think it's much more powerful to say that "homosexuality" was invented in the 18th Century. Before that, there was no straight vs. gay.

Nope. 1 in 4 girls will be sexually abused before they reach 18.....USUALLY by straight male relatives or family friends. ONE IN FOUR.

 

[hortysir]

Homosexuals are born that way. Does that mean they are part of God's creation? I'd say so, meaning they are not abomination.

We were created perfect and in His image.

Cancer or the Flu or acne or moles or even homosexuality wasn't part of that original creation.

Oh really? How come all of us look different then?

"In His image".
Resembles.

My son looks like me.

You can tell by looking at the children who their Father is.

 

[wjmacguffin]

Rape...owned by Heteros

Pedophilia...owned by Heteros (usually MALE family members of young girls)

Murder...owned by Heteros.


Not to mention that you are too stupid to know the difference between activities that hurt others and those that do not.

Actually, most pedophilia is by males against young males as far as I know, but remember that pedophilia is not about sex but about power and corrupting the innocent.

The fact that homosexuality has existed forever is pointless, as Sunni Man pointed out. I think it's much more powerful to say that "homosexuality" was invented in the 18th Century. Before that, there was no straight vs. gay.

Pardon?

You're not saying that there were no gays before the 18th century, are you? I'm assuming I am just not understanding your point.

The label "homosexual" was invented in 1869. (19th Century, my mistake.) Before then, people didn't divide the world into straight or gay. For example, men in ancient Greece could have sex with other men and it wasn't a big deal. No one thought them immoral or even different from men who only wanted sex with women.

So there were gay people in the past but not like we think today.

 

[Dr.Drock]

We were created perfect and in His image.

Cancer or the Flu or acne or moles or even homosexuality wasn't part of that original creation.

That and much worse would've come with all the inbreeding God forced people to do in order to keep the species going, that is if you believe in the story of creation.

"Inbreeding" within a Pure breed works fine.
It's the yeast of Sin that ate away at us through generations that made it necessary to make it against the Law.

So past humans sins are the reasons why babies are born with terminal illnesses and die slow painful deaths?

God did this and I'm supposed to worship him as a being with perfect morals? No thanks.

 

[hortysir]

Homosexuals are born that way. Does that mean they are part of God's creation? I'd say so, meaning they are not abomination.

We were created perfect and in His image.

Cancer or the Flu or acne or moles or even homosexuality wasn't part of that original creation.

I think what it comes down to is this:

Either…

1.) You’re a know it all who thinks that you’re smarter than everyone, and should police the world based on your own personal values.

or

2.) Trust the virtue of liberty and freedom and let other individuals live their lives in any way they like, so long as they’re not infringing on your personal rights.


Which option do you choose?

3) You're full of shit, because I have never told anyone that they are wrong and I am right.
Like you, I can only voice my opinions.

This thread is in the Religion/ethics sub-forum, Kevin.
No mention of liberty and freedom, like you would find in the Politics sub-forum.

Where have I attempted to interfere with anyone's rights or freedoms?