Henson issues statement about Chick-Fila-A

[Pinkflower7783]

 

[jvcarroll]

We may not agree with them, but it's still their right to support whatever they want.

You are right. CFA can support the groups of their choosing. They could also give their money to any number of racist groups that would love seeing separate water fountains reinstalled. That doesn’t mean customers should tolerate their intolerance even though they have a right to do so. Gays have a different plight than African Americans, but both have faced faith-based bigotry. A gay child is usually born to straight parents and often lives in a needless climate of fear, confusion and judgment. A lot of us have to make our own roots.

I think there is a legitimate fear among conservative Christians that if gay marriage becomes law there may arise situations in which the law will require us to violate our conscience.

• Would the law require that churches are no longer be allowed to preach?
• Would the law require that churches be willing to perform marriages to gay couples?
• Would churches be required to hire gays?
• Would churches be required to ordain gays?
• Would churches be required to provide benefits to gay spouses?
• Would churches be required to allow gays into membership?
• Would the law require that home schoolers teach their children that homosexuality is not a sin and ban teaching them from teaching what the Bible says on the subject?

You’ve listed a lot of nonsensical fear tactics that are often used as propaganda against marriage equality. There is no rational basis for them and here’s why. A Catholic church isn’t required to marry Mormon couples. A Baptist church isn’t required to hire Presbyterians, offer them or their spouses’ benefits or grant them membership into their church. What would make any rational person believe that legalized gay marriage would change all of that? The LGBT community just wants equal rights, not special rights. Sure, you’ll always get some wingnuts that sue for this or that. Those people exist in all arenas. They are the exception, not the rule and their claims are certainly nothing worth perpetuating. The American home has always been considered sacred ground led by the head of the family unit. I don't know much about homeschooling but I do know it's a popular choice by religious families. I seriously doubt a curriculum shift of any sort.

My goal is to simply show that Christians who believe that homosexuality is a sin are motivated primarily by conscience and not hatred. Slavery is an entirely different issue altogether.

Christians have a lot more to learn about how gays perceive them than they do us. Trust me on this. Your viewpoint, however compassionate you perceive it to be, has not gone unnoticed. There’s a sort of “Green Eggs & Ham” arrogance that many religious people have that we reject the Bible’s stance because we haven’t heard it in just the right context. Most non-Christians I know don’t subscribe to the Christian belief because they do understand it and reject it at face value. Also, slavery and a lot of other kind of creepy things are actually permitted by the Bible. I prefer the Jesus bits. That book represents a culture and a time that no longer exists. Most rational people wouldn’t want to return to that oppressive era or its laws. Ack!

Unfortunately for Christians, we must realize that the cushy positions we've experienced over the last 400 years in this land has been the exception, not the rule.

Thanks for saying that. I wish more of America’s Christians would not only acknowledge that, but use that history of true oppression to better understand the plight other minorities face today. Instead many Christians cry about an imaginary “War on Christmas” and other such fictitious problems that would be a joy to have instead of true discrimination.

You can be an everyman who's only guilty of a few white lies, or you could be a chronic liar, a homosexual, a white collar criminal, a bank robber, drug lord, gangster, or even the worst pedophile on the face of the planet. I still owe you love.

Aw, this is a shame. Once again you’ve put gays next to criminals and pedophiles after you gracefully apologized for it. I don’t care it’s wrapped in love, scripture or bacon. It’s still offensive! I understand your statement of sin, but you’re also painting a picture. It’s one thing to disagree with a person. It’s another to insult them or to imply that their way of life will lead to national destruction like CFA did. That’s the part that goes too far.

It’s that same passive aggressive judgment that uses the word “sexual” every time gays are mentioned. My libido is no greater than the average straight fella. Conservative Christians also heavily use the intellectually dishonest buzzword “lifestyle” in an effort to imply that we somehow live differently than everybody else. Tell me what that term is really meant to describe if not promiscuity, substance abuse and debauchery.

Let’s be honest. Some level of that is typical in the college years of straights and gays. The difference is that there’s a Christian majority in this country that won’t allow us a legal right to achieve more than that. Sure, we can commit to one another, but there are so many privileges that come from legalized marriage that will never come without it no matter what contractual agreement is signed.

This melting pot is big enough for everybody. In fact, that's what makes us special the right to live and believe as we choose. No one, not even Chick-Fil-A, should be able to mess with that. Life isn't black and white. It's not shades of gray either. Life is best lived in vibrant color!

 

[Pinkflower7783]

Jv I hope and pray you and everyone all over the united states get the rights they deserve. I've learned so much more myself from reading your posts. And at times reading your posts I just wanted to give you a hug because it's just not fair and Ill never truly understand what you face everyday. But I hope someday it will be fair. And people will no longer be just labels on a shelf.

 

[jvcarroll]

Jv I hope and pray you and everyone all over the united states get the rights they deserve. I've learned so much more myself from reading your posts. And at times reading your posts I just wanted to give you a hug because it's just not fair and Ill never truly understand what you face everyday. But I hope someday it will be fair. And people will no longer be just labels on a shelf.

Aw, thanks. It was difficult for me being raised in Texas, but my years spent in San Francisco have proven to be the perfect atmosphere. Most people have it a lot worse off than I did.

I still think we should all be able to get along. I wonder who will be ostracized after gay marriage is no longer an issue. Society always finds some group.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

Aw, thanks. It was difficult for me being raised in Texas, but my years spent in San Francisco have proven to be the perfect atmosphere. Most people have it a lot worse off than I did.

I still think we should all be able to get along. I wonder who will be ostracized after gay marriage is no longer an issue. Society always finds some group.

Hope you weren't freaked out by the hug thing. Lol! And yes after you all get your rights they will find something else. It's a vicious circle I tell you. :/

 

[jvcarroll]

Hope you weren't freaked out by the hug thing. Lol!

Aw, of course not.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

But I really have a new founding respect for you. By the way I hope someday to own one of your art pieces. Sorry for going off topic a bit there.

 

[Hubert]

It is odd that it gained such prominence as a sin. It's really only mentioned a couple of times and not even by Jesus. I do think some of it is just that society is always a little uncomfortable with differences. And not because people are always bigoted; to a certain extent we are wired to be wary of differences. It's how we choose to react to that that matters.

Most of it is that it is becoming a prominent issue today, so people try to figure out where they are in that, and then fight for that. If suddenly divorce became a prominent issue, then everyone would be choosing sides for that...it just seems to be whatever topic is on the block...

 

[Slackbot]

I feel I must make one point that I have not seen mentioned in this thread: being gay is not a choice. It is not a "lifestyle", it is not a "sexual preference", it is simply the way a person is. Nobody ever came up to you with a clipboard and asked whether you wanted to be gay, straight, bi, etc, did they? And, all things equal, who would say to themselves, "Hmm, I can choose to be like the majority, or I can choose an orientation that will cause people to harass and harm me, fight in court for the right to discriminate against me and win, and generally make my life that much harder? Hey, gimme that!"

There is a pervasive message in our culture that gay is wrong. It's passed along in both overt and subtle ways. Though my parents never (in front of me) acted unkindly toward an actual person who was gay, the attitudes still showed through in jokes, snide remarks, etc. And stereotypes are all over the media. In high school, it can be downright dangerous to be different in any way. Many churches state their belief that gays are abominable. Put yourself in the shoes of a young person who is starting to realize that he or she is different "that way." That that messed-up, perverted creature is YOU. It's a horrible situation, one which I know all too well, and I imagine that there are others here who do too. Thankfully things are better overall now, but there are people who truly suffer because of it, thrown out by families or running away or even committing suicide because they can't take the pressure and shame.

I firmly believe that sexual orientation is morally neutral. It's neither good nor bad. It's not about The Sex. It's about who you are hardwired to be attracted to and find love with. If a pair of consenting adults form a long-term, loving bond, in my opinion they win, whether they're a man and woman, two men, or two women. As a unit they should be allowed the legal benefits of marriage.

I can't force anyone else to believe as I do; it'd be silly to try. But I hope that this will be seen as food for thought for some, and an affirmation that "You are not alone" and "It gets better!" to others.

 

[Drtooth]

A priest of some sort came into my religion class and answered such a question; he told us that homosexuality wasn't exactly a sin, but to have the fullest relationship with God, one should do it the compatible way he intended. I support gay marriage, but that was the first response I heard that was not just "It's in the Bible, so there!"

That seems to be a good explanation. Thanks for that. That's the biblical scholar rationalization rather than the "it's written there, do it or else." Still seems more like a suggestion than a sin outright. More like a "you really shouldn't drink soda before you go to bed because it rots your teeth" than a "Yer goin' ta Hades, Grosso."

It is odd that it gained such prominence as a sin. It's really only mentioned a couple of times and not even by Jesus. I do think some of it is just that society is always a little uncomfortable with differences. And not because people are always bigoted; to a certain extent we are wired to be wary of differences. It's how we choose to react to that that matters.

That's what gets me. Where is the part where religious scholars pick the thing apart and explain how they interpret the Bible. The Jewish religion has a companion to the Torah that does just that. Why aren't we getting our religious teachings from religious scholars, who's job it is to study and help interpret the Bible? Like a more objective Cliff notes.

A lot of our religion is based of of mistranslations, misconceptions, and I swear the King James translation has some agendas put in there... history being written by the winners after all.

Think about it this way. How the heck come we celebrate the birth of someone who Scholars debate is somewhere either in late summer or mid-autumn 4 days into Winter? If they can make that change, why can't we dump the suggested bits that people just can't agree on?

And yes, I do agree there's a societal problem with it that gets rationalized in the Bible because they're looking for a righteous reason. Homophobia isn't exclusively religious.

All I can gather why it's even a suggestion against is either going against the Man/woman thing, which only works if you believe in Creationism (Christians can believe in Evolution and science and it doesn't make God not exist). Or the populating the world aspect... something we currently have no problem with, if anything there's probably TOO much population (which would explain homosexuality in a Darwinian way). or my personal favorite, it all goes back to the "sex is only a mechanical act for married couples to make children"/ "Every %$#@ is sacred" bit... and frankly, it's too late for that one. Especially the "seed" thing. Biology betrays you there, and I won't go any further. Of course, I don't like the stereotype that all gay men are the gay equivalent of Quagmire from Family Guy.

Aw, this is a shame. Once again you’ve put gays next to criminals and pedophiles after you gracefully apologized for it. I don’t care it’s wrapped in love, scripture or bacon. It’s still offensive! I understand your statement of sin, but you’re also painting a picture. It’s one thing to disagree with a person. It’s another to insult them or to imply that their way of life will lead to national destruction like CFA did. That’s the part that goes too far.

Sometimes people don't actually realize they're being offensive, even when they aren't. And sometimes not realizing they're offensive is the best they can do for tolerant. That seems to be the case here. I never understood the whole comparison to pedophilia and bestiality, especially since one can be a straight pedophile or bestial for an animal of the opposite gender. I don't get where this guy's treatment of it as a crime comes from, but I'd wager its some cultural thing that needs to evolve.

But like I said, take heart... there's more support for gay characters in comics and media than there is against. And the against manages to look as spiteful and disgusting as they possibly can. More people came out in support of Archie, Marvel, and DC, and flamed One Million (not even close) Moms (which most aren't even). And frankly... Archie comics added a gay character. The blandest, most pure, banal comic series out there. A comic company that sues anyone that even mentions them to keep the clean image of Archie to the point you can't even write innocent Fan Fiction of the characters. That shows you how society is getting more and more used to it.