Christianity is homophobic. Christianity from its beginnings has been markedly homophobic. The biblical basis for this homophobia lies in the story of Sodom in Genesis, and in Leviticus. Leviticus 18:22 reads: "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination," and Leviticus 20:13 reads: "If a man lie with mankind as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." And, again, notwithstanding the historical context of homophobia in The Bible.
While the Greeks were openly homosexual, the Romans were not. While the world of the ancient Greeks seems to have tolerated homosexuality (as seen in the poems of Sappho and the dialogues of Plato), that of the Romans was more cautious. Romans in the period of the Roman Republic and early empire tended to perceive the Greek acceptance of male homosexuality as less than male and, thus, literally unvirtuous (Vir being the Latin word for man). Indeed, a Roman term for effeminacy was “Graeculus”—“a little Greek!” In 312, this father of the emperors Constantius II and Constans had reached out to Christianity as the basis for his authority. Throughout the next 25 years of his reign, Constantine supported Christianity and gave financial help to the Church and legal sanction to some of the bishops’ powers. As his sons came of age in an increasingly Christian society, they and many of their advisors would have grown up with Biblical strictures. Thus, the pronouncements of the Book of Leviticus (18. 22, 20. 13) against male homosexuality as an abomination punishable by death in God’s eyes would logically have influenced writers of imperial law. Such strictures were reinforced in the New Testament (Romans 1. 24-27). So, it would appear that the growing influence of the Bible in an increasingly Christian Roman empire led emperors to condemn homosexual unions.
Fast forward 2000 years, and homosexuals have to fight for their basic legal and civil rights in what we call a "civilized" era. Bullshit.
Here is an interesting article. It is about how the Quebec government is supporting writing laws to actively combat homophobia (which would legally make it much simpler to press hate law charges against any religious institution who uses their platform to preach hate), and how these idiots, 2000 years later, are still keeping these backward beliefs. Sad, and this is one of the biggest reasons why I am atheist.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=122113
Without a doubt, the Western monotheistic homophobia is the primary reason I could never be a Jew, Christian or Muslim. If God came down from a cloud tomorrow and spoke to me, I would found my own church before I joined with those hate-mongers.
ReplyDeleteMe too.... I was debating if this should be #1, but there are others too. This has really angered me lately, with all of the "debate" about same sex marriage. A good many people that I love and adore are gay, and I could not imagine my life without their support. The whole thing sickens me.
ReplyDeleteTinkbell13, I found your blog thru another person's blog. I'd like to comment on this post, and not your comments made elsewhere. K?
ReplyDeleteFirst, your premise that God hates gays is untrue. He hates homosexuality...and yes, there is a difference. What you've neglected to point out, though, is that He also hates lying, murder, adultery, divorce, pedophilia, beastiality, incest, rape, etc.
Second, since the title of your blog is "Why I am Atheist" and the title of your post here is "Because God Hates the Gays", I'd like to point out the logical fallacy you have made.
A logical fallacy is (not to demean your intelligence, but just in case you are unaware of them) is just as it sounds: the logic behind an argument being faulty...and there are several types that can be committed.
The fallacy you've made is the ever common "Ad Hominem" fallacy. Basically, it is an attack on the "person" (or group of people) making a claim, rather than an attack on the person's/peoples' "claim" itself.
What you've essentally said in your post is "Christians claim to follow Jesus Christ; Christians are homophobes; Therefore, I don't believe in God." The conclusion does not follow from the premises.
It doesn't logically work. I'm not arguing that your feelings are unwarranted. There are a lot...no, a TON...of things my fellow Christians have done that I absolutely hate. But it is not a logical reason to not believe in God.
Your reasoning, however faulty it may be, is more of a reason to say, "I choose not to be a Christian because (fill in the blank)."
It may be true that many Christians do not rightly represent the One we claim to follow, but our failure does not disprove God's existence. It simply means you could have the standing to say, "I'd rather be a Buddhist than a Christian because (fill in the blank)."
Your argument in this post would be akin to me (a Christian) saying, "I'm a Christian because those Atheists don't really do anything productive for society. They don't set up hospitals around the world to help those in need. They don't do anything useful."
Surely, there are atheists who have done good things and there are those who have not. But I cannot possibly argue against atheism simply because I don't like what I see from those who profess to be atheist.
And that's what you've done here.
I’m OK with homosexuals as long as they don’t shove their lifestyle on everyone, and they have been doing just that. They have filed lawsuites against many organizations forcing everyone to accept their perversions.
ReplyDeleteI choose not to believe in “gay rights” and I won’t change. On TV, I always see one annoying gay character on talk shows followed by a discussion on how normal homosexuality is these days. It is their intolerant and perverted attitude which has garnered so much hate from everyone.
Also, according to research done at UIC Chicago, there is no “gay gene;” homosexuality is a lifestyle. Although gays are trying to create a fake gay gene in science books.
I find it interesting how gays HATE former gays…this reveals their hypocritical nature.