If I were a Christian, I don’t know if I could stand the mud that Christ’s message is being dragged through:
Ruth Malhotra went to court last month for the right to be intolerant.
Malhotra says her Christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality. But the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she’s a senior, bans speech that puts down others because of their sexual orientation.
Malhotra sees that as an unacceptable infringement on her right to religious expression. So she’s demanding that Georgia Tech revoke its tolerance policy.
With her lawsuit, the 22-year-old student joins a growing campaign to force public schools, state colleges and private workplaces to eliminate policies protecting gays and lesbians from harassment. The religious right aims to overturn a broad range of common tolerance programs: diversity training that promotes acceptance of gays and lesbians, speech codes that ban harsh words against homosexuality, anti-discrimination policies that require college clubs to open their membership to all.
The Rev. Rick Scarborough, a leading evangelical, frames the movement as the civil rights struggle of the 21st century. “Christians,” he said, “are going to have to take a stand for the right to be Christian.”
In that spirit, the Christian Legal Society, an association of judges and lawyers, has formed a national group to challenge tolerance policies in federal court. Several nonprofit law firms — backed by major ministries such as Focus on the Family and Campus Crusade for Christ — already take on such cases for free.
If you’re a Christian reading this, you’re probably thinking, “Well, these are extremist Christians. They’ve got nothing to do with me.
As an outsider looking in, I see them as part of your group that is besmirching you all. Fundamentalist Christians are making your religion synonymous with hatred, just as fundamentalist Muslims are making Islam synonymous with terror.
Moderate and liberal Muslims have been just as silent about the disgracing of Islam as moderate and liberal Christians have been silent on the degradation of Christ’s message of love, tolerance and avoiding judging the sins of others.
Christianity has a martyrdom ethos that is bred to bone from the birth — it was part of the training of 1st Century Christians to prepare for death in the Roman arenas. Today, 1900 years later, when an outside group tries to pressure a Christian group, it fulfills the Christian group’s need to be persecuted. The only way these modern-day Pharisees can be stopped is by saner voices from within their religion.
Something like 80 percent of Americans (250,000,000) claim to be Christians, but evangelicals only make up 10 percent of the country or 30,000,000. That’s about eight non-evangelicals to one.
Why the silence? If fundamentalists are so outnumbered by “real” Christians, why is it that we only hear from the taliban wing?
It boils down to this, as trite as it may sound: What would Jesus do?
This is a joke. I honestly hope she gets laughed out of the court room.
The neo-christians are just an arm of the neocon Republican Guard, and they are as hate-filled, evil, corrupt, base, vile, amoral and blackhearted as Bushco and crew.
I do, however believe a god is wathcing and taking note of the bilious hatred they love to spread instead of the gospel. HE will see that they receive the right spot in Hell.
As I have no intention of visiting hell at any time I find that trusting to the justice of such a “non interfering God to be some what lacking to the case at had, though I am sure it would be of great comfort to the “queers and lesbos” who will come under attack from such “righteously” bloodthirsty young “born-again Christian” young ladies as the one mentioned above.
I must admit that I prefer the rational, even handed justice of a TOTALLY secular court based solely on CONSTITUTIONAL LAW and completely void of supernatural gibberish poising as “REASON”!
very well said, but i’ve found that most Christians don’t even think they should do a thing about these haters who hurt us. It’s terribly sad, and disappointing—they just wash their hands of it with that “well, they’re not really Christian” or “oh, those are just the evangelicals–most Christians don’t think those things”, while state amendments are passed, discrimination is spread, and the airwaves remain the domain of the haters–now the courtrooms all over the country too. Kraft is under attack, Ford too–many private companies are under this same kind of attack, and these people won’t stop at us gays.
I don’t know what Bible the author has been reading but no where in the Bible does it say be tolerant of sin (homosexuality, adulters, liars, covetors, blasphemers, etc.). Jesus does not say “do not judge”, He said “judge not, that ye not be judged”. And so that no one translates this wrong – it means do not judge, unless you’re prepared to be judged. Yes, Jesus told us to love because He first loved us, but He did not say love sin which is what many homosexuals claim He said. I am a sinner in many ways, but I am not crying out, “Accept my sin!” And the answer to the question about “What would Jesus do?”, He would tell you that sin (homosexuality, etc.) is wrong and drives you away from Him, yet He loves you so much that He died for you (and your sin), so that you may not burn in the hellfires (if you believe in Him).
Adam — You’re just being silly. There is no difference in the meaning of “Do not judge” and the Jacobean formulation “Judge not lest you be judged.” The message is clear: Don’t do it.
Despite all the rhetoric by sex-obsessed rightwing Chrisitans, homosexuality is actually presented as a relatively minor sin in the Bible. In the Old Testament, it is included in a long list of abominations that includes eating pork, women wearing men’s clothes and the failure to use the proper procedures when covering one’s feces in the desert.
When Moses came down the mountain, homosexuality was clearly not included in the Big Ten commandments, whereas adultery was.
To equate the homosexuality and adultery now just shows that you are deploying religious delusions to justify your personal bigotry. Why not equate women wearing jeans or children eating bacon with adultery or murder, if all sins are equal?