(no subject)

[pearwaldorf]

During the signature gathering process for Measure 36, several churches were accused of coercing parishioners to add their signatures to the initiative. Currently, there are several pending complaints with the Secretary of State against these churches for violating election laws. And while the In Defense of Marriage Coalition has attempted to keep their membership largely secretive, its cadre is largely composed of pastors for massive regional churches. Ray Cotton (New Hope Community Church), Frank Damazio (City Bible Church), and Dennis Tuuri (Reformation Covenant Church) are just a few of their members. All have preached sermons commanding their flocks to vote yes on 36.

—Is God Homophobic?

I used to live right by New Hope. My parents still do. It's this awful huge sterile hulk of a megachurch (can you call them megachurches if they don't have McDonald's in them?), which thrives more on attracting people than nurturing the flock they have. Of course, I knew it was a bad sign when my mom went there (my mother does strange things from time to time, including expressing interest in Christianity where there was none previous) and that shithead of a pastor ignored her. Since when does clergy of any sort ignore anybody sitting in a pew or coming out of a service? I attended a Mass with my cousin in Vancouver, and I tried my damndest to get out of shaking the priest's hand, and I still ended up doing it just to be polite. Uh, I'm sure this had a point before it turned into a rant about New Hope, but I suppose I should cut my losses and stop.

Comments

[redgreenblue.livejournal.com]

I was born Catholic, and I had a brief right-of-center period in my early college days--yes, I was a Born Again. Looking back, it strikes me like one of those things that I "got over", sort of like a drug habit. But even then, I couldn't figure out how so-called Christians could be so vehemently anti-gay. Disapproval of a lifestyle is one thing, but outright displays of hate and discrimination are quite another. There are two, maybe three passages in all of Scripture (Old and New Testaments combined) referencing homosexuality. One is within lines of a passage condoning slavery, and I think most reasonable people in this country would agree in this day and age that it's archaic and inhumane, so we're willing to gloss over that. So much for going "by the book".

Also, it's worth noting that Jesus never talks about homosexuality, ever in the Gospels. He was too busy telling people to, oh I don't know, love one another. Jesus was the ultimate liberal. He tended to the poor and the disenfranchised, advocated love over violence, and he spoke truth to power knowing full well that he'd be persecuted for it. I'm not saying that the left has to go and find Jesus in their hearts or whatever, and I'm not pretending to know how he'd vote in the November election given any number of hypothetical criteria, but I'm not quite sure how whackjob warmongering conservatives hold him up as a role model. Counterintuitive doesn't even begin to describe it.

I'm not sure where I was going with this either, to be honest with you. :-P

[sonatine.livejournal.com]

There's that whole "against nature" thing to contend with, I suppose. But of course, not seeing a book that was cut and pasted together as some sort of ultimate authority helps a lot too.

Jesus was a fucking hippie. I mean, just look (http://atrios.blogspot.com/2004/09/bush-vs-jesus.html) at his positions on social issues, crime, and defense. :P Of course, unlike the Republican party, I don't see this as a bad thing.

[redgreenblue.livejournal.com]

That picture is so going on my desktop at work. Except for the whole drugs bit, Jesus really was a hippie. And I suspect that he would've approved of the stoner's ethic: pass it around. :-P

The mere idea of the Bible (or any other religious text, quite frankly) being authoritative doesn't sit well with me. The bottom line is that the authors are human, and all the compilations and interpretations have undoubtedly been influenced over the centuries, either subtly through simple translation errors or by the agendas of emperors, popes, kings, and as of late, presidents. Call them foundational, fine. Every religion has to start from somewhere. But as unshaken divine authority? I don't think so.

[redgreenblue.livejournal.com]

Damn LJ for not letting me edit comments.

I almost forgot about the whole water-into-wine thing. ;-)

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

can you call them megachurches if they don't have McDonald's in them

You mean there's churches that do have a McDonald's in them? O_o

[sonatine.livejournal.com]

Yeah. They have gyms and child care centers as well as McDonald's and they're basically self-contained cities. It's creepy.

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

That's more than creepy! Have these people read the bit in the bible where Jesus gets all righteous on the Temple traders? o_O