Logo
Google
 
  Gay Republic Daily - international Gay news Hello unlogged user | [ Register | Log in ]  
Main Menu

Editor's pick
UK Gay News
Michael Petrelis
DIRELAND
Peter Tatchell
QueerSighted

Login




 


 Log in Problems?
 New User? Sign Up!

Sep 08, 2007 Editorial: The Freedom to Hate
By V.Z.

Officials of the Church of England have staged a campaign against a proposed legislation. All because the British government is intended to introduce new anti-discrimination laws to protect individuals from humiliation and hostilities. The clergymen are telling us now they are in fear that Christians could be sued under the proposed legislation -- for hatred and harassment of Gays. Why on earth should an assumingly loving and tolerant religion be afraid of implementation of laws against hatred and harassment?

Any loving and tolerant person would support such laws as definitely necessary and long overdue. Not so the clergy of the Anglican Church. Why are the Christian Churches opposing such legislation, why are they beating the drums against a law that would be approved by any decent person?

The answer to these questions is, of course, very simple: The organized Christianity of our days is obviously not the loving and tolerant religion it pretends to be, at least not for Gays. Only those who hate and harass would oppose a legislation punishing hate and harassment. Only those who do discriminate and oppress would condemn laws aiming at anti-discrimination and equal opportunity employment.

The organized religion never made a secret of its stance against homosexuals. The official Christianity regards the Old Testament as an integrate part of its teaching, and most of the Christian mores has its roots there. Anyone familiar with the Scripture must admit that the Old Testament in many of its parts is a violent, hateful book, urging the followers to commit various atrocities against non-conforming members of the population. For the subject of our interest, the Gay people, the Bible is bluntly explicite, and the according passage in Leviticus reads as follows:

“If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.” (Leviticus 20:13)

What is there to be misinterpreted? This is a hatefull, murderous statement. Anyone who accepts such statements for God’s word and teaches them to the populace, openly adhers to hatred and violence. Mind you, those few words are not merely a poetic disapproval of homosexuality, with no consequence for the real life. They have most tangible manifestations, in beatings and killings of Gay individuals, in job discrimination and employment bans. Those words make school children as old as 13 harass other children into suicide.

In a world full of hate, the Church of England strives to protect the haters from an entirely prudent anti-harassment legislation. We are told that prohibiting hate speech and harassment will restrict religious freedoms of Christians -- to do what? The obvious answer is: “To teach hatred and harassment.” Shame on the Church of England, shame on all of them who need the freedom to hate and oppress.

It is foolish to assume that institutions, whose basic purpose is to maintain oppression, will voluntarily abandon their hateful practices. There is no reason, however, for the rest of society to accept those demands for a privileged position outside the law. There is also no reason and no excuse for faithful Christians to associate themselves with those who betray the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth with every word they utter.




 | Print this article Printer-friendly page

Advertisements




The Freedom to Hate | Log-in or register a new user account | 0 Comments
Comments are statements made by the person that posted them.
They do not necessarily represent the opinions of the site editor.