Two things happened at opposite ends of the planet that are, I think, connected. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that fertilized eggs are fully people. Ghana passed a law making identifying as LGBTQ illegal and punishable with up to 3 years in prison. If you form a support group for LGBTQ people, you can go to jail for up to 5 years. Both of these rules are based on flawed theology, and both are attacks being made largely by heterosexual people. One must wonder who is next on their hit list. And to be clear – this is not about politics – this is about the misuse of religion. It is about weak men using God as a front for their misogyny and homophobia. Why do I make this claim? I’ll tell you.
There are no science-based reasons to claim that a frozen embryo is a person, nor are there any to point to LGBTQ people being aberrations. What is also interesting is that Jesus never spoke of either issue, even though many Christians believe He did. In fact, abortion itself is nowhere in the Bible, although causing a miscarriage does result in a fine. And Jesus, while He absolutely knew about Leviticus 20, never spoke a word about LGBTQ people. He did, however, reiterate chapter 19’s mandate to respect the alien in your midst. He also made almost all divorce illegal – which I think He did to protect women and children from poverty and homelessness – and spoke against adultery. Both of these used to be illegal, now they rarely are. Curious, isn’t it?
I find that blaming God for our hateful behavior is just another example of taking God’s name in vain. Some of the men in the first-century church didn’t like women speaking up and having authority, so they created rules that forced them into submission, even though this went against the core of Jesus’ teachings. Women preached, led churches, had authority over the Sacraments, just like men. These rules against being anything but straight are just examples of heterosexuals showing their ignorance and fear. And while they trot out the rare case of an LGBTQ person doing something wrong, the facts show that children are far more likely to be sexually abused by straight men than anyone else.
Want to know a big reason why religion is dying in America? The rampant hypocrisy of so-called people of faith has become more evident as it has grown in its viciousness. People see us for who we are by what we do. We used to get away with shrouding hatred in religion; no more. And while there are still lots of people buying what the hate-mongers are selling, upcoming generations see right through them. They want integrity and truth and goodness; fake religion sells them hatred and violence and false teachings. Don’t be fooled – God sees all of it.
Prayer – Holy God, may Your people continue to do what is right. Save us from ourselves. Amen.
Today’s art is “Hypocrite” by Anton Semenov.