The fight my dog is in.
So I commented on the whole gay Episcopalian bishop thing the other day by saying that I didn’t really have a dog in that fight, but, and Kevin came along and (gently, gently) remonstrated me by pointing out I had the same dog in the fight as any other decent human being would, and I kinda nodded my head and went along with it even though it didn’t feel quite right. And some of that has to do with the fact that I wasn’t raised Episcopalian—we bounced back and forth between Methodists and Presbyterians growing up—and some of that has to do with the fact that my religion as it stands (which would be, what? my beliefs? my cosmology? my moral grounding? my ethical code? my ritualistic practices? my celebrations?) is best described as “other”: lapsed neo-pagan doesn’t quite cut it, and spiritualist atheist and a-anthropic deist are too cheeky to do much good. To say nothing of the fact that, whatever queerness bends the sexual proclivities of the Spouse and myself, we’re rather comfortably ensconced in the lap of heterosexual privilege. So: yeah, gay bishop confirmed, bigots routed for the nonce, good show, but.
Then up came Roz Kaveny, who articulated precisely which fight I’d rather were kicking up dust right now:
The question is not—should the Christian churches split over the question of allowing a few LGBT people to be clergy? The question is, when are the churches going to humble themselves in abject shame for their endless crimes against gay people?
Added bonus: gummitch, in comments, links to a couple of kick-ass Real Live Preacher posts on this subject, which are required reading: the second is a shredding exegesis of the Scripture cited by homophobic bigots, but the first—oh, my Lord, the first—
There, do you see the iron furnace door, gaping open? Do you see the roaring flames? Do you see the huge man with glistening muscles, covered with soot? Do you see him feeding the fire as fast as can with his massive, scooped shovel?
He feeds these flames with the bible, with every book, chapter, and verse that American Christians must burn to support our bloated lifestyles, our selfishness, our materialism, our love of power, our neglect of the poor, our support of injustice, our nationalism, and our pride.
See how frantically he works? Time is short, and he has much to burn. The prophets, the Shema, whole sections of Matthew, most of Luke, the entire book of James. Your blessed 10 commandments? Why would you want to post them on courtroom walls when you’ve burned them in your own cellar?
Do you see? DO YOU SEE? Do you see how we rip, tear, and burn scripture to justify our lives?
The heat from this cursed furnace rises up and warms the complacent worshippers in the pews above. The soot from the fire blackens our stained glass so that we may not see out and no one wants to see in.
Do you smell the reek of this injustice? It is a stink in the nostrils of the very living God. We are dressed in beautiful clothes and we wear pretty smiles, but we stink of this blasphemous holocaust.
Every church in America has a cellar like this. We must shovel 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, because every chapter and book we ignore must be burned to warm our comfy pews.
And you come to me with two little scraps of scripture to justify your persecution of God’s children?
Sit down Christian. Sit down and be you silent.
My hat’s off to you, Preacher. (And that image of the soot-covered shoveler does rather wonderful things, cognitively speaking, to the image of conservative Episcopalians smearing their foreheads with ashes in their grief. Doesn’t it?)
—In the interests of fair play, and to change the topic abruptly, I’ll point to this alarmingly good piece of news from Alabama:
The Christian Coalition of America endorsed Riley’s tax plan Wednesday, saying it represents social and economic justice for Alabama. Coalition President Roberta Combs called the plan “visionary and courageous.”
“I think this is a good plan and I think people of faith need to know about the plan,” Combs said.
This doing the right thing stuff could get to be an epidemic.
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At least I didn't "tear you a new biblical asshole."
WOW!
Hey, I don't know why I care so much. I mean, my post probably contains it. I worked at a cool lefty Episcopal church once, met some cool people and have fond memories of the place. My former Trotskyite boss helped me shake off some of the commie indoctrination, cuz, y'know, he had been there. And his love of God, Christ and all that was pretty complex and nuanced and intellectualized, yet for all that, very heartfelt. So I identify it with the sweetness and light.
And I guess I'd love to join. But there's that sticking point. Or really a few sticking points. The first is the "God thing." For over twenty years I have been trying to figure out how God(dess)(es) could possibly exist. I mean, the Universe is one thing. How'd that get here? Answering "God" is just tautological. Well, smartypants, how did "God" get here? Ask that and you get told you're being a sophist. Oh. Thanks. Or you get "always has been, always will be." So God is like war, poverty and masturbation. Great. But it makes more sense to say the Universe "just happened" than to say "God has always been and always will be and just happened to create the Universe cuz he's got this wild plan, dude, it's totally awesome; just watch yer ass, cuz he might get pissed and not think you're cool enough for his big party. Oh, and go kill that infidel."
From there we get Pat Robertson? I don't think the divinity works that mysteriously.
Beyond the God thing, there's the Christ thing. Prepare to giggle as conservatives insist with a straight face that Mel Gibson's upcoming Passion Play adheres rigorously to all four Gospels.
And I'm far more making fun of my alienation than your decency, Kevin. Surely that was obvious?
Thanks for a great post, and for reminding me I need to bookmark the preacher man.
Kevin Moore writ: "But it makes more sense to say the Universe "just happened" "
But why would you say that? Seems physicists have some pretty good theories on the formation of the Universe. Read "In the Beginning" by John Gribbin. Hell, I'll loan it to you. And that's 10 or more years old. Fascinating stuff & Gribbing writes so that we non-physicists can unnerstan' this stuff.
Hmm. I've got a long, half-baked post on my iBook about cosmology and the anthropic principle and black holes and quantum gravity and the game of Life (Conway's, not Milton-Bradley's) and termites and the whole darned question of made or just happened. I should hurry up and finish that already.
And I'm far more making fun of my alienation than your decency, Kevin. Surely that was obvious?
But, of course. I just love that "biblical asshole" line. Besides, my decency was mostly abstract, anyway, so it was, in a sense, alienated. And I generally share your sense of alienation from the religious community. Which makes the whole "clash of civilizations" stuff all the more irritating.
Tell me Mel Gibson isn't playing Jesus....
Read "In the Beginning" by John Gribbin. Hell, I'll loan it to you.
Yay, more books! Pass it on, dude.
"Tell me Mel Gibson isn't playing Jesus..."
Nah. I guess Mel recognizes that the days when he could pass for 33 are long gone. Even from below/behind, which has always been his best angle.
Some stuff Ampersand has read lately.
In a wonderful post, Body and Soul discusses Bobby Kennedy's ability to emphasize and persuade, and in passing responds to a post of mine about Dennis Kucinich. Alas, I must agree with Jeanne's assessment of Kucinich. Check out this impressive website ...