The Catholic Church adhering to their anti-contraception-based, homophobic, traditionalist and conservative dogma deserves notice in my opinion. I may not agree with any of their ideas (not anymore, at least), something must be said for them remaining firmly dogmatic and not budging from their principles. The Church truly believes it represents God on earth and that they have always done so. As such, it would be odd to throw away dogma that has represented God in the past—it would be an outright admission of being wrong, and, thusly, not being able to be trusted ever.
Yes, in that capacity I truly take notice of the Catholic Church—as I do fundamentalists. In my opinion, it is simply fact that religion and progressive do not go together; that religion and liberal concepts do not go together; and that religion and change are two incompatible concepts as well.
That is what makes the bible such a human book—without a doubt written by humans, for humans, and containing only human concepts.
On your left you have a God who is all-knowning and omnipotent, and on your right you have a book that contains more errors than a Lindsay Lohan post-it. The left, being omniscient, omnipotent and living outside time, has no ability to change his mind; the right, being from human origin, contains more changes of opinion, mind and action than a Diana Ross show contains dress changes.
But, it is what is holy to Christians, so, being the ultimate book of truths, should be adhered to completely. In this, my disapproval of gay Christian apologists lies. You can be a gay theist—if your belief in God is strictly of a personal nature1—but to be a gay Christian apologist is to be an African-American member of the KKK. The two are of irreconcilable nature.
Unless, of course, and many will argue this, you do not take everything in the bible as strictly as you should. The selective nature of Christians when it comes to believing in the bible (and dogma) is legendary; for some reason, it is fine to ignore parts of an inerrant book. When you do not like a certain thing in your religion—and when it makes you look like a bigot, homophobe, and/or complete idiot, you are excused from adhering to it.
I may look at this too strictly, but the bible says homosexuality is wrong—end of discussion. Do not try to reconcile it with your own opinion—if you do not think homosexuality is wrong, and if you think the bible is wrong on this issue, then you are not a Christian. I never knew simple logic was too difficult for some to understand.2
It is because of this that I can take notice of Christians who are fundamentally against homosexuality—on the condition that their stance is based upon dogma, and not personal fabrications. A traditional-family group professing that same-sex marriage is against God is dogmatically right; one that proclaims that same-sex marriage will destroy society and will negatively impact children is simply (sociologically) wrong. I should not have to explain this, really.
However, and in the end, when my rambling cools down, comes my twist, I will never—never—tolerate, honour or respect it.3 4 5
Footnotes
- Which is, in fact, impossible. [↩]
- I feel the same about other issues. For instance: In American politics, you are either a conservative, or you are a liberal. A liberal conservative, and a conservative liberal are bastardisations created by the inability of people to pick a team. [↩]
- An earlier draft of this chaotic writing had “respect” in place of “notice,” until I realised—and I have realised this after years of believing I respected Christians—that to respect something really does not entail finding their beliefs to be bat-shit crazy. [↩]
- Oh, and yes, I know I am back to my rambling writing style, and that about ninety per cent of this post is about nothing. Thank you for the wake up call, but I think the Eighties are calling you to come home for supper. [↩]
- And yesagain, I know the title sucks. But at least the Lindsay Lohan reference turned out somewhat entertaining. [↩]
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by sexgenderbody, Remy Overkempe. Remy Overkempe said: All About Remy: Taking Notice of the Fundamentally Religious http://bit.ly/6L0Wm1 [...]
— Tweets that mention All About Remy » Archive » Taking Notice of the Fundamentally Religious -- Topsy.comI refer to your statement “if you do not think homosexuality is wrong, and if you think the bible is wrong on this issue, then you are not a Christian”. This argument falls down on the slavery analogy.
The Bible says that it is permissible to own other people as slaves (Lev 25:44-46). There are no passages in the Bible which condemn or criticize people for owning other people as slaves. Jesus appears to have accepted slavery as part of his society (e.g. Matt 18:23-34 and Luke 17:7-10). Paul and the apostles accepted, and implicitly endorsed, the system of slavery and they instructed masters and slaves about their duties (e.g. Eph 6:5-9 and Col 3:22-25).
Using your logic, you would have to say “if you think slavery is wrong, and if you think the bible is wrong on this issue, then you are not a Christian”.
This and similar arguments showing that a person can be both gay or lesbian and a true Christian, are on the “Gay and Christian” website (www.gaysandslaves.com).
— RaycolHey, Raycol, thanks for your insightful comment (and nice site).
Using my logic, I would have to state that. And if I had written this post from my ancestral slavery past (being mixed-race I get best of both worlds), instead of from my own sexuality, I would have definitely come to the conclusion that adhering to the bible as the holy book, while professing that slavery is wrong, puts you in contradiction with yourself.
Though somewhat buried, one of my main points is that you cannot say that the bible is God’s word, while on the other hand, you are selective to what you follow from said book. If it is God’s word, and you belief in God, everything that is professed by God should be followed. God never says, “If you want to, you have to do this,” in the bible.
But you are right that my logic has far-reaching consequences.
— Remy OverkempeI love you and your blog, you’re funny, and although I’m 13 and can’t understand a majority of words on here I still find it interesting and amusing.
— ErinHi Erin!
Oh, thank you! You’re making me blush
… Well, I would be blushing if I could, hahaha.
I aim to entertain, and thank god—perhaps not the best phrasing in relation to this post—some find it amusing! Again: THANK YOU <3
— Remy Overkempe