Earlier this week, the Southern Poverty Law Center released a list of political and religious organizations that campaign against gay marriage, calling 13 of them “hate groups.” The Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of hate groups is considered the foremost authority on the topic in all the land:
Generally, the SPLC’s listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods — claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities — and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.
According to the SPLC, the groups on the list are especially problematic because the “facts” they spread about gay people are a. obviously wrong and b. frequently picked up by politicians and media, giving the groups influence beyond what their size would suggest.
Here’s some highlights from this year’s list, with especially exciting passages pasted for you here. You’ll have to read the whole thing to see them all.
Abiding Truth Ministries
Springfield, Mass.
[Abiding Truth Ministries founder] Scott Lively is best known for co-authoring, with Kevin Abrams, The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party. The book makes a series of claims that virtually no serious historian agrees with: that Hitler was gay, that “the Nazi Party was entirely controlled by militaristic homosexuals,” and that gays were especially selected for the SS because of their innate brutality.
Americans for Truth About Homosexuality
AFTAH is notable for its posting of the utterly discredited work of Paul Cameron (of the Family Research Institute), who has claimed that gays and lesbians live vastly shorter lives than heterosexuals… [and] claims that gays and lesbians in Norway and Denmark live 24 fewer years than heterosexuals… LaBarbera himself, in 2002, compared the alleged dangers of homosexuality to those of “smoking, alcohol and drug abuse.” Similarly, AFTAH’s website carries essays describing homosexuality as a “lethal behavior addiction,” a “dangerous” practice that is “neither normal nor benign.”
American Vision:
Joel McDurmon, the group’s research director, agreed that the Bible does call for killing homosexuals. And, he said, “when most of a society is Christian, is biblical, then it [execution of gays] is perfectly normal; it should definitely be in place.”
Coral Ridge Ministries
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
In an especially nasty 1989 edition of a CRM newsletter, Kennedy ran photographs of children along with the tagline, “Sex With Children? Homosexuals Say Yes!”
Dove World Outreach Center
Gainesville, Fla.
“[Leader Terry] Jones… surrounded Dove with signs aimed at Craig Lowe, a Gainesville city commissioner who was running for mayor, that said “No Homo Mayor.” After an electioneering complaint was filed with the IRS (nonprofit churches cannot intervene in political campaigns), Jones had the signs shortened to the more generic “No Homo.”
Faithful Word Baptist Church
Tempe, Ariz.
[Leader Stephen] Anderson brought his church national notoriety in August 2009, when a member of his congregation, Christopher Broughton, went to an Obama appearance in Phoenix legally carrying an assault rifle and a pistol… two weeks later, he told openly gay columnist Michelangelo Signorile that he “would not judge or condemn” anyone who killed the president. Then, for good measure, he told Signorile at the end of the interview, “If you’re a homosexual, I hope you get brain cancer and die like Ted Kennedy.”
Family Research Council:
“[Founder Paul Cameron’s released a pamphlet] asserting the primary activity of the gay rights movement is “seeking to legitimize child-adult homosexual sex.” In another, he claimed that with “the rise of the gay rights movement, homosexual rape of men appears to have increased.” In yet another, he wrote, “Homosexuals were three times more likely to admit to having made an obscene phone call” and “a third more apt to report a traffic ticket or traffic accident in the past 5 years.”“
Mass Resistance
“During legislative testimony supporting the amendment [of the 1996 statute that would’ve required parents be notified of any GLBT issues discussed in schools], Camenker falsely claimed that no homosexuals died in the Holocaust and that the pink triangle the Nazis forced imprisoned gays to wear actually signified Catholic priests. The amendment did not pass.”
For total awareness of your homosexual involvement with the Nazi party, check out the SPLC’s website.
Earlier this week, representatives from Coral Ridge Ministries, the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, and the Christian Anti-Defamation Coalition responded to the designation in World Net Daily, an online source known for its own anti-gay ideology (writers on the site have called the gay community the “sodomy lobby” and argued in favour of Uganda’s bill to execute gay people). Robert Knight, from Coral Ridge Ministries, called the report a “smear” and said the SPLC had committed “a very hateful act.” Wendy Wright, from Concerned Women for America, accused the SPLC of “hate and bigotry.” While the groups have expressed outrage over being named in the report, none have denied the claims directly.
In a statement released yesterday, FRC president Tony Perkins said:
“The Left’s smear campaigns of conservatives is […] being driven by the clear evidence that the American public is losing patience with their radical policy agenda as seen in the recent election and in the fact that every state, currently more than thirty, that has had the opportunity to defend the natural definition of marriage has done so. Earlier this month, voters in Iowa sent a powerful message when they removed three Supreme Court justices who imposed same-sex marriage on the state. Would the SPLC also smear the good people of Iowa?”
Perkins also demanded an apology from the SPLC for “this slanderous attack and attempted character assassination.”
The report from the SPLC emphasizes that the groups it names are listed as hate groups because they are knowingly lying and spreading demonizing propaganda about gay people, and not for their views on homosexuality. However, so far, none of the groups named have responded to that claim specifically and have instead focused directly on the “hate group” designation, saying that comparing innocent traditional-value-upholding groups such as themselves to racist organizations is wrong. This is unsurprising as generally these groups seem capable of manipulating large groups of people using simple wordplay, a strategy evidenced by Sarah Palin’s candidacy.
Brian Brown, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, which the report lists but does not call a hate group, also responded:
“Gay marriage now serves as the tip of the spear to a new campaign to demonize and generate hatred against those who adhere to traditional views of sex and marriage. Regular readers of NOM’s work know how we characterize gay people: those who support our vision of marriage, we welcome to join our work. For gay marriage advocates (the majority of whom are not gay) we say: we think you are wrong, and we will fight for our right to vote for marriage in the public square.”
Brown also emphasized that he was concerned about “all the actual hate groups out there.” While NOM was not actually labeled a hate group directly, it is listed as an anti-gay group for a lot of reasons, such as supporting Prop 8 and calling this year’s Boston Gay Pride events “depraved” and the attendees “obviously disturbed, dysfunctional, and extremely self-centered people whose aim was to push their agenda.” NOM, of course, is agenda-free.
They are totally right though-not 10 minutes ago I made an obscene phone call to a child whilst I goose stepped around the apartment, and as soon I ended the phone call I got back to planning my Nazi military coup of the government here, pausing occasionally to salute a photo of Hitler. My plan (likes all of our plans obvs) when im in power is to adopt a load of children, turn them gay, bring in gay marriage and then THE SKY WILL FALL! *insert evil laugh here, etc*
Seriously though, ultra religious types, you are becoming ever more ridiculous with every passing day, what is wrong with some people!
OMG! Can we be trans-Atlantic world domination besties!?
I’m supposed to be spending the day putting the finishing touches on a case study *BUT* it has been slow going because I am literally doing the exact same thing right now. My obscene phone calling rate has, in fact, skyrocketed to one in every five minutes due to extreme procrastination and I’m literally *dizzy* with daydreams about world domination.
Too bad these ultra-conservatives have caught on though, we could’ve gotten away with it faster if it weren’t for those darn wingnuts!
Aw id be delighted to have a world domination buddy, it gets lonely (so ronrey) being this evil. I say that you take over the States with your gay ways while I take over Europe and we’ll meet in a big gay collision somewhere in Mongolia! Heil Ellen and Heil Lambert!
the crime is that the extremists really believe what they say. it all fits under the statement “tell a lie often enough and outrageous enough that it will be seen as the truth”
courtesy of Goebb3els who got hitler elected and has been recloned as the mantra of the wingnuts.
At least my 8 year old grandaughter is taking chinese lessons. In the end, with the wingnuts and greeders, china will be a wealthier country, and without religious nuts. So if you just keep your political mouth shut, you’ll at least be able to find a job, earn a living, participate in a growing economy with out the religious secret police coming to your door.
Why are we fighting a war against religious terrorism half a world away when the battle is here.
MY son says I’m a conspiracy theorty guy, eg Bush knew about and maybe was even involved in the 9/11 disaster, to help militarize and terrorize the country into following him and cheney etc. For the benefit of the military industrial complex and the religioous talibangelicals of America.
And I say, as a commercially licensed pilot – did you see the total lack of surprise, anger, or any other emotion when they showed the clip of him being told of the first plane hitting the towers while he sat in that classroom in FL
He apparently didn’t even ask something like
was it clear or raining etc etc. Bush is also the equivalent of a commercially licensed pilot who flew jets in the air national guard.
And think of the so neat collapse of wTC 7 building. Exactly like a controlled demolition, it just collapsed into the basement. Even though no plane hit it.
The problem (well, a problem) with most anti-government conspiracy theories is that you have to assume that the government is competent enough to pull a conspiracy off. I would posit that such an assumption would be idiotic at best.
Word.
You forgot about the ‘Destroy Traditional Marriage Stage’ wherein all heterosexual marriages will be driven to failure and they will all convert to beastiality. I’ll head the committee on this if no one has an objections. The first step will be to turn organized religions into violent fear driven cults. Thankfully they appear to be doing this spontaneously so it will be easier to make it under budget even with the recession.
Sounds like a typical Friday night.
We homosexuals are advancing our sinful agenda. Must be tuesday.
A while ago, there was a song that came out with the opening line “read a book, read a book, read a mothafuckin’ book.” I want to play this for all those folks convinced that the Nazis were yay-gay. I mean, seriously? I learned that the Nazis persecuted gays in high school (a public high school, too!). Don’t be ignorant.
the nazis tossed the gays in the ovens with the jews.
The one difference was that they kept records of the Jews they murdered, extensive records, to remind them of their deeds
the gays wernt worth having any records.
BTW – the grand aunt of the tea party leaders (KOch brothers billionaires) was sent to jail in germany for life after the war – for making lampshades out of Jews skins.
That’s right, we’re releasing our shiny, terrible powers of gayness on traffic across the world – tickets or accidents be damned. Watch the fuck out.
oh. my. actual. fuck!
this has got to be a wind up, you’re joking,right? right ???
Please say you are only messing with me? i want to live in a world of happy things, rainbows, kittens, chocolate, wedded bliss and maybe a brat to run aroud after..
these people dont exist, not listening to any more cra cray.. *** sticks fingers in ears & closes eyes*** la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la …
(has it gone away yet ???)
“oh. my. actual. fuck!”
hehehe
*Evil Laugh* Good, good my plan to paint the whole country pink is succeeding perfectly. Soon the speedo will be mandatory, and the Pride Flag will replace the U.S. Flag, and all the money will say “In Gay We Trust”. And there is nothing you can do to stop me.
that would really be nice. Trusting and recognizing our gay friends, children and coworkers as the decent people they are. Not demonizing them like hitler demonized the Jews.
Adn we know where that went.
Or must I appologize to you if you really were playing the satire game.
Is it wrong that I would prefer my children to be taught by a man dressed as a woman?
I would prefer that my grandhilcren have both gay and trans teachers in their schooling.
it is real hard to hate people you know and respect. and very easy to hate the “them” who you don’t know
that is why hitler threw the jews, and yes germany’s gays in the ghetto………….
And we know what that gave the world.
I see those ads too. It’s weird to see a “Traditional Values Coalition” ad on autostraddle. Like wtf.
It’s completely weirding me out, but it’s only a picture of the ad which is way better than AS actually hosting the ad. Although, I’m pretty sure pigs will fly before that ever happens.
Kiss AmeriKa goodbye if the kooks of the religious right win. Back to the dark ages.
And who is really behind this whole rotten mess – the catholic church which hid the molestation of children for centuries and has yet to excommunicate a single molester priests, as well as yet to excomm hitler, born and baptised cath in very cath austria in 1888
the church that in 2009 UNexcommunicated a holocaust denier – bishop williamson. Most likely becausse of the money of his 600000 mad followers
the church is like the many headed mythological hydra.
One one hand its hospitals are the best, and it preaches love
On the other hand, anything that threatens their beliefs and money, it reclones itself to that dark and dreary day in austria in 1888 when hitler was born.
And the big deal is that the church is all but dead in western europe, where gay marriage or an equiv in the law of the land except in Italy and greece. And the church is dying in Latin America because of its history of siding with fascist dictators, eg peron. And 6 countries there also recognize gay couples committment to each other.
And Canada, austria, hungary israel, RSA NZ Australia and others………….
the point is the church of adoph hitler still unexcommunciated is all but dying int he world. And it will do anything at all to keep its corrupt power over people.
Even if it means a new dark ages.
God save us.
We do remember that homosexuals were killed by nazis in concentration camps too, right??
Umm, hello!?!? Homos aren’t part of the perfect race because the don’t procreate, so they were IN THE CAMPS TOO… Wow…
NOt quite sure where you stand. HOmos is a slur term, kind of like halfway to the n-word. Try gay and lesbian.
And yes they don’t procreate in general, though with artificial insemination, a borrowed boy, adoption etc about 1/3rd of all gay couples raise children. Which about 90% of turn out str8, same as the population in general
And the number of known gays murdered in the camps is only about 30000. First of all cuz you can hide who you are, but a Jew male cant hide what happened to his wee-wee as an infant.
And the gays weren’t even worth the paper to print their names on as the Nazis kept records of the Jews. Gays were below the Jews, characterized by hitler as enormous spiders taking over the world. (words that are all but cloned by the religious right in talking about that “sinister gay agenda” (to be treated as equal in our society and free of nazi like hatred”
Homos is a reclaimed term that is perfectly acceptable when used amongst LGBT people.
The whole word reclaiming thing makes me really uncomfortable. I still hear the insult and I have to remind myself it’s not meant derogatorily.
Homos, as I used it above, is an abreviation to “homosexuals”, which is indeed the technical term. It’s used as a term of endearment when it comes from me. Also, I use all the other slurs as terms of endearment, it’s just how I roll. It’s mostly ironic in my case because I’ve never really been exposed to those slurs really being used to hurt people… My environment has been pretty progressive and sheltered, and slurs are more often laughed at and really have no effect.
Not sure where I stand?? Perhaps the tone of my last comment wasn’t clear enough. I just thought it was rediculous to accuse the SS of being gay, because they were killing gays… See my point. And they didn’t fit into hitler’s ideal because they don’t make babies… (artificial insemination didn’t exist yet). And I’m CERTAINLY not saying I agree. :P
If you thought the westboro baptist church was a bunch of crazies, you haven’t seen anything yet till you read through the SPLCs list of nut cases
the only difference is that the WBC shows their craziness directly while the other nut cases are so clever with their words.
Hitler took over Germany with only 1-2% of the people being members of his party.
In the usa we have an estimated 50 million mostly christian extremeist – fundamentalists who believe the insanity listed in the article.
And millions follow Pat Robertson, who said of the Haitian earthquake + “they deserved it”. That because some of those people didnt follow christianity.
Try another one :
TWo ultra orthodox memebers of the Knesset said in Jan 09 that “gays are like bird flu”
A call for the geneocide of gay people.
By people whose close relatives shared hitler’s ovens with the gays of germany.
the taliban are all over the world. We should burn every last bible in the world.
except for the one statement by someone I don’t believe was the son of god- but actually was a Jewish Rabbi “love thy neighbor as thyself”
Stan is so proud 2 of his three kids are aethists, and I am now an aethist. I was Jewish, my wife unfortunately still is. Dont let the name fool you – that was Dads last name, my mom was Jewish, which makes you automatically Jewish.
And yes I know there are so many great christians and eg the MCC UCC Episcopal, Evangelical Lutherans, several Presbyterian groups, American Baptists, Jewish reform etc who are most all great people.
Got to add another one – I know a fixed gay (long story – ultra catholic, troubles began with somethink like schitzophrenia) Who believes a lot of the crap exposed by the SPLC
He even said of Matthew Shepard – “his parents should have fixed him”. think about that one from the church that speaks of love. Blaming the parents for Matthew Sheppard’s vicious murder and justifying the murder at the same time.
Its obvious that he has been terrorized into believing that if he doesnt simply repent his gayness, but goes to the extreme of extremes, he will go to hell. (created by the church which burned a million women at the stake in the dark ages to assert male domination).
The guy is literally nuts. it took me 2 dozen dinner meetings over two years to finally break through his veneer of friendlyness and civlity,
And what makes people like this – my psychologist friend says that it is obvious his first problems – his schitzo delusions and self hatred for being gay came from being sexually abused as a child. Most likely tks to his church – he was born in 43, and is from Boston where the whole rotten mess began to be exposed some years ago. And the church spirited cardinal law to the Vatican (no extradition treaty) to prevent him being forced to testify about the endless abuse of children.
PS _ ive met Matthew Shepards parents 4-5 times. Just thought that people should come out of the woodwork to help them through their terrible ordeal.
And my next job is to find a contact for a gay NYU college student I’ve seen on Youtube. Our family is quite well off and we have given thousands to gay college students as a sign of respect and love.
And for this particular boy – to also thank him for the vid where his parents are shown loving him, instead of hating their own son, a common situation when christian love collides with gay children
Am I dear readers going to far when I say that in general, religion (not all) has been the curse of human history.
and that if there is a god and an afterlife, I’m sure that those who follow “love thy neighbor as thyself” will go to heaven. And if there isn’t, maybe on our deathbeds we will have somehting to really feel good about in our lives.
Contact me at Stephen1553@gmail.com. flames will be ignored. this is not my main email so dont bother putting me on any religious bs lists.
Thanks for posting this. I feel I should tell you (if no one has already) that there is an advertisement on this page paid for by the Traditional Values Coalition reading “Should Men Dressed As Women Be Teaching Your Children?” I know the advertisements are automated by topic and it obviously isn’t something you would choose to place on this website. But just a heads up.
Just realized that the advertisement is just a fixed picture. >.< Sorry for being an idiot.
I thought the same thing for a second, it’s ok.
I tried to check out the links but I seriously could not stand reading such bull. It really was starting to make me feel sick. I don’t recommend even being curious about it.
For anyone who’s interested, the SPLC has a “Stand Strong Against Hate” map. It might be more symbolic than anything, but it’s something. There’s more information on the website on how to get further involved if you want.
http://www.splcenter.org/get-involved/stand-strong-against-hate
Ya’ll. Ya’ll. The KKK sells t-shirts. What kind of world are we in? People buy this stuff…
WHY!?!?
Geez. I’m going to need a drink soon if this keeps up.
Yeh i just googled it they have shirts that say “KKK: the original boyz in da hood”(spelt exactly like that) with a little picture of a man with a pillow case over his head. Is it a good sign that the KKK think they’re gangsta?
I might be in the wrong here, but let me get my disclaimer in first: One, I am not religious. Two, I’m just making an argument because I’m not really sure where all these comments were going. Three, there may or may not have been some beer involved in my evening.
I’m a little disturbed by all of the Catholicism/religion in general-hate in these comments. I mean, roundly condemning any large group of people by the characteristics of the few (admittedly, in the case, of the organizational leadership) is generally a bad idea, am I right?
The crazy hate groups on the SPLC’s website are all clearly hate groups, understood, can’t believe anyone would argue that, even them (I mean, they all do hate someone, and seem proud of it). Ok. ros. Sorry.
As a religion/theology, Catholicism is just one of the older versions of Christianity. Are some of the followers nutcases? Yes. Is it often run by crazies/hateful/deniers? Yes. But then again, what about the Berrigan brothers and the plethora of decent people who follow what I would consider to be the better meanings of the theology?
Just about every religion I can think of (aside from the Buddhists, let’s all convert to that please) has had some serious fundamentalist crazies, particularly in the last 200 years as religion comes under a perceived threat from science and the crazier adherents fight back by making shit up. I don’t think that the Taliban, hardline followers of Sharia law, the WBC, bigoted Jewish leaders, or the organizational monstrosity of the Catholic church reflect in any way on the teachings of those respective religions. I mean, the Inquisition was a bad idea. Understood. That has much less to do with Jesus than the political problems of the times, though. Same for all the bullshit now. If in fact Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, and the 124000 or so other prophets are somehow observing humanity’s silliness of the moment, I’d bet they’re wishing for thunderbolts just to knock some sense into the evolved versions of their so-called followers. The Buddha, meanwhile, has exited (good for him.)
I think that the craziness reflects on the fear reflex of ignorant human beings when faced by something that is perceived as both a threat and an easy target. I don’t think that has anything to do with religion as such, religion is just a cheap way to convince people who cling to faith to follow the lead of people with really, really stupid/evil ideas.
All of the monotheistic religions’ theology has a good starting point. “God is watching you, be nice, and if you try really hard, maybe one day you can see Me.” The very small details are what get very short sighted people hung up. It’s a shame, but mud throwing at religions themselves doesn’t help anything, it’s just more of the same. The problem is ignorance.
That was long. Sorry.
I appreciate what you are saying about not demonizing all Catholics. That said, as a queer girl who was raised Catholic and has an extremely religious father, I have nothing but antipathy towards the church. Canon law and Catholic theology are extremely sexist and anti-gay, and while there might be some people in the institution that do not conform to that ideology, participating in the body of the church is a tacit endorsement of that. Also, the “organization monstrosity” of the Catholic Church goes well beyond atrocities like the Inquisition (rather more than a bad idea), because the Catholic Church actually teaches that homosexuality is an errant moral choice, and that sex is bad and scary, and that those men that rape children are the divine successors of Jesus via apolostolic succession from the rite of Holy Orders. And on more concrete level, my former parish financially and ideologically supports anti-choice, anti-gay, and anti-sex with collections, sermons, pamphlets, and all manner of things.
Regardless of where you stand, I will always hate the Catholic Church, because I cannot forgive the adults I trusted as a child for telling me that I am wrong to be who I am, and for tirelessly working against my rights and dignity. Moreover, it is incredibly painful to have your beloved father tell you that homosexuality is a choice and that you “are jeopardizing your eternal soul.”
Ditto. Put simply, you can’t be truly Catholic without buying into all the awful anti-gay bull. So it’s truly not unfair to call all Catholics homophobic, because if they don’t believe in that stuff then they’re not really Catholic.
Some of the anti-religious rhetoric in the LGBT rights movement bothers me, too. While I do agree that there are many churches out there that espouse some really harmful stuff, some of the nasty things said about followers (such as “all Catholic priests are child molesters”) feels a bit petty to me. Furthermore, there are gay-friendly Christian sects out there. My mom’s a gay-friendly Christian. (She left the Catholic Church, though.)
Also, I feel compelled to point out that there are fundamentalist Buddhists out there – look up Sinhalese Buddhism.
Seconded. I’m a hardcore Atheist, but over half of my friends are of various religions, & they are all very open minded. It’s BLIND religion that causes problems.
word. my mother is supportive and open-minded to my identity and yet is super Catholic. she’s just one of those wonderful (admittedly few) people who get that Christianity is first and foremost love. anyone who’s read the gospels and actually paid any attention to Jesus can draw that conclusion. love, people. love. his bff was a prostitute…
“his bff was a prostitute”
THIS.
The Catholic Church protects child molesters from the law. Petty? People have been harmed by the Catholic Church. It doesn’t come out of no where. My Mother thought God made me gay to punish her for having an abortion before she had me, all completely and entirely thanks to the Church’s teachings.
That’s the Church, though. I’m talking about attacks on followers.
I just left a really long reply and then the website ate it. Darn.
Anyway, the gist of it was as follows.
1. My idealism re: buddhism is officially over, but now the theory that all religion can lead to crazy is pretty well established. I’m off to do some serious research, ’cause fundamentalists scare/fascinate me.
2. The belief that homosexuality=ultimate evil is a fairly recent addition to christian, specifically Catholic, ideology. Was it ever celebrated? Not so much, but there were obv. gay saints we don’t talk about any more. Was it a big deal in the second century? Prob. not. Read this: “Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe”-John Boswell. If you want your same sex marriage liturgy in ancient Greek, get it here.
3. I am biased to be friendly towards catholic theology minus the institution because one of my favorite people ever was an openly gay priest who was thrown out of the priesthood (heresy trial, crazy business) for teaching a class on aforementioned book/officiating at same sex weddings. He kept his parish going anyway, because if god is still talking, why listen to a bureaucracy?
4. I guess my point was that it is not the theology itself that is the problem it is the way people have chosen to interpret and use scriptures as a weapon against something they were not initially focused on. Is homosexuality a sin in the bible? sorta. Was it meant to be a huge giant big deal, like worse than murder/torture/child molestation/etc? No, but the church has done/condoned those things. So…. yeah the issue is pretty much always what people do with scripture, not what it says (I mean, who really understands it anyway? All those people stopped eating and went to live in caves/have holes burned in palms etc.)
5. I don’t know where I am going with all of this, it is just an interesting tangent/ I don’t have answers.
The Catholic Church is anti-gay. Homophobia is institutionalized in the Catholic Church. They do not simply believe that being gay is wrong…the teach it. The Catholic Church has withheld communion from politicians for going against Church doctrine. This is not some fringe belief in the Catholic Church.
That there are a few followers of that aren’t anti-gay in no way excuses the fact that the Vatican opposes de-criminalizing same-sex unions. The Catholic Church is an institution, an organization with it’s own government and laws. It’s not just a group of people who believe in God and Jesus. It’s a thing with money, power and influence all over the world.
i agree with you on most points here. the Catholic church as an institution is messed up (understatement). homophobia is institutionalized everydamnwhere. but as someone who was raised Catholic (though is not Catholic today for reasons some of which you have pointed out) and had to copy from the catechism in school, the church officially does not hold that homosexuality is wrong. but they do believe acting upon it is… which is still anti-gay. i felt compelled to point that out. even most catholics (obvs) are misguided about what the church officially teaches (this includes priests).
I get the impression that most of these comments were directed at the Catholic/religious institutions, not the people who prescribe to the institutions as a whole. I see no problem with tearing down the illogical tenets of a shitty leadership (hello, US government!), because I don’t necessarily think it is reflective of the population of those groups as a whole. I.e. the US government is NOT a representative body compared to 300+million people.
That said, in order for an institution to have power, or at least for its leadership to have power, there must be a lot of individuals who support the leadership. And frankly, many people choose to be shits and hide behind their beliefs in order to do so. If they choose to dump all over someone else’s humanity, solely because their religion dictates it the ‘right’ or ‘moral’ thing to do, they set themselves up for criticism. Human beings are born with the ability to think and reason, and unless mental illness or disability doesn’t allow them to do so, they are absolutely accountable for their beliefs and actions, especially when those beliefs and actions cause harm to other people.
Westboro Baptist Church is coming to my uni Friday. We are throwing a massive lovefest party. so excited
Yeah, Harvard Hillel! I can’t wait for the absurdity.
Also, I absolutely love Southern Poverty Law Center. They are like the CIA for radicals and spend a lot of time stalking and monitoring all these hate groups.