Selected Bigotry By Religions

I see this all the time and it really bugs me.  In fact, I just read a Facebook comment that said "if Christians and other people of faith were not required to accept and service the homosexual lifestyle choice and marriage against their will and faith, that basically the religious people wouldn't care so much.  Hmmm... let me think about that one some more.

I normally don't wade into the social issues much because there are so many people screaming.  It just bothers me when I see comments like this posted.  It feels like selected bigotry by religions.  Their statement makes them feel validated but that's about it.  It is highly disrespectful to gay people that they so vehemently hate.

Now, before you get all up in arms with me and accuse me of intolerance,  religions are protected in the constitution and they have buildings to go and preach at whatever they believe every single day of the year.  They take in lots of money in a year and while I don't think they use it wisely most of the time, they don't pay taxes on it.  Lots of people in the church earn a good living and some have a pretty nice income.  Some religions and people of faith understand things good and too many others show the evil side of religions.


We also have freedom of speech and we can say what we want whether everyone likes it or not.  I've had to listen to a lot of hate speech against gays and it isn't fun.  Guess what, the people that do that have every right to say it. 

I've never once heard people who hate gays so much go through a checklist of all the other "sins" and "wrongs" that people do before being served in a business (not that gay is a sin in my view).  I've never seen businesses that discriminate against someone who is gay, check to see if all their other clients are practicing their religious beliefs properly and perfectly.  It seems like the religions are selecting certain issues that are most important.

I get it.  I know that if you have a "cause" and a "us vs them" mentality, that it is easier to rally the troops.  The more you rally the troops, the more the membership of a religion increases.  The more it increases, the more income you have through offerings and tithing.  Makes perfect sense.  It also works in the news media that people read and helps increase the subscriber base which in turn helps bring in ad revenue.

The thing I struggle with is how selectively bigoted the religions can get.  They do it in the name of being holier than thou.  They try to use the bible to distort their beliefs while not even understanding what the bible says about the subject.  They try to play God and judge and abuse and torture people who are gay, while forgetting that Jesus accepted all people.

Its easy to paint the liberal activists or however they want to label them in such a way that all gay people think the same way.  Yes, I recognize that your TV news stations have helped you draw that conclusion, but that's dangerous.

In the same light, I have many friends in different religions that are open minded and not full of judgement.  They see people for who they are, not for this "perfection" so demand by some.  These friends of mine truly understand what it means to love one another, not just love those that agree and believe the way you do.

Its time we start truly learning what matters in life.  If you think that selected bigotry by religions is honorable, then may I suggest that you need to go back and get reacquainted with what you truly claim to practice.  You're missing the point.  Meanwhile, we have starving children in the world that maybe need more of that misplaced energy.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 6/10/15 by Don Shetterly

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