Tuesday, April 13, 2010

A Choice Between Hate and Compassion: Religious Views on Homosexuality

The bible says a lot of things, but few commands are given as frequently as “love your neighbor as yourself”, such as in Matthew 22:37-39. Eight times we are told to ‘love our neighbors’, and according to Jesus Christ, the center of Christianity, that includes all God’s children. ‘Love your neighbor’ does not mean ‘love when you feel like it’, ‘love when it is socially convenient for you’, ‘love only perfect people’ or ‘love the people who are like you’. He asks that grace be extended to everyone, no matter who, but tragically not everyone seems to agree on this. In Laramie, Wyoming, a young man named Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten and left to die tied to a fence outside of town. Matthew was a bright, cheerful and outgoing soul, but he was also gay, which caused two other young men from the town to cruelly and viciously take his life. For a theatre production that was later turned into a movie, The Laramie Project, over 200 of the town’s citizens were interviewed about what happened, including some of the community’s religious leaders. Although belonging to similar faiths on the surface, these men held differing view of Matthew and of homosexuals in general; some views are of hate, some of indifference, but there are also views of Christ-like love and acceptance. Being from a Christian family, and having parents deeply involved in national ministries, I have seen the good that can come when people focus on the selfless teachings of tolerance and love from the New Testament as opposed to acting on blatant hate, both of which are chronicled for comparison in The Laramie Project.

There are numerous, clear citations in the Bible that explicitly preach against homosexuality as a sin, and against homosexuals in general; that is, those who do not repent and stop their ways. It is common for people to treat those different than themselves with a degree of fear and revulsion. This seemed to be the case with a few of the citizens of Laramie, including a Baptist pastor who was interviewed by the theatre group. This man said that, although it was a sad thing that happened to Matthew, he insinuated that the boy may have brought it upon himself. Does this mean that this righteous man truly believes that gay people ought to be put to death? Probably not, but it becomes pretty obvious that he doesn’t approve of them. He says that his hope was that as Matt lay dying there, that he had somehow heard the ‘word of God’ sometime in his life and had time to ‘reflect’ on his past choices and his lifestyle, and repent. In other words, he hoped that the hateful attack on his life had beaten a conversion into him. In a way, it was almost as if the minister believed that Matthew had been learning a lesson, or at least, had done something to deserve that sort of treatment. Historically and socially, this viewpoint seems to be a little more common among Christian and Catholic individuals, at least, stereotypically speaking. The film also portrays Fred Phelps, an independent Baptist and the pastor of his own church, who is well-known for his anti-gay protests, and claiming that most natural disasters and terrorist attacks are God's punishment for a society that tolerates homosexuality. In the film based on actual events, he stood outside the church during Matthew’s funeral and cruelly harassed the people attending, including family and friends of Matthew. He and his followers had their typical ‘God Hate Fags’ signs, among others, but they had added new slogans such as ‘Matt in Hell’, that showed a man being consumed my flames. Even more disturbing than these actions was the fact that he had small children holding these sign, teaching them from a young age to be hateful of God’s own, and of our fellow people. Is it right for us to teach these young children these things, and to raise them in such an atmosphere of prejudice and animosity that they grow up to become loathing souls like the boys who killed Matthew in the first place? It seems to these people that the whole business of ‘love thy neighbor’ can only go so far in certain cases, and it seems on the outside that religious people may seem intolerant of homosexuals, and other individuals different from themselves. These assumptions have some root; according to Andrew Whitehead of Baylor University, western religion in general promotes a negative view of homosexuality and same-sex marriages. He published his fingers and experiments, based on a series of surveys, in Social Science Quarterly; some of his findings included that religion was strongly associated with the mind frame that gay people choose their sexual orientation willingly, and also that attitudes toward same-sex unions remain negative, despite inclusion of an attribution variable. Therefore, it is concluded that even if biological factors for homosexuality are proven, unfavorable attitudes towards homosexuals and same-sex unions are expected to linger due to religion’s persistency and the faith of its followers.

Due to personal interpretation and the size of these huge communities, however, there are few sects of Christianity, Catholicism, or any kind of religion that is united enough to have a completely unified “view” on homosexuality. Like faith itself, these views vary widely depending on the individual holding these views, and their psychological, historical, and moral makeup. For example, in The Laramie Project, one of the most actively soul-searching and affirming characters is a catholic priest, who laments derogatory names and slurs towards gay people as “the seeds of hate”. He cites words and ideas as being the birthplaces of hate crimes such as the one committed against Matthew Shepard. He also mentions to his interviewers that he didn’t want anything he said to be twisted around to reflect those views of hate, since that was definitely not something that he wanted to portray in the slightest. He talked about how even something as innocent sounding as name-calling, or using slurs against gays is in actuality the ‘seeds of hate’, and are in themselves a form of violence. His compassion shone through his words, casting a more positive light on a religious community that otherwise seemed to exude fear and alienation. There are certainly religious folks who would share in these beliefs; a popular saying “love the sinner, hate the sin” embodies the ideal that all people “fall short of the glory of God”, and no matter what that sin happens to be, they are all considered brothers and sisters and human beings, even if they are homosexuals. There isn’t one particular group that identifies with this completely; again, it seems to be a matter of personal choice and value. However, there are scriptures that religious supporters, or at least tolerators, of homosexuality can point to as examples of acceptable love and companionship between two members of the same sex. For example, in some modern marriage ceremonies, the phrase: "Wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people and your God my God." is used as part of the vows. Biblically, it comes from something Ruth says to Naomi. Their lives were lonely, and then they became companions to one another. The line itself is in Ruth 1:16: "And Ruth said, "Do not entreat me to leave you, to return from following you, for wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people and your God my God." Whether they were actually engaged in a lesbian relationship is less the issue than the bible recognizing love between women as something acceptable, with words used between them even being applied to modern-day couples. Members of the faith do not by any means need to condone homosexuality itself; according to the scriptures it should be admonished just as much as its fellow sins pride or dishonesty should be… However, should one push away their family members because they tend to be liars, or their friends and neighbors because they boast too much? In the end, no one is completely without blame, and no one should be hated or alienated in the name of religious beliefs- a doctrine that preaches the theories of love and tolerance should be put into practice.

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