First: an old Italian proverb. "You cannot reason with a German, but you can give orders." Second: only argue with a liberal when they are in the right. The more they are in the wrong, the more they become obstinate and intractable.
That was as far as I took it, considering how much of the Old Testament I saw to be contradictory and plain incorrect when put up against the NT. (C'mon, you ever tried to remove mildew with prayer? I did it one time to be lazy and avoid cleaning the bathroom. It didn't work.) It doesn't explain to me why people take some parts of one chapter seriously but completely ignore the rest: forgive me for bringing up a cliche, but the whole 'gay' thing being a sin while people wear mixed cloth and gold jewellery; it might've been Saint Paul, or it might've been Karl Lagerfield. The nine years of catholic schooling I attended have since been wiped out with copious alcohol abuse.
I suppose I am going to have to speak out about homosexuality. I really did not want to, because there is no topic, in my experience - not excluding abortion - on which people more quickly become hysterical, persecution-minded and obsessional. Nothing is less gay, in the sense of joyful, happy, luminous, than the average liberal when faced with the issue of homosexuality and its moral status; just the other day, Icarusancalion, who claims to be a Buddhist, just shrieked and howled me right out of her LJ page for no other reason than I had objected to being called a "nutjob" just because I oppose homosexual separatism. The position of the average liberal on this matter is profoundly illiberal: you are not allowed to say anything about homosexuality that is not wholly positive, and if you do, woe betide you. If you take that position, I strongly suggest you defriend me right now, because I am not going to compromise or flatter.
Tough luck on that one, alas. I think it's just as bad to force someone against their religious convictions to accept homosexuality as it is to force someone against their non-religious convictions to not accept it, thus I can see where you're coming from. I think tolerating and accepting are different things, and though I actively support it and promote tolerance within my own community through participation in many gay-themed events here, it's not particularly my place to force my own stance upon someone with such devout beliefs. On the line of tolerating, however, is a different matter: people should tolerate, if only because people don't have to be Christian or religious, thus shouldn't have to be ruled by a moral guideline that doesn't apply to their own faith or belief system.
Please feel free to disagree on this point.
(By separatism, I suppose you're speaking of the Gay Games incident and your opposition on the grounds that if they're that good at athletics they should just perform in the major Olympics. I don't know precisely where you're coming from on this one.)
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Date: 2005-05-17 10:20 am (UTC)That was as far as I took it, considering how much of the Old Testament I saw to be contradictory and plain incorrect when put up against the NT. (C'mon, you ever tried to remove mildew with prayer? I did it one time to be lazy and avoid cleaning the bathroom. It didn't work.) It doesn't explain to me why people take some parts of one chapter seriously but completely ignore the rest: forgive me for bringing up a cliche, but the whole 'gay' thing being a sin while people wear mixed cloth and gold jewellery; it might've been Saint Paul, or it might've been Karl Lagerfield. The nine years of catholic schooling I attended have since been wiped out with copious alcohol abuse.
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Date: 2005-05-17 02:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-18 12:30 am (UTC)Please feel free to disagree on this point.
(By separatism, I suppose you're speaking of the Gay Games incident and your opposition on the grounds that if they're that good at athletics they should just perform in the major Olympics. I don't know precisely where you're coming from on this one.)