Today was the AIDS Walk for San Francisco, and at the very beginning of the walk, there were conservative Christians on the sidelines with big signs and big megaphones proclaiming that homosexuals were like thieves, liars, and fornicators, and that they deserved to get AIDS because of their sin.
There was no Jesus love there. I was angry (righteous anger, I assure you) that these people called themselves Christians.
Most walkers chose to ignore them. Some yelled back “Shut up!” As far as I can tell, nobody converted to Christianity or was tempted to do so. No one fell on their knees screaming, “You’re right! I am a sinner. AIDS is God’s punishment for gay people.”
I just don’t get where this is coming from, Biblically speaking. Did Jesus go around with a megaphone condemning prostitutes? Did he tell lepers they must have sinned really badly in order to be afflicted with leprosy? I seem to vaguely remember him loving prostitutes, lepers, and tax collectors… and condemning the self-righteous pharisees. Maybe my version of the Bible is different from the megaphone- and sign-touting Christians’ Bibles.
Ah, but you see, you can tell AIDS is god punishing gay people, because only gay people get AIDS. It’s magic!
Ugh, I really hate people like that. It does make me wonder which Bible they’ve read, but then I realize they probably haven’t actually read the Bible, they just use it as a convenient excuse to try and justify their fear and hatred of the gays or the (insert other minority group here). Feh.
I agree with you. Those people are mostly a kook fringe though.
I hope they are the kook fringe. Good thing there were a bunch of church groups doing the AIDS Walk that had more appropriate (but smaller) signs.
I think they use the King James Version which uses anachronistic terms like homosexual, knowing well the term wasn’t invented til the 19th century.
As a Catholic, we’re less kooky about these things and don’t see it as a punishment.
It may just be me, but anytime religion is involved, things always get 10,000% worse. Makes me glad I’m Atheist, less to worry about. :)
bla bla bla … and what do you think … that being gay is NORMAL … thats sick .. im sorry for you .., God created men and women … men are supposed to be with women … and women are supposed to be with men … if God wanted gays to be then he would have created men only .. same applies to lesbians … so sad that you think that gays are oppressed or being treated with injustice. People are losing their morals and values. Losing your virginity is an everyday incident that is cool, being gay or homo is normal, screwing in public places is okay … where in hell is the world going to … damn
Good point Phantom, I don’t refer homosexuals as “gay”, I refer to them as “population controllers” ;)
[quote]God created men and women … men are supposed to be with women … and women are supposed to be with men …[/quote]
That is conditional on believing in god :)
[quote]if God wanted gays to be then he would have created men only .. same applies to lesbians …[/quote]
Why do you think your god made gay people if he didn’t want them to be gay?
[quote] People are losing their morals and values.[/quote]
Or just realising the odd cult of christianity is useless and irrational.
[quote]being gay or homo is normal,[/quote]
But should people do things based on what mostly everyone else does?
Phantom it is not your choice who is gay and who is not, I will not be a slave to a God that does not exist.
Homosexuality is irrational? Well, you’re right. Religion is irrational too. Deal with it.
I just laugh at people like that. In no way does the lifestyle that gay people live interfere with them, why should they have the right to push their lifestyles on gay people?
Whether or not being gay is a sin, etc., etc. why would you want to go to an AIDS support function and say hey, if you have AIDs, you’re gay and going to hell? It’s just not practical or productive. It won’t stop them from being gay, won’t stop them from having AIDS, won’t make them convert, and makes Christianity look hypocritical and hateful.
Phantom’s post completely misses the point Ubuntucat is making. It’s not about being gay or not, about being Christian or not, it’s about how poorly these people were prosteletizing and how degrading other people doesn’t further Christianity’s goals.
Those folks may be on the “kook fringe” but unfortunately they’re who get the media attention and thus, they are all some people know of Christianity. They’re not only doing themselves a disservice, but they’re doing the rest of us Christians a disservice.
I think that you shouldn’t of called them Christians in the first place. People can claim to be what ever they want, but that doesn’t make them what they claim to be. For instance I can claim to be Asian (god I wish i was) but that doesn’t make me Asian.