It's pretty hard to deny that a lot of the world's problems have roots in the activities of organized book-religions like Christianity, which are less matters of personal faith and more systems of control.
Yes, there are many loving, open-minded followers of this religion, and many Christians out there who follow its core beliefs of loving selflessly and accepting unconditionally. Unfortunately it is the intolerant minority which is shouting the loudest at present - the minority which claims it is Christian, but is far more Levitican in its belief system, which rejects Christian teaching and clings instead to old testament ritual in a frighteningly fundamentalist manner.
Despite making it clear the other day that I am not targeting loving, tolerant Christians for attacking the human rights and dignity of GLBTI people, or the Pink Community as we call ourselves here (which I have done by referring to "Leviticans") some folks - even gay Christians - still seem to get their wires crossed and accuse me of targeting them.
I have to wonder - is this a result of a) short attention span, or b) guilty conscience/martyr complex?
"I never have used my god as a weapon." They tell me. Good for you - but others do every day. And they also call themselves Christians, funny enough. I believe I addressed this topic in an earlier article I called "Will the real Christians please stand up?" Amazingly enough, I didn't get any death threats over that one. But still, I seem to get the impression that even GLBTI Christians don't like it when other people stand up for them against religious-based persecution. I still think they should rather get upset with the Leviticans among them instead. Don't you?
We know the Leviticans - the folks who call themselves Christians, but reject Christ's message of love and hope and get their jollies hammering people for things they see as far more important than loving their neighbor, or treating people as they would be treated themselves. They get their thrills doing unto others though. You know these folks, they are the cat among the pigeons, the wolves in the fold.
I call things as I see them, folks - the biggest attack on our human rights today comes from the religious right wing christian fundamentalist (aka Levitican) sector (and THAT IS the issue at hand) -which brings me to my point - if you aren't a fundamentalist (or Levitican) why are you taking it so personally??
Instead of attacking me for criticizing people abusing your religion and for making it into a weapon of hatred and oppression, shouldn't you be be taking them on as well?
Allow me to sum it up for you - religion won't leave us out of it - so why should we cut them any slack? Is it ok for religious personalities to move into politics to hammer and debase our humanity - hit and run or "drive-by" our rights and then retreat behind the safety of "freedom of religion" - and religious extremism and hostility remains a "holy cow" that we daren't fight back against? I'm sorry but that shit don't fly. If they want to destroy lives and even mastermind genocide as they have been doing in Uganda, and threaten our civil and human rights in my country, then I will damn well criticize them and expose them for the frauds and monsters they are.
So if you're sorry I don't call myself a Christian anymore, don't be - I'm not. To paraphrase the old patriotic mumbo-jumbo spouted in years past: Ask not what's wrong with me because I lost faith in your religion - ask what's wrong with your religion (or the people who run it) that I lost faith in it. And while you're at it, ask yourself what you can do to fix it.
I can't help it if you are upset by the truth - or my perception of the truth. I also can't stop you from offering to praying for me. After all, it doesn't bother me - it's your time after all, your effort and your business. But I'm certainly not going to prattle on here about my personal beliefs about life, the universe and everything to try to convince you (or myself) of what I believe, or to say what a shame it is you don't see things my way, spice it up with threats of fire and brimstone and eternal damnation - or promises of sweet paradise if you toe the line - or give my opinion on how lost I might think you are. You see, my beliefs are my own business, and yours should be your own business also. Quite frankly, I don't care what god you believe in - because it's none of my business. Just like what I do in the privacy of my own relationships - that is, when I'm lucky enough to have relationships.
And after all, I'm not on here to talk about religion - my part in this play is to defend the human rights of myself and those like me - and if you think I'm just on here bad-mouthing religion for no reason at all, I think you need to open your eyes.
These ultra paranoid folks even seem to think I am intent on advocating to take away their religious freedom. This is of course an outright lie - but I do oppose their "right" to destroy the lives of other people in the name of their religion. Big difference. But hey, that's not up to me, is it?
No. It's up to you.
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All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2019.
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