This has been a really great year for Equality all across the nation. From the Supreme Court to City Councils and Corporate Boardrooms, Equality, Non-Discrimination and Benefits have marched forth into laws and policies at an unprecedented rate. In fact the movement for Equality has advanced at such a frighteningly rapid pace that has those on the Anti-Gay side of the aisle are literally quaking in their boots. Organizations such as the Family Research Council, the National Organization for Marriage, and the American Family Association along with other conservative religious right wing nuts have been screaming that their 'religious liberty' is being attacked and that they in fact are beginning to be persecuted for their viewpoints, spoken words and their efforts to block the advance of Equality for the LGBT community. I call Bullshit on them all. However, Alvin McEwen of the blog Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters wrote an open letter to 'Christians who claim they are being persecuted' for their beliefs in which he eloquently refutes their talking points and illustrating what real persecution is. I have posted his open letter here as his words sum up things much better than I:
Dear Christians who think they are being persecuted,
I don't expect you to be swayed by my open letter. I don't expect to change your mind with my words. But certain things have to be said.
Now I understand how some of you don't agree with marriage equality (some of you call it gay marriage, I call it marriage equality) and I respect your opinion. I have tolerance for your opinion. I even have tolerance for your opinion that homosexuality is a sin.
However, please note - and don't take this the wrong way - that every time you gripe about being persecuted for simply for being ordered to treat gay couples like you would heterosexual couples by the rule of law, you make damn fools of yourself.
I'm serious. I don't say this to be mean or nasty. I mean no malice intended.
But don't you think that automatically seizing the "persecution card" simply because you have to treat gays the same as heterosexuals in accordance to the law is just a bit too much? Don't you think that you are taking dramatic license a little too far? Or at least overacting just a little?
Let's talk about this. When I think about "religious persecution," I think about the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witchcraft Trials, how Mary I of England had over 280 people burned at the stake for supposed heresy, the mass slaughter of the Huguenots.
When I think of persecution in general, I think of mutilated corpses littering the streets, screaming victims being dragged away by brutal soldiers to suffer harsher fates. I think about vandalized places of business, burning homes, mobs throwing rocks at innocent folks, the smell of death, violence, and anarchy in the air.
I fail to see how having your day in court and losing your case fairly as a result of due process and then being interviewed on the most watched news programs in the country by a leggy - if slightly scatterbrained - blonde in a tight dress fits amongst the images of violence, death, and the general mayhem which comes with religious persecution.
I fail to see how being the cause celebre of various multi-million dollared morality groups (and getting a decent income with a speaking gig if you can get a good "Christian" agent) ranks up there with being slaughtered.
Come on guys. In the early days of your faith, the Romans fed you to lions. They crucified several of you. They dipped you in tar and set you on fire. They even distorted the words of the Holy Communion to claim that you practiced cannibalism (which kinda reminds me to later mention how some of you distort science to demonize gays, but that's for another time.)
Do you think God will punish you for simply making a cake for a gay wedding or even marrying a gay couple if you are elected to do such a job?
After all, it is gay tax dollars who is paying the police force to keep your business safe or the fire department to save your business if it should catch on fire.
And it is gay dollars which is paying your salary as an elected official who oversees weddings.
So it seems to me that you are already deep with us as it is. Do you hear any voices above asking you to cease? Have you been struck by lightning yet?
Well then that should tell you something.
Lgbts aren't out to persecute you. We aren't asking that you like us or that you "endorse" us. All we ask is fairness in accordance to the law. After all, this is our country too. And when we appear in public with partners or families or when we talk about issues that affect us, we certainly aren't shoving anything in your faces. We are merely acting like normal human beings going through the regular process of existing on this Earth. You know that process, don't you? It's called having a life.
I hope I haven't bored you or gotten you so upset that you don't consider what I'm saying.
Because next time, I want to talk to you about this "War on Christmas" thing.
Yours truly,
Alvin McEwen
I don't expect you to be swayed by my open letter. I don't expect to change your mind with my words. But certain things have to be said.
Now I understand how some of you don't agree with marriage equality (some of you call it gay marriage, I call it marriage equality) and I respect your opinion. I have tolerance for your opinion. I even have tolerance for your opinion that homosexuality is a sin.
However, please note - and don't take this the wrong way - that every time you gripe about being persecuted for simply for being ordered to treat gay couples like you would heterosexual couples by the rule of law, you make damn fools of yourself.
I'm serious. I don't say this to be mean or nasty. I mean no malice intended.
But don't you think that automatically seizing the "persecution card" simply because you have to treat gays the same as heterosexuals in accordance to the law is just a bit too much? Don't you think that you are taking dramatic license a little too far? Or at least overacting just a little?
Let's talk about this. When I think about "religious persecution," I think about the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witchcraft Trials, how Mary I of England had over 280 people burned at the stake for supposed heresy, the mass slaughter of the Huguenots.
When I think of persecution in general, I think of mutilated corpses littering the streets, screaming victims being dragged away by brutal soldiers to suffer harsher fates. I think about vandalized places of business, burning homes, mobs throwing rocks at innocent folks, the smell of death, violence, and anarchy in the air.
I fail to see how having your day in court and losing your case fairly as a result of due process and then being interviewed on the most watched news programs in the country by a leggy - if slightly scatterbrained - blonde in a tight dress fits amongst the images of violence, death, and the general mayhem which comes with religious persecution.
I fail to see how being the cause celebre of various multi-million dollared morality groups (and getting a decent income with a speaking gig if you can get a good "Christian" agent) ranks up there with being slaughtered.
Come on guys. In the early days of your faith, the Romans fed you to lions. They crucified several of you. They dipped you in tar and set you on fire. They even distorted the words of the Holy Communion to claim that you practiced cannibalism (which kinda reminds me to later mention how some of you distort science to demonize gays, but that's for another time.)
Do you think God will punish you for simply making a cake for a gay wedding or even marrying a gay couple if you are elected to do such a job?
After all, it is gay tax dollars who is paying the police force to keep your business safe or the fire department to save your business if it should catch on fire.
And it is gay dollars which is paying your salary as an elected official who oversees weddings.
So it seems to me that you are already deep with us as it is. Do you hear any voices above asking you to cease? Have you been struck by lightning yet?
Well then that should tell you something.
Lgbts aren't out to persecute you. We aren't asking that you like us or that you "endorse" us. All we ask is fairness in accordance to the law. After all, this is our country too. And when we appear in public with partners or families or when we talk about issues that affect us, we certainly aren't shoving anything in your faces. We are merely acting like normal human beings going through the regular process of existing on this Earth. You know that process, don't you? It's called having a life.
I hope I haven't bored you or gotten you so upset that you don't consider what I'm saying.
Because next time, I want to talk to you about this "War on Christmas" thing.
Yours truly,
Alvin McEwen
Your Midweek Musical Moment features two Concerti for Oboe and Orchestra, Number 1 in D Minor and Number 5 in C Major by German Oboist and Composer Ludwig August Lebrun. Both pieces are performed by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Toomas Vavilov and featuring Thomas Indermuhle on Solo Oboe.
Finally today is a collection of twinks, twunks, hunks and hotties frolicking about the various Pools, Beaches and Baths of the world in this week's edition of Wet Wednesday. Thanks for sharing a part of your day with me, see you tomorrow. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
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