Of Picking, Choosing, and Religious Wackos

Since I have been going to college, I’ve noticed that my TV viewing has plummeted, especially in the news department. I used to watch the local news almost nightly, but I had fallen off the wagon, and have been ignorant of local happenings for a few months now. I don’t say the same for national and international stories, though, because I read the Huffington Post daily.

Today, however, is a day in the week known as Spring Break, and I am fairly bored, so I figured I’d look at CBS 11’s website and check up on the local goings-on. Lo and behold, I saw a story that captured my eye right from the start:

Dallas Jail Guard Fired Over Anti-Gay Remarks

Ding! Whenever a story comes out about an LGBT topic, I’m tuned in, since I have a personal interest in them. Pretty much, this guy is a religious right wacko who went around claiming that he “disagrees with homosexuality” and that gays should be killed, slavery is justified by the Bible, and other generally ancient and off-the-wall “ideas”. He has a history of racism as well, and claims that dinosaurs are the work of something Satanic (his exact wording was too rambly and wacky for me to really decipher).

What really got me is this little snippet of the story:

“They made it out to be that I was a bigot. I was fired ’cause I hurt someone else’s feelings,” Johnson said Monday. He said that his free speech rights were violated but that he will not appeal.

Wow, where do I start? Well, guess I should start from the beginning. Saying you “disagree with homosexuality” is like saying you “disagree” with being black or being left-handed: it’s saying you don’t like a part of who someone is. It’s a simple fact that being gay is not a choice but is something that occurs in people naturally, as with other animal species.

This guy seems to think that he had the right to say that stuff based on the First Amendment or something. He’s freaking promoting genocide! That is not covered, period, because he is promoting criminal activity against people due to a naturally-occurring trait. Newsflash, guy – you ARE a bigot. Simple as that.

Finally, the part where he claims he was fired because “he hurt someone’s feelings” is really provoking in itself. While he’s going around talking about all this “Christian” belief stuff, he seems to not be aware of one of the Christian principles that he and other religious righties love to ignore – the Golden Rule. Under that rule, which morally applies to *everyone* (not just Christians) he should be treating others the way he wants to be treated. That includes what he calls “hurting someone’s feelings”. Ain’t it amazing how many insensitive pricks there are, Christianity-claiming and otherwise, who seem to ignore a common sense moral like the Golden Rule?

The Real Love, Not the Fake Kind

As this Christmas season winds down, I am thinking about how people have lost the real meaning of the holiday. We all see people in stores going after toys and electronics and all that stuff as if there were solid gold in the boxes or something, and we all hear about presents and all that stuff. But one thing we all need to keep in mind is that there is more to the holiday then just giving and receiving gifts.

This is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. This is a holiday to not only celebrate that, but to also celebrate what Jesus was all about. No, not campaigning against that evil old “health care reform” thing, but showing love, compassion, acceptance, generosity, and all the evil socialist stuff like that. Even if you are not a Christian, it’s still a great time to celebrate those values, cause those are not only Christian values, they are common sense values; they are human values.

“Oh, well, I donate to the Salvation Army every year!”

Okay, that’s good. But what else do you do, besides just eat and give and receive gifts?

“…”

What people need to realize is, those values should, morally, go further than the Christmas season, and also go further than just the typical stuff most people do. Every person – Christians, Muslims, Jews, agnostics, atheists, Pastafarians, everyone – has a moral obligation to show these values every single day of their life.

There are many problems out there that these values should be exercised towards that don’t get much airtime in the media and aren’t on most peoples’ minds. For one, it’s about realizing that people can’t always help themselves, and sometimes need help from others or the government, contrary to what a lot of conservatives and libertarians would have you believe. Health care is a perfect example. During the main debate, and even now during the conference committee period, conservatives and libertarians, brainwashed by the whole Reagan mantra about government being evil, have been bitching about the effort to cover people who need it and save lives in the process, despite the fact that this would save lives. “Oh, they just need to get a better job.” “They need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps!” “Why are they complaining? They are required by law to be accepted at the hospital!” Newsflash – they may not be able to just find a better job, ’cause it’s not that simple. As for that last line, perhaps it escapes those people that after they get released they will likely have a lifetime of debt on their hands. Thankfully, there are people that realize how wrong that is. A lot of the righties don’t, though. Frankly, I think a lot of them are just devoid of hearts at all.

In addition, there are other things, like helping the lonely. Once again, it’s often not as simple as “just going out and finding friends”, especially for people like me, because of little problems like rejection and not fitting in. In fact, I believe that this is one of the biggest issues that need to be tackled by good citizens. If there is someone like me out there – someone who has been shunned and is lonely, perhaps missing out on youth, something like that – reach out and be like a brother/sister to them. If they’re like me, and never enjoyed school because of loneliness and such, help them recover their lost youth by doing fun things and making memories. Don’t stop there though – provide them a friend for life. You will be providing a great service. In fact, if you have done something like that in the past, or are planning to do something to that extent, email me the message for possible publication on a future section of my website and/or this blog.

It’s amazing how many people I have talked to that have deficits in one or more of these values act when I bring up facts like this. One guy in particular tried to say “well, giving gifts is helping people!” Well, he’s right. But that’s just one piece of the puzzle. Other pieces include helping to solve societal problems, helping the jobless get jobs, feeding the hungry, and yes, befriending the lonely. There are many other things in that category too.

Also tying into all this is love. Not fake love, but real love. Boy oh boy are we short on love in this world. We all have a responsibility year round to show real love to our friends, those in need, and citizens in general. It’s not the kind of love where you hug someone and place a “Kick Me” sign on their back, it’s real love. If someone’s in need and frustrated about the issue (like me with loneliness), don’t get on their case and treat them badly in any way, help them through it all the way. Don’t do mean little things to them.

On future Christmases, and year round, remember that this holiday is not just about consumerism and food. It’s about love, helping others, and celebrating the birth and values of Jesus. In fact, I gave a speech about it at my church last Sunday, the audio of which is on YouTube.

Speaking of church, and Christianity in general, I am a progressive Christian, and am a big promoter of progressive thought in Christian matters (although the church I attend is not really in the progressive category), such as what you’ll find in an earlier post about analyzing Bible context and using reason about LGBT issues. For a summary about what we’re all about, check out this page on the Center for Progressive Christianity’s website. Look for a post on it sometime in the future. My next post will probably be one about sports culture and how it is poisoning our society, among other things, as this is an issue that hits very close to home.