Suddenly, A Wild Bigot Appears!

Earlier today, while I was plinking away at the Curiosity cube on my iPod, I noticed that I had a friend request on Facebook from someone whom I didn't know. Usually when this happens it's from someone who follows me on Twitter or someone with whom I have interacted with on another website and they usually send me a private message saying who they are and where they know me from.

With this in mind, I checked my "other" message box on Facebook to see if this stranger had done so. He hadn't, but surprisingly there was another message in my "other" inbox from yet another person whom I don't know. This extremely lovely individual (please read that with sarcasm thick enough to use as a winter coat) somehow thought that she couldn't rest until she called me an "ABOMINATION to God", insulted my reading skills and questioned my gender identity. How loving of her, right?

Normally, I would just roll my eyes at the poor holier than thou moron and delete the message. This time however, since she went to the trouble of sending me a private message, I decided to respond. She then responded back, quoting two of the infamous "clobber" passages (Leviticus 20:13 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11) both of which Xtians love to quote out of context for some reason. My original response to her must have really hit a nerve though, because she blocked me. Not surprising really; Xtians love to call out other people for their "sins", but when someone else rationally points out to them that they are, in fact sinning by calling people "abominations", they don't seem to like it much. Pot, kettle; can't stand the heat and all that.

Anyway, here is a screen of her original message and my slightly trolling response. I didn't include her response to me as it was just her saying "I'm not judging, these are God's words" and a copy/paste of the two aforementioned, out of context verses. If there are any reading this who find offence with my slightly trolling and/or snarky response, I do apologise for you being offended. Saying that however, there really isn't any other way of responding to people like this woman. They say these things to LGBT people day in and day out, yet refuse to even think that what they're saying is hurtful and harmful.

Whose Fault Is It?

Today I did a "verse of the day". For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this sometimes habit of mine, I will explain. When most people talk of a "verse of the day", they usually take a verse out of a religious text  - usually the Bible. I however, am not religious and do not really ascribe to any religion. Instead, my "holy text" is The Good Book - a secular/humanist/atheist text that was put together by A.C. Grayling. It is from this book that I get my verses from.

Today's verses, chosen at random, were from The Lawgiver Chapter 19 verses 30-32

For when the people have committed a wrong against a good man and then repent of their anger,
They think the easiest way to excuse themselves for this offense is the most just, namely,
To destroy the man who was the author of it and persuaded them to commit it.

Normally, when I do one of my Sunday Sermons or Verses of the Day, I type out the verses and leave the reader to come to their own conclusions. Learning is, after all, done best when a person is left to think for themselves. Sometimes though, I find myself dwelling on what I've typed and feel like maybe someone will appreciate my thoughts on the matter.

These verses bring to my mind the injustices that many LGBTQ people face today at the hands of the "well-meaning" religious right. They tell us we are sinful, abominations, and vile and abhorrent to their God. They tell us that unless we turn to their God, repent of our disgusting sexual depravities, and change to "normal heterosexuality" that we will forever burn in hell.

Sometimes though these people "receive insights from God" and realise that they what they have been saying and doing in the name of their God is wrong and hateful. Some of these people become true allies and stand with us in our struggle towards equality. Others play the "blame game", saying such things as "If my pastor hadn't told us that homosexuality was a sin, I would have never said those things to you." or "It's really the churches fault - the church is to blame for all the hatred towards you.".

The "blame game" is wrong. Period. It doesn't matter if the pastor of a church preached that being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender is sinful. It doesn't matter if a world-renowned Christian activist said that all LGBT people should do the world a favour and kill themselves. It doesn't matter if the Pope said that marriage equality will destroy "traditional" families. Yes, these people are wrong. Yes, they should be preaching love and acceptance instead of hate and divisiveness, but that's their problem.

What does matter, what is your problem, is whether you, as a religious person, listened to them. We all have a choice when someone tells us something. That choice is do you listen to it, believe it, and act upon it, or do you reject what they say as being hateful and un-Christlike? Likewise, we all have a responsibility to research the truthfulness of everything we see, hear, and read.

In summary, take responsibility for your own thoughts and actions; don't blame others for something you could have, with a little thought, done differently.

A Week Away

Sorry about my week long absence. My illness got worse before it got better and a friend came over on Sunday to help me out. I'm better now and he left this morning and arrived back at his home safe and sound this afternoon.

Paul (my son) went on his respite care Wednesday and is due back home today. Since my friend was here, we decided to go on a nice leisurely day trip yesterday to Nantwich, Cheshire.  Nantwich is a very historic town near Crewe and contains several very old and rustic buildings. I've included a few photos here that I took while we were out. It was a nice day. We looked through several nice little shops and bought a few keepsakes each. I bought a travel notebook, some essential oils, and a humanist "bible." My friend chose a worry friend book, some oils, and an autographed copy of "Wonders of the Universe," a companion book to the BBC series of the same name. Naturally we stopped off at a café for tea and cake and on our way to the train station at the end of the day, we went into a pub and shared a very large pot of tea between the two of us. After 4 cups of tea each, we finally gave up and left another 2 or 3 cups worth in the pot! 

Tomorrow Paul and I are off to Prestatyn, Wales for a week. It is my hope that I will be able to make at least one or two entries here, detailing what we've seen and the fun we've had.

Until next time!

According to UPI.com, adults who regularly attended church as children "are 50 percent more likely to become obese by middle age."

If that isn't a reason to stay out of church, then I don't know what is!  

Seriously, all I learned when I attended church was how to conform to the way other people wanted me to be, that if I didn't tithe regularly I was full of sin, that to question the church's "authority" was the same as rejecting Christ, and that my questions, thoughts and opinions as a youth/young adult meant nothing.  Oh yeah, and let's not forget the whole "all the bad things that happen to you are punishments from god" because of some past sin. Because according to Fundamentalists, if you're a "true" believer then everything works out for the best and you don't have to worry about anything - because god will take care of you. (Just keep telling yourself that if your husband/wife beats you up every day)

Believe in god, if that's your thing. But for your own sanity, don't believe everything you're told in church. Read your "holy" book. I mean, really read it. Don't gloss over the things that make you uncomfortable or those things that you read and dismiss because "that was then, this is now and no one lives like that in these modern times," because you know what? They do. Some people still believe that adulterers, liers, thieves should be put to death. Some people still believe that homosexuality should carry a death sentence and that (LGBT) people will go to hell. The christian bible says that god himself will kill over half the earth's population - and enjoy doing so. Really read the bible and then tell me that you still believe that every single bit of it is true - if you can.