Subject: Re: A Dissertation of Daunting Length
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 19:25:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: Chris Purdom <purdom@rabbit.com>

Charlie Galvin implied:
> 
> Ladies and Gentlemen:
> 
> Attached please find an essay I wrote to address the needs of les/bi/gay 
> people who have religious issues around their sexuality and are wondering 
> whether God condemns them.  I had a look at
> http://www.critpath.org/pflag-talk/other/
> and notices a number of articles on similar themes.  If you think anyone 
> would find the following of interest, you're welcome to use it and/or pass 
> it on to anyone else who wants it.
> 
> Charles E. Galvin, Jr.
> 121 Cortland Avenue
> San Francisco CA  94110-5503
> cxarli@gnn.com
> 
> ====================
> 
>   THE ONE, TRUE FAITH
>   
>   If there exist at least two religious traditions which proclaim
>   themselves each to be The One, True Faith, then there *must* exist
>   people who honestly believe that their faith is the only one in which a
>   person can find Salvation, discover God's Truth, or learn of the Divine
>   Plan For Their Lives ... and are wrong in this belief.  The logic is
>   inescapable.  If there is such a thing as a One, True Faith, then there
>   cannot be two, can there?  And if there *isn't* one, then *everyone* who
>   believes otherwise is wrong.
>   
>   And in fact, there are several religions which assert themselves to be
>   the only true path to God.  Can any of them be right?  Is everyone who
>   has chosen the "wrong" faith damned for eternity no matter what kind of
>   life they've lived?  Or must one explore every single religious
>   philosophy in existence in order to be certain that one hasn't missed
>   the one true teaching?
>   
>   
>   WHAT SORT OF PERSON IS GOD?
>   
>   Most religions teach that their respective gods or goddesses are
>   interested in the well-being of humankind.  The Judaeo-Christian
>   tradition portrays a loving God in Whose image humankind were created,
>   and like Whom we should strive to be.  If this is true, and we are God's
>   children whose task it is to follow His example and to become as much
>   like Him as our human condition allows, then surely those human
>   qualities which we hold up as ideals -- love, kindness, forgiveness,
>   compassion, patience -- are found in God in far greater measure than in
>   error-prone humans.
>   
>   Yet even human parents have difficulty giving up on their children, no
>   matter how grave the error of their ways.  Mothers of condemned killers
>   have been known to stand by and love their children and never cease to
>   hope that somehow a way to redemption will be found.
>   
>   If a merely human parent can show this kind of unconditional love and
>   forgiveness to a child whose error and willful wrongdoing are of the
>   most serious nature, how can one believe that a loving God of whom we
>   are but pale images could ever be the sort of wrathful, vengeful being
>   that some people say He is?
>   
>   
>   WHOSE TEACHING IS IT, ANYWAY?
>   
>         "If no one had ever challenged religious authority there
>         would be no democracy, no public schools, women's
>         rights, pursuit of science, medicine, abolition of
>         slavery, and no laws against child abuse."
>                           --Mary Griffith
>   
>   Humans make mistakes.  Sometimes honest ones; sometimes not so honest. 
>   One of the most difficult things for us to do is to admit when we are
>   wrong.  The more significant the error, the longer it has continued, the
>   more burdensome the task to fix it, the harder it is to own up to it. 
>   Taking a critical look at beliefs one has held for one's whole life is
>   very difficult indeed.  Yet people of faith are called upon to do just
>   that if they would not do evil in the name of religion.
>   
>   History is full of examples of evil things done in God's name.  As the
>   Bible reminds us, "the Devil can cite Scripture for his purpose" and he
>   has plenty of human help.  Scripture has been misused for centuries to
>   justify human slavery (Leviticus: "Slaves you may indeed own..."),
>   racism (Genesis: the mark of Cain), murder and genocide (*passim*!).
>   
>   So how do you tell whose purpose someone quoting Scripture is serving? 
>   Well, if God is love, and someone is citing chapter and verse to justify
>   despising their neighbor, it shouldn't be that hard to figure out whose
>   teaching it *isn't*.
>   
>   Christians would do well to put aside the preaching of modern pastors,
>   and pay greater attention to the example of Jesus.  Not once did Jesus
>   condemn anyone other than organized religion.  He called the chief
>   priests, scribes and Pharisees "hypocrites" and really got mad at the
>   temple moneychangers.  He had a great deal of contempt for the pastors
>   and religious hierarchy of His day.  But ordinary sinners making
>   mistakes?  "Let the one among you who is without sin cast the first
>   stone."  Did Jesus threaten Mary Magdalene with the lake of fire if she
>   didn't shape up and start going to temple and keeping kosher?  Did he
>   rouse the citizenry to keep people like her out of "normal" society? 
>   No.  Jesus told her He didn't condemn her.  He urged her not to sin any
>   more, but what He showed her was not fire and brimstone and the wrath of
>   God, but unconditional love, sin notwithstanding.
>   
>   Who were Jesus' constant companions?  Religious leaders?  Respectable
>   citizens who supported their temple and were good Jews?  No.  He hung
>   out with prostitutes, tax collectors, the poor (and homeless) -- sinners
>   with whom respectable churchgoers would not associate or even
>   acknowledge in the street.
>   
>   Perhaps Jesus' most important teaching is the parable of the Good
>   Samaritan.  "Good Samaritan" was an oxymoron to Jews of the time.  Judea
>   and Samaria were enemies.  Jews despised Samaritans because they
>   followed a different religion and did not believe in the God of Abraham. 
>   Jesus' message in this tale is that the two pious, upstanding Jews (the
>   merchant and the priest) even though they may have kept kosher and
>   followed other biblical rules of cleanliness, disobeyed God's
>   commandment: to love their neighbor.  It was the *Samaritan* -- the
>   pagan, the unclean, the one whose way of life was a bad example and from
>   whom children ought to be protected -- who showed this neighborly love
>   to the wounded traveller, his enemy (who, if conscious and not bleeding
>   to death on the highway, probably wouldn't have given the Samaritan the
>   time of day).
>   
>   Indeed, when asked to name the greatest commandment, Jesus said that the
>   greatest commandment is to Love God with all your heart, all your mind
>   and all your soul, and the second is like it: to love your neighbor as
>   yourself.  Jesus said that all of the law and the prophets (i.e.
>   Scripture) are based on these two.
>   
>   Despising one's neighbor, even if their way of life is contrary to your
>   religion, is thus in direct contravention of the teaching of Jesus.  And
>   further, the parable of the Good Samaritan teaches that even the person
>   who doesn't profess your faith may still practice it better than you do.
>   
>   
>   THE MYTH OF THE "CHRISTIAN NATION"
>   
>   The United States is not a Christian nation, although it is certainly
>   true that among those who profess a faith to the bean counters at the
>   Census Bureau, Christians are the largest group.  The first European
>   settlers were Christians of a minority Protestant sect which had been
>   persecuted in England because they were not of the state religion
>   (i.e. the Church of England), and fled first to Holland and then to
>   the New World to escape this persecution.
>   
>   Others, too, were concerned that no all-powerful state religion of the
>   sort which prevailed in European countries would be established in the
>   United States.  Thus, the Constitution was drafted with especial care to
>   prevent this, and it specifically provides that there shall be no
>   religious test required for someone to be an officer (President, Vice
>   President, etc.) of the United States.  The First Amendment makes that
>   protection against religious involvement in the state even stronger.
>   
>   Thus, even the Christian founders of our nation were concerned that
>   religion and government be kept separate.  It is just this separation of
>   church and state which affords every citizen the freedom to practice any
>   religion they choose and prevents any one religion from interfering with
>   the religious freedom of others.
>   
>   Because religious freedom is guaranteed by the Constitution, no law may
>   be based solely in religious teaching, but must serve the secular needs
>   and purposes of the people, and must not infringe on anyone's religious
>   freedom.
>   
>   Thus, in a place where Jews are in the majority, they could not pass
>   laws enforcing the dietary laws (kosher) or forbidding the transaction
>   of business on Saturdays.  Mormons cannot make coffee and chocolate
>   illegal.  Conservative Baptists cannot outlaw dancing.  Nor can anyone
>   force any of these religious folk to abandon their personal faith, so
>   long as they don't harm anyone else.
>   
>   
>   THE BOTTOM LINE
>   
>   The bottom line is that every human, regardless of race, creed, gender,
>   age, sexual orientation, socio-economic status -- every human, period --
>   is our neighbor.  The vast majority of religious teaching supports this
>   view, especially once you strip away a few centuries' worth of
>   hypocritical rationalization and go back to what the Great Teachers
>   (Jesus, Buddha, Mohamed) actually said *themselves*.  We may believe
>   that someone is living in a way which is not best for them and in which
>   we would not choose to live, yet that does not stop them from being our
>   neighbor nor does it take away our obligation to respect our fellow
>   humans or their right to choose their own path (and make their own
>   mistakes).
>   
>   Hating your neighbor (or teaching your neighbor to hate himself) is
>   evil, no matter in whose name you do it.
>   
>   Jesus accepted and loved everyone, sin and error notwithstanding.
>   
>   "Go thou and do likewise."
>   
>   
>   FOR FURTHER READING
>   
> Aarons, Leroy.  *Prayers for Bobby: a mother's coming to terms with the
>         suicide of her gay son*  ISBN 0-06-251122-X  (cloth)  ISBN
>         0-06-251123-8  (pbk.)  (HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco, 1995)
>   
> Bass, Ellen and Kate Kaufman.  *Free Your Mind: The Book for Lesbian,
>         Gay and Bisexual Youth and Their Allies*  ISBN 0-06-095-104-4 
>         (HarperPerennial, New York, 1996)
>   
> Helminiak, David A., Ph.D.  *What the Bible Really Says About
>         Homosexuality*  ISBN 0-9624751-9-X  (Alamo Square Press, San
>         Francisco, 1994)
>   
> Hill, Jim and Rand Cheadle.  *The Bible Tells Me So: Use and Abuse of
>         Holy Scripture*  ISBN 0-385-47695-7  (Anchor Press)
>   
>     NOTE:      Bass & Kaufman and Helminiak include bibliographies.  Bass &
>                Kaufman's includes many references to resources, including
>                welcoming religious groups.  Helminiak's includes sources
>                from both sides of the theological issues.
>   
> --                                          __ _  _  __ _  _     ___ _
>    Charles E. [Charlie] GALVIN, Jr.    |   |_ (_ |_)|_ |_)/_\|\ | | / \
>             Cxarli@gnn.com             |   |__._)|  |__| \| || \| | \_/
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