Wednesday, August 06, 2003

Trouble with Gay Priests? Jesus people!

Back when I was a devout Christian, seeing other churches with gay priests would have been confirmation of my own religion's legitimacy over those other churches. After all, how could a church claiming to be worshippers of God accept homosexuals into their ranks. Nowadays, I'm a bit more reasonable. I shed the nonsense of dearly holding onto modern perceptions of ancient, prejudice and convoluted texts like the bible.
 
The whole renewed push by "conservative" religious people against homosexuals is frustrating. It is sad to see fellow Americans openly treating other Americans as inferiors, using their interpretation of ancients texts to justify their prejudice, in the same way they were used to justify prejudice against blacks and other nonwhite races in the past.
 
I believe that a religion has the right to choose its leadership for itself. That's part of freedom of religion. Maybe it would seem like a contraction against the bible to have a gay priest or bishop in many faiths. To reconcile, maybe it's time for religious people to accept the message of their bible while leaving behind its prejudice, as we evolve into a more mature and reasonable society.
 
Final note, this is America, land of the free. How can anyone be free when we choose to oppress one segment of our population? Let's live and let live.
 
P.S., BTW, The bible never once forbids homosexuality between women. It doesn't even hint at it. It only specifically condemns sexual relations between men. So, it could be argued that only sex between men is forbidden in the bible, and not homosexuality itself. This would mean that it is ok to have a gay priest.

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