Spending most of my time in Tulsa, Oklahoma I was constantly surrounded by religious people. And when I say religious, I mean Christian. Luckily enough, I went to churches with my parents that were more progressive and accepting of different lifestyles. My parents instilled in me that hate is bad no matter what, and that loving people for everything that they are and aren’t is essential to humanity. Over time, I came to my own conclusions about religion, and decided that I didn’t make a good Christian: I cussed too much, had too much sex, drank a lot, and by all accounts, had I labeled myself as a “Christian,” I would have been living a lie. I didn’t dislike Christianity, it just didn’t fit my lifestyle.
Christianity in America has a deep-rooted history. If people studied it closely, they would realize how much hatred existed within the church against certain groups, and one can see that certain Fundamentalist Christian groups are destroying America with their hate and prejudice. I recently came to the conclusion that Fundamentalist Christians are just as bad Muslim terrorists.
When I say this, I mean it. There are moments when I wish a Muslim terrorist would rig Pat Robertson’s microphone with a bomb. It’s a terrible thing to say, but those feelings have culminated over the years through witnessing the attacks Fundamentalist Christians have made against gays and to make sure they don’t have equal rights. The push for abstinence-only programs has actually increased STDs amongst teens and teen pregnancy. And then there are the Fundamentalist Christians who bomb abortion clinics.
Over the last 30 years abortion clinics have been bombed 41 times, and there have been 93 attempts to commit bombings and arsons. Last year, on May 31, anti-abortionist Scott Roeder shot George Tiller, a doctor who performed abortions, while attending church that morning. Not necessarily Christian friendly, is it?
Hypocrisy rubs me in all the wrong ways. Ted Haggard, an evangelical Christian, made his views on homosexuality very clear: it was sinful, an abomination, and campaigned against gay marriage in Colorado. And guess what? He liked having sex with male prostitutes. But to the Christian community, he had “fallen” and had made poor choices. No, Haggard was a gay man living a secret lifestyle, preaching and rallying against homosexuals because it would help him keep his job at a mega-church that paid him a pretty penny.
Matthew Shepard, a 21 year-old gay male attending the University of Wyoming, was tortured and killed because he was gay. Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, known for their anti-gay campaigns, has a website called www.godhatesfags.com. On the website a picture of Shepard’s face is on a tombstone with it reading, “Matthew Shepard entered Hell October 12, 1998, at age 21 In Defiance of God’s Warning.”
To me, these acts of hate are eerily similar to that of Muslim terrorists, who campaign to make sure people that don’t agree with them suffer. And to get their message across, they use extreme acts of hatred and violence.
I realize not all Christians are homophobic or are going to bomb an abortion clinic. I believe religion can serve as a good foundation for morality if people are not extreme about it and don’t use force or violence to make their views known. But this small group of Christians, these fundamentalists, will not disappear unless we stand up against this type of bigotry and let them know that we as a nation will not tolerate hate on any grounds. Sure, we can say, “Well, it’s such a small percentage.” Let go of that thinking. The KKK is small in number, but powerful in force. So is Al-Qaeda.
I am an atheist, but I still have a tattoo of the cross on my left shoulder because I believe in the teachings of Jesus. He became buddies with a hooker, fed the poor, made people who felt shitty about themselves better people, he spoke out against the church, and he loved people. He didn’t judge or damn them to hell. I am pretty sure if Jesus was alive and saw what Christians were doing in his name, he would be mortified.
I am asking my Christian friends to come together and show the world that Christianity doesn’t have to be nasty. Don’t let these few individuals speak on your behalf. Religious or not, a majority of us know wrong from right. We know the difference between love and hate. It’s time we take a stand together, put religious differences aside and spread a message different than the one we’re used to hearing.
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