Fundamentalist Christianity vs. the Sneaky Gay Agenda

Several bloggers have discussed the video below, and rather than commenting on all of their blogs, I thought I might as well share my thoughts here.

I thought it was a joke when they said that proponents of the “gay agenda” are “sneaky” and then explained that their tactics include the following: They have books added to the library, the catalogue of which is online in most cases; and have things mentioned on notices sent home with kids which parents don’t read. How is that sneaky?!

But the most disturbing part is the idea that in order for conservative Christians to have freedom of religion, they have to be able to live in a world, and send their children to schools, where they can pretend that gays and lesbians don’t exist.

But that presents a catch 22 for them. If they argue that gays and lesbians are mentioned in Scripture, then presumably acknowledging their existence is not against their beliefs. And if they turn around and claim that they aren’t mentioned in Scripture, then presumably they should stop quoting the clobber verses they usually fling at gays and lesbians.

The heart of the matter, at any rate, is freedom of religion. Surely religious freedom for conservative Christians is not incompatible with schools teaching that gays and lesbians must be treated with respect, no matter what your views on homosexuality, any more than it is incompatible with Jewish and Christian adherence to the first two commandments if schools teach that Hindus deserve to be treated with respect, no matter what your views are about making images of the divine. Because religious freedom in the United States is not just freedom for conservative Christians to condemn, but for Hindus to worship, and in some states and denominations, for gays and lesbians to marry.

And so to those who hold views like those expressed in the video, I say this: unless you’re ready to go on record as being in favor of abolishing the Bill of Rights and setting up a theocracy, I suggest you embrace religious freedom. Because the truth is that if the majority religious opinion was allowed to be imposed on you, you might not have the freedom to fill the airwaves with the sort of nonsense this video clip illustrates.

As for me, I’m grateful for the religious freedom that protects my right to disagree with the views of the people in this video, which also protects their right to disagree with me. But it annoys me when people enjoy the benefits of freedom and at the same time seek to deprive others of those same freedoms, without showing any indication that they realize how hypocritical that is.