As a Christian who does believe that homosexuality is against God’s good plan for us, among other things, which many human beings indulge in yet can be forgiven for, I have to agree that the above statement is shamefully, if only partially, true.

I don’t believe Christians do use the the Bible to support their own personal bigotries, though some may. God is larger than life and beyond understanding. We can only know what he chooses to reveal to us, and in his wisdom he sometimes chooses not to. I don’t always know why God does or says what he does, but I trust him as a good God whose purposes are higher than mine.

But yes, we can tend to push one barrow more than another, and that is wrong, I guess it’s just that with this issue we are pushing the barrow against a brick wall.

… if you’re in politics, you better be able to defend [your anti-gay argument] without resorting to your “faith,” as if that’s a legitimate excuse for your bigotry.

Amen to this! I couldn’t agree more. Great blog post. As a Chicagoan, as a lesbian, and as a Christian it is troubling to me that De Jesus may be appointed to the City Council. I hope Daley is smarter than that.

Always these people are stuck on abortion and gays, and they turn to the Bible to support their personal bigotries . If the Bible is their excuse why aren’t they demanding (among other things) constitutional bans on adultery and divorce and screaming bloody murder for more aid to the poor? Their hypocrisy is astounding.

Good points Buffy — you can also add “opposing war” if Christians truly followed the “turn the other cheek” model. But since nonviolence doesn’t appeal to their already-held biases, then they don’t subscribe much to it.

De Jesus raised the specter of a virgin being harassed by gays or lesbians to have sex.

Because, as we all know, heterosexuals never pressure virgins (or anyone else) to have sex….

~David D.G.

“He’s basically saying, “I don’t hate gay people. The Bible hates gay people. And I support what the Bible says. So I’m off the hook.”

I recently saw this quote, which this story reminded me of:

Hitler: “We may be inhumane, but if we rescue Germany we have performed the greatest deed in the world.”

I’ve discovered that a similar logic is the source of most forms of collective violence.

“We may be inhumane, but if we rescue (name any nation, ideology or religion), we have performed the greatest deed in the world.”

Hitler’s thinking and actions reveal the TEMPLATE for political violence.

Source: Richard A. Koenigsberg – http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=752727057&ref=nf

…De Jesus raised the specter of a virgin being harassed by gays or lesbians to have sex.

Hemant didn’t suggest that religious people should be silenced, disenfranchised, or limited in any way. Shake that paranoia.

In an interview last year, De Jesus told Christianity Today that his paramount priorities were opposing abortion and homosexuality.

And yet it won’t affect how he operates in a council?

“I would tell [critics]: Isn’t it ironic that you’re asking me to be tolerant and you’re intolerant to my beliefs. How is that?

Those beliefs are the intolerant ones they’re asking him to change the ignorant deluded shit, they’re not asking for “tolerance” devoid of any context. The stupid, it burns.

It seems to me you are very much pushing that you can be part of the democratic process as long as you aren’t Christian and don’t hold Biblical Christian views.

No. You can be a part of the democratic process provided you don’t use the law to force others to follow rules in your religion. Fighting against gay rights leads to exactly this situation.

America isn’t exactly a democracy: its a constitutional republic, where laws must conform to our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Some of the amendments in the BoR, such as the 1st, are directly antithetical to how the Bible tells people to run things.

It doesn’t mean we hate homosexuals. We just see what they do for the sin it is.

First, homosexuality isn’t something people “do.” It is an orientation, not necessarily entirely genetic, but absolutely outside of a person’s choice.

Second, I have difficulty believing that lots of conservative Christians don’t hate gays when many conservative Christians seem to view homosexuality as a contagious disease, and seem to think of gays as willingly spreading it.