Charles Worley\u2019s \u201cKill-All-The-Gays\u201d rant.<\/a> It took several days for me to actually watch the utterly vile video for myself because I couldn\u2019t bring myself to press the \u201cplay\u201d button. I didn\u2019t see a clip of his hate speech until I stumbled upon this CNN article which records the minister saying:<\/p>\n\u201cI want to read it out of the Bible, and then we\u2019ll go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cListen, all of the Sodomites, the lesbians, and all of the \u2026 what\u2019s that word? Gays \u2013 I didn\u2019t wanna say \u2018queers\u2019 \u2013 that say we don\u2019t love you, I love you more than you love yourself,\u201d Worley said, according to WBTV. \u201cI\u2019m praying for you to be saved.\u201d<\/p>\n
When I first read this article, the words \u201cI want to read it out of the Bible, and we\u2019ll go from there\u201d jumped out at me like the boogeyman. While I have not personally experienced the kind of Bible-based oppression that many of my LGBT friends are enduring, I\u2019ve certainly been on the receiving end of some pretty harsh Bible-thumpery.
For instance, I was once told that my chronic illness (which I\u2019ve had from birth) could not be healed by God because I was involved in some kind of secret \u201csin\u201d. According to that person, once I rid my life of that \u201csin,\u201d God would oblige my request for healing. While I now understand that this is actually a ridiculous, spiritually abusive teaching, I was too far under the influence of that Bible interpretation to reason my way out at the time. I didn\u2019t realize that it would not have made sense for God to \u201cpunish\u201d a newborn baby with an illness throughout her entire life, all the while demanding that she discover the mysterious reason why. Instead of immediately freeing myself from the leaders who propagated that awful teaching, I embarked on on several severe periods of asceticism to atone for my unknown \u201ctransgression,\u201d earn more of God\u2019s approval, and\u2013as I once hoped\u2013score a supernatural \u201chealing\u201d.<\/p>\n
There were other not-so-great experiences during my former life as a devotee of extreme Bible teachings. I was once told to \u201cline up with God\u2019s word,\u201d which is a politer brand of Fundamentalese for \u201cShut up and do what we tell you to do\u201d\u2013 and I complied until I couldn\u2019t anymore. I walked away from that life with a sense of tremendous dismay. I was spiritually drained and emotionally exhausted.<\/p>\n
I understand the disillusionment that comes from irresponsible \u201cBible instruction\u201d at the hands of ministers, so when I see remnants of those negative behaviors (like the behaviors displayed by Charles Worley) I\u2019m instantly turned off.<\/p>\n
One of my biggest issues with such an interpretation is that it requires us to use scripture in a way that is so different from the way Jesus used scripture. For example, have you ever noticed that when those in power used their influence to entrap people with doctrine, Jesus used compassion to release them from it? Yes\u2013 when the powerful sentenced an adulterous woman to death by stoning, Jesus protected her. When those with religious power ostracized the \u201cinfirm,\u201d (the lepers, the \u201cunclean\u201d) Jesus reached beyond the \u201cLaw\u201d and touched them. When the religious leaders of Jesus\u2019 time sought to esteem precepts over people\u2013like refusing to allow hungry men to harvest grain on the Sabbath\u2013Jesus broke the rules. He seemed to be saying that their \u201cold way\u201d of using scripture wasn\u2019t working anymore, and that it was time to use it in a new way.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s obvious to me that the powerful religious elite preferred to read scripture from the Top-Down, meaning that they interpreted scripture in ways that would protect their societal and religious privilege. Jesus, however, employed a Bottom-Up method of scripture interpretation. He read scripture in ways that empowered those on the edges of society\u2026 the oppressed\u2026 the \u201cunclean\u201d\u2026 the forgotten. I\u2019ve come to see this as the challenge of today\u2019s theologians and ministers. I think there should be more of an effort to help people use scripture as a tool for empowering those who are being pushed to the Bottom. We need to start imitating The Master, even if it\u2019s unpopular. Even if it\u2019s inconvenient. Even when we\u2019re afraid.<\/p>\n
Christianity has a reputation among the non-religious for being a hatred-producing propaganda machine because we have yet to master the art of using scripture in the way that Jesus used it. I hope this changes in my lifetime.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Crystal LewisRhetoric Race and Religion ContributorFrom: Crystal St Marie Lewis By now, you\u2019ve probably heard about Pastor (and I\u2019m using that title loosely) Charles Worley\u2019s \u201cKill-All-The-Gays\u201d rant. It took several days for me to actually watch the utterly vile video for myself because I couldn\u2019t bring myself to press the \u201cplay\u201d button. I didn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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