It is one of the defining habits of man: “my group is good, your group is evil”. And, every group throughout this history of time has also played both roles: the righteous and the unrighteous. So, this announcement about the new and improved Satan should come as no surprise: Christians are the new Satan!
Sheep’s Clothing -Sold
When I returned to the faith and told my family I wanted to go back to church, my son said, “You are going back to troll, right? You are not going back for real…?”
“Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players. The troll attempts to pass as a legitimate participant, sharing the group’s common interests and concerns; the newsgroups members, if they are cognizant of trolls and other identity deceptions, attempt to both distinguish real from trolling postings, and upon judging a poster a troll, make the offending poster leave the group.
Their success at the former depends on how well they – and the troll – understand identity cues; their success at the latter depends on whether the troll’s enjoyment is sufficiently diminished or outweighed by the costs imposed by the group.” Donath, Judith S. (1999). “Identity and deception in the virtual community”. In Smith, Marc A.; Kollock, Peter. Communities in Cyberspace
When my husband realizedI was going back to the church, he said, “Oh my god, why would you do such a thing and go over to the dark side? Why would you turn to the devil? They’re Satanic!”
Don’t judge my family! My family expresses nothing different than what I commonly hear in my queer community.
- “Gov. Rick Perry, Pray Like A Christian And Act Like The Devil.“
- “When GLBT people are discriminated against, attacked, or even killed, it isn’t mere human beings that orchestrate that hate, but the very devil and his minions who put those hateful feelings in people’s hearts.“
- “Christianity encourages acceptance of real evils while focusing on imaginary evils.“”
- If the devil can use man to corrupt the bible in a way to spread hate and disorder in society; Has he not won? It seems the true sin is the blasphemy that these people are spreading.
Playing Fair
I must admit, in searching for articles and statements that exemplify what I am hearing from many LGBTQ about Christians, I was pleasantly surprised to find that our community does not play the “Satan card”.
In fact, much of the journalism with some exceptions, has in the face of a very “religious war”, stuck to addressing human/American rights, freedom and equality, while being told:
- We are murderers according to some“Christians”: “ROM 1:24-28 Saints must continue an unrelenting war against the insidious homosexual’s mass assault on the world, remember within each faggot/dyke is a murderer.”
- We are a threat to humanity: ”According to reports, the pontiff said that the marriage was “not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society. Consequently, policies (such as gay couples marrying) which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself.”
- We do not deserve basic human rights: “It’s almost as if those pushing these theories believe we don’t deserve human rights unless we can prove that we are born gay and that our homosexuality is beyond our control. […] Surely we merit human rights because we are human beings? The cause of our homosexuality is irrelevant to our quest for justice. We are entitled to dignity and respect, regardless of whether we are born queer or made queer, and irrespective of whether our homosexuality is something beyond our control or something freely chosen” (Tatchell, 2008:2).
- It is ok to threaten and harass our kids.
- It is ok to bully and Harrass LGBTQ.
- It is Ok to blame us for things we are not doing.
- Using the bathroom could be a problem, too.
- And scores of other proposed laws to make gay marriage illegal, to make discrimination legal… to make life painful.
(If this YouTube video does not appear, here’s the link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY )
Life and Death
The struggle for LGBTQ with Christianity has gone beyond our struggle for value, worth and acceptance. The Christian Right has taken their issue off of God’s shoulders , and has proclaimed their version of God’s judgment now in this life: Change, or suffer at our hands! Right Wing Christians no longer wield a moral or religious sword; they are waving a real one. The Right Wing Christians have proclaimed war… literally, and all of Christianity is paying for it.
It is this war that creates immense hurt and distrust that haunts our community members to death.
How Shall It End?
This is not a question about the apocalypse. It is not even a question about when the “war” will be over. It was the question that I was asking myself just after including the link on a recent suicide. I wondered, how I would conclude my article.
At 1453, word came in via Facebook that a well known,beautiful member of our queer community (30’s) who worked in Midtown Sacramento, died. He committed suicide. Suicide is epidemic among LGBTQ. Do you wonder why? Life can be difficult naturally, add to that chemical imbalances and then include a hateful climate. Could you see where someone might not see what hope there is?
“To make progress, we need to be able to imagine alternative realities—better ones—and we need to believe that we can achieve them. Such faith helps motivate us to pursue our goals.”
Be Visable
The bible asks us to be a witness. Now, it very well could be that this word is incorrectly translated from the original, but I like it. Witness is a passive and active verb. Witness says “take notice” but also implies being visible. Be a tangible and visible sign of LOVE. You do not have to hold banners about equality, or go to a pride parade. It could be as simple as wearing a cross and rainbow together, just to let people know who you are. As a Christian, I challenge you to come out of the closet about your support of your queer brothers and sisters and be identified. As a queer, I challenge other Christian queers to come out of the Christian closet and be seen for who you are to your queer family.
I cannot tell you how humbled I was seeing over a block of church booths at Pride celebration in Sacramento, CA last year. I also noticed, how vacant of pride goers these church booths were compared to most of the others. I thought this was interesting. Then again, I was one of the people who did not stop at any of those church booths. I was afraid. I was afraid it was a lie.
My absence might have seemed like disinterest, but it wasn’t. What I saw made a huge impact on me. It was an incredible symbol of hope and love I never expected to see. I still hold on to that vision to this day as a sign of change and hope.
Here is what one Christian is doing in support of LGBTQI for the last three years: OBAMA
