Did the Gay Rights Decision Make an Intolerant God Angry?

By Gary Berg-Cross


The recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings ruling on DOMA and gay marriage is rightly celebrated as a civilized advance. But it has caused some cultural consternation in conservative and religious circles who see rights as something God provides rather than something human's decide. Dan Cathy son of founder Truett Cathy & president of the closed-on-Sunday fast-food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A bull-tweeted his way into the debate. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he tweeted:


"Sad day for our nation; founding fathers would be ashamed of our gen. to abandon wisdom of the ages re: cornerstone of strong societies," The post was later deleted but not before the paper and others captured screenshots of it.

As reported in the Atlanta Journal Constitution Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy had earlier told an online religious magazine that he was “guilty as charged” in his opposition to gay marriage.: “We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit,” Cathy edged into harsher comments of vengeance: “we’re inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,”

That’s not the tone of some mainstream religious groups even if they support the religious conception of marriage and speak of gay marriage as some type of sin. Their compromise position is to “tolerate” gays. But as reported by Crooks and Liars tolerance wasn’t the tone taken by televangelist Pat Robertson who pointed to HebrewTestament style vengeance: 





"Look what happened to Sodom. After a while, there wasn't any other way, and God did something pretty drastic."

Robertson also had some thoughts on how we’ve come to this. It the fault of Justice Anthony Kennedy, who may have law clerks "who happen to be gays." Another sign of faulty reasoning about why the arc of history bends towards justice.  And another sign of embedded intolerance among some who are very sure of their god-generated wisdom. As the Dalai Lama said:

“In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.”

  Images 

Tolerance: http://toppun.com/Political/Pro-Tolerance-Designs-Products-Merchandise-Store-Shop.html
 Chick-Fil-A: http://www.stitchinc.org/apps/blog/entries/show/17764427-the-true-debate-of-chick-fil-a
Tolerance?: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/karenspearszacharias/2011/06/13/why-i-refuse-to-tolerate-gays/

War Is Peace. Slavery Is Oppression. Ignorance Is Strength.

Once again, it seems that the word "Family" in an organization's name can be more accurately replaced with "patriarchy". The Illinois Family Institute didn't like President Obama's National Day of Prayer proclamation. No, they didn't:

President Obama’s proclamation has raised the eyebrows of some because he is thankful that we live in a country that “respects the beliefs and protects the religious freedom of all people.” Critics have noted that this point seems to fly in the face of the President’s failure to defend the Defense of Marriage Act which would have huge ramifications for religious freedom should marriage be undefined to allow for homosexual couples. (The repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” is already causing problems for military chaplains.) The President’s prayer proclamation also contradicts his actions associated with his health care plan that could force people to pay for abortions and contraceptives against the teachings of their faith

Got that? Failing to uphold a law that tells gays they can't marry the person they want is at odds with religious freedom. Not forcing gay soldiers to live a lie is at odds with religious freedom. Telling religious employers that they have to play by the same rules as everybody else is at odds with religious freedom.

I once had a discussion with my friend JB about the Civil War, and mentioned the argument that the war was fought not over slavery, but over states' rights. She snorted and said, "Yeah. The right to own slaves." Your right to religious freedom ends when it affects people outside of your sect. Your right to worship as you see fit does not include the right to be kowtowed to, the right to make other people live by your rules, or even the right not to be offended. Put on your big-boy pants and deal with it.