Here's something interesting. It might enlighten some of the fools who post idiotic comments making light of the fact that the Church is becoming more and more threatened in the public square. It probably won't - they have not even got the courage to put their name behind their foolishness - but I am a hopeful soul. Maybe... just maybe, they might actually be able to see past their bigotry and bile to see that there is truth in the persecution proposition.
Anti-Bullying Tzar Bullies Christians During Anti-Bullying Speech | The American Catholic
Anti-Bullying Tzar Bullies Christians During Anti-Bullying Speech | The American Catholic
One fringe columnist goes on a rant against Christians and The American Catholic gets all indignant, while hundreds of school age children kill themselves each year and hundreds of thousands more have horrible school lives because some churches preach that the orientation that they feel and their need to express their love is an "abomination unto God". Yes Dan Savage is a stupid idiot and shouldn't have said those things and no thinking person should ask him to speak. But what about the thousands (millions?) of sermons that are equally vile and get preached against homosexuals and their sins. I'm not implying you Fr. Tim but I've heard priests from the pulpit denouncing homosexuals and detailing the fate that awaits them in hell. If people like Mr. Savage strike back it's understandable bit still to me not acceptable.
ReplyDeleteIt's also worth nothing that 50 years ago Mr, Savage could have been jailed or chemically castrated for being a homosexual and nary a religious figure would have said a word to denounce that. Now that's being truly threatened in the public square.
Rationalist1
Rationalist: All good points... but your argument seems to be based upon the 'two wrongs make a right' fallacy. Just because priests acted as malicious idiots in the past is not grounds for others acting in the same fashion in the present.
ReplyDeleteAs to how we preach about homosexuality today: any priest that would condemn a gay person should be reported to his superiors. We believe that gay sex is sinful (just like pre-marital sex I hasten to add) but that God loves them as much as he would anyone else.
Sin is sin. It's obligation to teach people about it. That's our role as priests. But never, ever is it right to condemn the sinner. NO ONE is an abomination to God... only their actions.
IMHO, both the Church AND society is fixated on the subject of sex. We would all do well to dial down our obsession with the subject.
Fr. Tim
Exactly. If a person wants to engage in homosexual actions then that is a decision he/she has made but that does not mean that I or the Church should say that we accept that action. The action is ,objectively at least, a sin and so is to be avoided.Hence school boards and other church-oriented places cannot appear or even allow actions that are sinful to be praised or spoken of in an accepting manner. Sinners are accepted; sin is not.
ReplyDeleteFr. Tim. - I wasn't proposing 2 wrongs make a right and I called Mr. Savage the stupid idiot, not the priests. My point was that Mr. Savage was, IMO, stupid and worse unhelpful, to say such things. But to fixate on him when real children are being bullied and killing themselves all the time is to distort our priorities.
ReplyDeleteIn the spectrum of sins out there, looking at the front page of the paper every day, gay sex should be way down the list. I know I'm not a member of the Catholic Church anymore but I used to feel pride that the Church took forceful stands on social issues. Now it seems the only issues they get worked up enough about to sanction Catholics on are issues related to sex.
As to no one being abomination unto God, you'll need to expunge a few verses from the Bible, which don't say the sinful act is an abomination, but the people who preform the act are.
Hats off the the Kids that stood up and headed for the exits. They could see right through this gay indoctrination/anti-Christian campaign dressed up as "anti bullying education". Too bad our Catholic School teachers and administrators don't share the perceptiveness of these kids.
ReplyDeleteNo they did the right thing. Nobody has to sit and listen to anybodies rantings and hate speech. Savage's right to free speech were not violated, he could say all he likes to the few that remained and nobody attempted to silence him.
DeleteHad they pulled a stunt like these pro abortion kids I'd agree with your comment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eulKIaVM9DE&feature=related
Leviticus wasn't all about silly things like shell fish and hand washing as the homosexual activists would like us to believe. It also spoke on grave matters like adultery and murder. Things that we wouldn't endorse simply because shell fish was mentioned in the same book. Regardless, the New Testament also condemns homosexual acts so equating eating shell fish with homosexual sex based only on Leviticus is either caused by ignorance of scripture or deception.
But do you shun the shellfish prohibition and endorse the homosexual condemnation (Do you support the death penalty for it as proscribed in Leviticus or do you dispense with that?) because it agrees with your preconceptions.
ReplyDelete