Comments

1
Thrilled.
2

Yes, I have to say, even with the new Pope, although his words towards gays have been moderate, it seems there's still a Jekyll and Hyde style where two days after the Pope does an outreach statement, a hardline cardinal comes out and controverts what the Pope said. It's almost worst than being outright prejudiced. I can't really recommend this behavior or go in front of a gay person or community and say "oh, lookie, we're all better now", at all any more than I can when the GOP does the same thing. I do notice that it seems to be settling down a bit both in Catholicism and the Republicans.
3
Why do so many churches need an enemy to rally the troops against? Shouldn't God's love be enough?
4
Hosea 8:7. For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.
5
The churches are losing their moral authority. Which is something I can only applaud since that authority has been abused so badly.
6
@ 3, churches get a lot more bang for the fear mongering buck than the peace and love one. Not every church, of course, but many.
7
@ 5, it's nice to be optimistic, but history shows that their influence ebbs and flows. And since this country was founded by religious wackos, and various other religious wackos from throughout Europe had to flee and settle here, I'm afraid that it's too ingrained in the American character to ever really go away.
8
God, why do stories like this make my eyes so sweaty?
9
It's the wallet stupid!
10
@3, I find this to be an easy way to tell whether or not a church is actually following Christ. If you need to create a scapegoat to scare your congregation into following you, you are only out for yourself.

But it isn't only religious leaders who do that. It is very common among most world leaders. Create an enemy, then proclaim that you are the only one who can save everyone from that enemy. Weapons of Mass Destruction, anyone? The Cold War? This is probably why Putin is making LGBT people out to be monsters. His popularity is going down, and he is trying to regain it and stay in power.
11
There is one thing they didn't count on- the internet. Since it's spread, so has awareness there are others out there who fight for their rights and don't fear the haters. Religion can't fight the awakening mind of millions. And, btw, Fronline is coming out with a devestating look at the RCC and the horrors it has inflicted on children and their families.
12
A slip of the Freudian sort: "mainline dominations."
13
@12: I liked it.
14
This is precisely the reason I turned away from my Mormon upbringing. It rubbed me the wrong way at 16 when my Sunday school teacher advocated for the right to discriminate against LGBT in hiring. By the time I was in college I was morally opposed to any religion that treated homosexuality as a sin.
15
Dan, the preachers were always harming themselves. It's just taken a while for the numbing fat on their demagoguery to burn off for them to feel it.
16
hmmm....

in the whole history of mankind has any civilization ever survived built on a foundation of HomoHumanism?

can't think of any.

Gommorah was probably the last to try it......
17
I'd much prefer that churches maintain their stance and further alienate their followers. Because if they adopt a more accepting stance than they'll just create a new scapegoat to direct their hate and fear at. And then this whole mess will begin again with some other marginalized group. Best to let them dig their own graves right now.
18
Even beyond LGBT issues, it's just that conservatives and religious people tend to be nastier. More openly critical of others, less forgiving, easier to anger, sarcastic, more domineering, more into discipline and punishment - just negative vibes. They're just no fun, dude. Look at our conservative Slog trolls. So negative. Would you like to hang around them, or spend your Sunday morning with them? And the thing is, either they can't see it, or they don't care, or they can't change, because that's just the nature of the culture. And Matt is right. Conservatives have long been like this and they're still here. This negativity will always have a function for some people.

I also transitioned from the evangelical religion of my youth. At the time, I felt that the weekly ritual had just become routine, but really I just couldn't make strong social bonds with my congregation because I was just too different from them, plus I didn't believe in the church's mission ardently enough. I didn't become an atheist right away, but after I separated myself from the culture, I began to recognize its stubborn ugliness and that only solidified my irreligiousness. No way in hell I'm going back. I'm also happier with the person that I am today than with whom I used to be. I'm sure many millenials share a similar experience.
19
@16 yep. Western civilization from Alexander the Great onward to today. We've been here always everywhere.
20
See @16.
21
19

sure.
in the closet.
you and the cockroaches.

in the whole history of mankind has any civilization ever survived built on a foundation of HomoHumanism?
22
Best just to ignore the unregistered troll.
24
Access to information on the entire spectrum of human thought is what is bringing down organized religion. The sleezy greazy preachers and their temples of hateful ignorance only helps push those who access information out the doors a bit faster. It was harder to acquire information when you had to search it out. The interwebs has all but smashed the kiddies' faces into gobs of information from everywhere. Once you know something it's hard to unknow it. When the lies of your church are laid bare to the light of day, in all its ugly untruthfulness, you can't help but be forced to choose to hold your nose and go along or get pissed and kick that ugly shit to the curb. The day is almost here when no one can use the excuse of what they were taught in church misled them and they acted out of not knowing any better.
25
@21: Has any civilization ever survived based on egalitarian democracy? Before we Americans adopted it, none had successfully run with it for any real length of time. And people had tried, in Athens, in China, in small enclaves all over the world.
Just because it's never been done before doesn't mean it can't be done. Grow a pair, you whinging cur.
26
Dan, I'm pretty sure you're misusing "mainline" in this context. The churches traditionally identified as mainline all have a history of being moderate-to-liberal on social issues. All of the ones I'm familiar with are either officially cool with homosexuality (Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ, ELCA Lutherans, Presbyterian Church USA) or actively in the middle of an internal fight for the rights of homosexuals (United Methodist).
27
I was brought up in in the Missouri Synod Lutheran environment, when I was old enough to realize that it was total bullshit I bailed. My parents couldn't understand why I wouldn't go to church with them anymore and I just told them I thought it was a total waste of my time and that I preferred the B'hai faith because they cared about PEOPLE and ANIMALS and not about money. That was the beginning of the end. My parents have gone and we made amends and I still think the B'hai folks have the right idea.
28
@21: All this progress must be awful for you.
30
The church has to maintain power by taking your two best things from you: your sense of awe and your sexuality, then selling them back to you.

They are gradually losing control of the sex part, when they lose the rest the atheist/pagan/discordian/subgenius/dancers/moviegoers (and so on) will at least be on equal footing.
31
@29: Girls? That's the best you can do? Oh, honey. At least you used to try.
32
31

you don't bring me flowers. anymore.
33
@29 Where y'all from, homie? Wherever it is, go back there.
34
33

The Truth really hurts, doesn't it.

Try lube.

Lots and Lots of Lube.....

Please wait...

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