Hijacking the Cross

Religion has always been a tricky thing. For any given religion, there are as many different interpretations as there are people. Christianity is certainly no exception to this. As everyone knows, one of the main interpretations is that God says that homosexuality is a sin. This particular notion is so prevalent that many people unfortunately associate Christians with homophobia. Who can blame them. With the most bombastic leaders of the Christian community being the likes of Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, Bryan Fischer, and others of their ilk (all of them being arch-homophobes), it is no wonder so many assume that if you believe in God, and Christ being our savior that you must also believe that gay people have purchased a one-way ticket to eternal fire and brimstone.

What is shameful about this is that it is patently false. Not all Christians are homophobes. In fact some are our allies. They are victims of what  the fundamentalist have done: they have hijacked the cross. Even I knowing this (and even being gay and Christian), when I hear someone say they are Christian, one of my first thoughts is whether this person thinks I am worthy of equal rights or not. While it is true that the "more Christian" you are, the more likely it is that you will support anti-gay measures. However, there are significant swaths of believers who are fair-minded and believe that we are all God's children, worthy of respect and dignity. It is so unfortunate that a select few fundamentalists have taken it upon themselves to cast a shadow on an otherwise good thing.

Many have said that Islam has been hijacked. The multitudes of moderate Muslims all too often get lumped together with the few fundamentalists that strap bombs to themselves "for" Allah. Christianity too has been hijacked, with some of its "leaders" and loudest mouth-pieces saying that gays are evil, are trying to destroy this nation, should be deported (yeah, some are saying that), and homosexuality should be criminalized. Their bombs are Constitutional bans and ballot measures.

I guess the good news is that these people are alienating moderate Christians, those with gay people that they care about (which is the greater part of this nation), and those who actually believe that all men are created equal by saying these extreme things that just can not stand up to scrutiny. Luckily, these fundamentalists are dinosaurs, and there will come a day in the not-so-distant future, when they will meet the same meteoric fate, and fair-minded people of faith will reclaim their beliefs. In fact, it has already begun. Organizations and movements such as Believe Out Loud and the Heartland Proclamation (both of which I have mentioned on this blog before) along with others are helping to spread the truth that Christianity and homophobia are not synonymous. Slowly but surely, the fundamentalists are being pushed aside.

The Heartland Proclamation

Believe Out Loud