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Tuesday, November 06, 2007Check out the Slacktivist blog...
For a series of articles entitled 'Gay Hatin' Gospel', which is either at an end or shortly will be...
A recent study found that both Christians and non-Christians alike agreed that American Christianity was excessively homophobic. (No big surprises there, except that even American Christians tended to agree.) Slacktivist, a liberal evangelical blog, has proposed a bunch of very interesting theories why. To save you scrolling through, they are: The Safe Target Inner Demons The Innocent Backlash The Exegetical Panic Defense It's The Politics, Stupid ... And an update, here and here. Check it out.
Comments:
"No big surprises there, except that even American Christians tended to agree."
That's the thing. The evangelical Christians agree because to them, being anti-homosexual is a good thing. To them, it's the best thing to be. So, if a researcher asks them if they are anti-gay, they will puff up their chests and say proudly, "Of course!" Ever spend time in the "Bible Belt" of southern America? One gets the sense that they could tip into Taliban-like behavior at any moment. It is scary.
Ah, but according to the survey, many young American Evangelicals thought that the church was too homophobic. Not just 'does our faith say it's wrong to be gay?', but thinking that their fellow-Christians are overly harsh towards homosexuals, display a nasty attitude and spend too much energy thinking about it. It was done by the Barna Group, who are a Christian research and communications body, and the message they seemed to be getting was that even Evangelicals were getting fed up with gay-bashing.
Which is kind of hopeful, I think. It'll be more hopeful when gay marriage is legalised in every state and hate crimes are properly punished - or better yet, prevented - but it does suggest a basic human decency that can resist silly dogma.
I just worry, I guess, that homophobia will become over time, what racism has become since the Civil Rights movement--a problem that's still lurking out there, but that people are not sure how to confront because it's already supposedly been 'solved'.
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