Dear Christians who think they are being persecuted,
I don't expect you to be swayed by my open letter. I don't expect to change your mind with my words. But certain things have to be said.
Now I understand how some of you don't agree with marriage equality (some of you call it gay marriage, I call it marriage equality) and I respect your opinion. I have tolerance for your opinion. I even have tolerance for your opinion that homosexuality is a sin.
However, please note - and don't take this the wrong way - that every time you gripe about being persecuted for simply for being ordered to treat gay couples like you would heterosexual couples by the rule of law, you make damn fools of yourself.
I'm serious. I don't say this to be mean or nasty. I mean no malice intended.
But don't you think that automatically seizing the "persecution card" simply because you have to treat gays the same as heterosexuals in accordance to the law is just a bit too much? Don't you think that you are taking dramatic license a little too far? Or at least overacting just a little?
Let's talk about this. When I think about "religious persecution," I think about the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witchcraft Trials, how Mary I of England had over 280 people burned at the stake for supposed heresy, the mass slaughter of the Huguenots.
When I think of persecution in general, I think of mutilated corpses littering the streets, screaming victims being dragged away by brutal soldiers to suffer harsher fates. I think about vandalized places of business, burning homes, mobs throwing rocks at innocent folks, the smell of death, violence, and anarchy in the air.
I fail to see how having your day in court and losing your case fairly as a result of due process and then being interviewed on the most watched news programs in the country by a leggy - if slightly scatterbrained - blonde in a tight dress fits amongst the images of violence, death, and the general mayhem which comes with religious persecution.
I fail to see how being the cause celebre of various multi-million dollared morality groups (and getting a decent income with a speaking gig if you can get a good "Christian" agent) ranks up there with being slaughtered.
Come on guys. In the early days of your faith, the Romans fed you to lions. They crucified several of you. They dipped you in tar and set you on fire. They even distorted the words of the Holy Communion to claim that you practiced cannibalism (which kinda reminds me to later mention how some of you distort science to demonize gays, but that's for another time.)
Do you think God will punish you for simply making a cake for a gay wedding or even marrying a gay couple if you are elected to do such a job?
After all, it is gay tax dollars who is paying the police force to keep your business safe or the fire department to save your business if it should catch on fire.
And it is gay dollars which is paying your salary as an elected official who oversees weddings.
So it seems to me that you are already deep with us as it is. Do you hear any voices above asking you to cease? Have you been struck by lightning yet?
Well then that should tell you something.
Lgbts aren't out to persecute you. We aren't asking that you like us or that you "endorse" us. All we ask is fairness in accordance to the law. After all, this is our country too. And when we appear in public with partners or families or when we talk about issues that affect us, we certainly aren't shoving anything in your faces. We are merely acting like normal human beings going through the regular process of existing on this Earth. You know that process, don't you? It's called having a life.
I hope I haven't bored you or gotten you so upset that you don't consider what I'm saying.
Because next time, I want to talk to you about this "War on Christmas" thing.
Yours truly,
Alvin McEwen
I don't expect you to be swayed by my open letter. I don't expect to change your mind with my words. But certain things have to be said.
Now I understand how some of you don't agree with marriage equality (some of you call it gay marriage, I call it marriage equality) and I respect your opinion. I have tolerance for your opinion. I even have tolerance for your opinion that homosexuality is a sin.
However, please note - and don't take this the wrong way - that every time you gripe about being persecuted for simply for being ordered to treat gay couples like you would heterosexual couples by the rule of law, you make damn fools of yourself.
I'm serious. I don't say this to be mean or nasty. I mean no malice intended.
But don't you think that automatically seizing the "persecution card" simply because you have to treat gays the same as heterosexuals in accordance to the law is just a bit too much? Don't you think that you are taking dramatic license a little too far? Or at least overacting just a little?
Let's talk about this. When I think about "religious persecution," I think about the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witchcraft Trials, how Mary I of England had over 280 people burned at the stake for supposed heresy, the mass slaughter of the Huguenots.
When I think of persecution in general, I think of mutilated corpses littering the streets, screaming victims being dragged away by brutal soldiers to suffer harsher fates. I think about vandalized places of business, burning homes, mobs throwing rocks at innocent folks, the smell of death, violence, and anarchy in the air.
I fail to see how having your day in court and losing your case fairly as a result of due process and then being interviewed on the most watched news programs in the country by a leggy - if slightly scatterbrained - blonde in a tight dress fits amongst the images of violence, death, and the general mayhem which comes with religious persecution.
I fail to see how being the cause celebre of various multi-million dollared morality groups (and getting a decent income with a speaking gig if you can get a good "Christian" agent) ranks up there with being slaughtered.
Come on guys. In the early days of your faith, the Romans fed you to lions. They crucified several of you. They dipped you in tar and set you on fire. They even distorted the words of the Holy Communion to claim that you practiced cannibalism (which kinda reminds me to later mention how some of you distort science to demonize gays, but that's for another time.)
Do you think God will punish you for simply making a cake for a gay wedding or even marrying a gay couple if you are elected to do such a job?
After all, it is gay tax dollars who is paying the police force to keep your business safe or the fire department to save your business if it should catch on fire.
And it is gay dollars which is paying your salary as an elected official who oversees weddings.
So it seems to me that you are already deep with us as it is. Do you hear any voices above asking you to cease? Have you been struck by lightning yet?
Well then that should tell you something.
Lgbts aren't out to persecute you. We aren't asking that you like us or that you "endorse" us. All we ask is fairness in accordance to the law. After all, this is our country too. And when we appear in public with partners or families or when we talk about issues that affect us, we certainly aren't shoving anything in your faces. We are merely acting like normal human beings going through the regular process of existing on this Earth. You know that process, don't you? It's called having a life.
I hope I haven't bored you or gotten you so upset that you don't consider what I'm saying.
Because next time, I want to talk to you about this "War on Christmas" thing.
Yours truly,
Alvin McEwen
1 comment:
Very well put.
I too think of death and destruction when I hear the word "persecuted".
I don't see them being beaten, burned out or killed for being Christians. I see them doing that to us.
They often use words to drum up images that don't really apply to them. I also believe they make up definitions or don't understand the definition of some words.
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