Gay Man Drinking From Plastic Cup - Destroying America Project

Today, a gay man was talking shop with a straight woman - and drinking water from a yellowish brown plastic cup.

#DestroyingAmerica

If You're Gay, You Can't Be a Christian

Jennifer LeClaire, Editor of Charisma Magazine, recently wrote a low-key piece about NBA player, Jason Collins and his announcement that he was gay, in an interview with Sports Illustrated.

I don't really take issue with her approach.  She goes out of her way to praise him for his talents and heap admiration on his head for what she considers an integral member of any basketball team.  I also don't take issue with most of her beliefs.  She comes from a brand of Christianity that states that homosexuality is a sin and thus must be repented of.  Plenty of people believe this and still treat gay people very well.

What I DO have issue with is twofold.

1. Jennifer LeClaire is not saying that homosexuality is a sin.  She is actually saying that the fact that Jason Collins is a homosexual determines his genuine faith status.  Essentially, he is not a true Christian since he is gay.

2. Jennifer LeClaire refuses to believe that someone can be happy, or be without envy, fear, misery, living a lie, suicidal thoughts, etc. without Jesus Christ, whatever that means.  (Yes, I know what it means in jargon-speak, but what does it really mean?!)

Let's look at my first issue:

The Bible clearly states that only the god of it knows the heart.  Here, LeClaire is armchair umpiring from the cheap seats, acting as if she were that god, determining from afar, the spiritual condition (as if there was such a thing) of an individual, simply because he says that he is gay.  There is no room for his words that he follows the teachings of Jesus to be true.  In LeClaire's world, she gets to raise her index finger, wiggle it back and forth and yell, "Nuh uh!!!!".

No, according to LeClaire, a clear litmus test to being a Christian at all is the pure and unadulterated rejection of homosexuality.  The minute you claim homosexuality, it makes no difference how many children you save from abusive homes, tying millstones around their parent's necks and throwing them into the sea, it makes no difference how many poor and widowed you feed, clothe, and house, it makes no difference what you say the condition of your heart is, it makes absolutely not a lick of difference what your personal faith is to you.

Nay nay!  LeClaire knows!  You are cut off from Jesus Christ because you committed the cardinal sin above all cardinal sins - you gay, baby!  Nevermind that Christianity used to treat divorce like homosexuality and now embraces it, opting for support groups and coffee, rather than outright declarations of impending hell fire.  Nevermind that the Christian church used to...well...you get the point.  Let's move on to my second issue.

I'm an atheist.  Yes.  You know that.  I grew up in uber-fundamentalist Christianity.  The Bill Gothard, Doug Phillips, homeschooling, singing from a hymnal, rock music is of the devil, Jesus will heal you of all mental issues kind - under an abusive and mentally impaired, single Mama.  But I'm now an atheist.

And guess what!?  I'm happy.  I have envy at times, but I don't see it as a sin.  That's a stupid rule anyway.  I'm not fearful.  I fear my kids getting run over by a car and I fear my wife never wanting to make love to me again.  But again, having no fear is unrealistic and also a stupid rule.  I'm not miserable.  I am not living a lie.  I have no suicidal thoughts.

And I don't "have Jesus".

LeClaire, and many other Christians, have no idea how to deal with people who are happy with who they are - without Jesus.  They resort to that finger waving again, yelling, "Nuh uh!  You're deceived!  You just THINK you're happy!  But really....JESUS!!!!!"

But no.  I'm happy.  And I know some miserable Christians who would be the first to tell me that Jesus brings them happiness - living a lie.

This brings me to LeClaire's worst offense in this article.  She says that Collins' sigh of relief and freedom he feels from shedding his burden is a big lie.  According to LeClaire, he can't possibly be feeling anything remotely genuine because he doesn't follow her creed and fit her profile for the perfect, non-gay, Christian.

Finally, I will make an attempt at armchair umping.

Jason Collins is happy!!!!!  He says so himself.  And I think I'm satisfied with his declaration of mirthiness.

Tony Perkins Calls All Catholic Priests Pedophiles

Okay.  He really didn't, but, if you follow his logic, it's pretty clear that he hasn't thought it through.

Here is the link to the audio.

Tony Perkins of The Family Research Council says:

It’s kind of ironic to me, I thought…just on its surface it seems very ironic to me that some of the very ones who are pushing this policy change in the Boy Scouts are some of the same ones that were screaming about the Catholic Church and wanting them to be more transparent and liable for the damages that were done. The Catholic Church has paid out millions of dollars as a result of those cases of abuse that took place and now they are putting the Boy Scouts into the same compromising situation. It just does not add up.

Here, Perkins says that Catholics who have been encouraging the Boy Scouts to open up their membership to gays are the same Catholics that called for more transparency of their own priesthood.  Thinking that is ironic, he follows it up with something quite curious, stating that the Catholics are asking the Boy Scouts to put themselves in the same compromising situations as their own boys.

Really, Tony?

You just said that there can be no Catholic priest trusted with any boy.  Is that what you want on record?

I see the position of Catholics as very consistent.  They don't want priests raping altar boys and thus, they call for more transparency from the leadership.  Why?  Simple. Because they understand that while all Catholic priests that rape young boys are pedophiles, that does not mean that all Catholic priests are therefore pedophiles.  The transparency is for all parents of altar boys to know if their priest is a rapist or not.  This was the whole problem with the Catholic Church scandal years ago.  The leadership had moved the offending priests around - quietly.  This meant that no trusting parents could ever know of their priest's infractions.

In the same vein, there are gay pedophiles, as there are straight pedophiles.  The distinction has nothing to do with their sexual orientation, though.  It is simply whether or not they groom and rape children.  Thus, parents who happen to be Catholic, who desire for their gay friends to be allowed into the Boy Scouts, can be assured that most, if not all, of those that are gay, will be good to their sons.  If not, one can expect them to remove and excoriate the offending party as quickly and harshly as they clamor for the removal and defrocking of their own priesthood.

Name me one LGBTQA person you know

Normally, when people become friends with someone they disagree with, their views toward that person's beliefs or values soften.  I am convinced this is one of the reasons why people in the United States are becoming more accepting of LGBTQA individuals as time marches onward.

In the comments below, name one person you know who is part of the Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Questioning-Allies community.  Also, if you care to share, tell us how they have shaped your views on the matter.

Love,

I. C.