Equal Rights Vs. Religious Right

Today at lunch, I was surfing the web and I came across a headline that grabbed my attention. Headline reads; Minneapolis pastor: Tornado was a warning to Lutherans on gay inclusion. It didn’t take Pastor John Piper of the Minneapolis’ Bethlehem Baptist Church long to blame Wednesday’s tornado, that hit parts of Minneapolis, on homosexuality. He believed that God sent this tornado as a warning to the Lutherans to tell them not to relax doctrine related to homosexuality.

The Pastor also used his time in the press to get the word out about his church’s blog, where he wrote; “The unrepentant practice of homosexual behavior (like other sins) will exclude a person from the Kingdom of God.” He defends this by quoting 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 which states; “The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

First off I want to point out the original King James Bible or any earlier versions of the bible use the word “homosexuality” in the Scripture. The King James versions reads; “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Please point out to me where the word ‘homosexual” appears in that passage.

But I do get it, most religious right people build their case against homosexuality almost entirely on what they read in the Bible. Unfortunately, over the years words have been added to change the meaning of these verses like in the above example.

I also know that many of these religious right people have never really studied what the Bible does and doesn't say about homosexuality. Yet the assumption that the Bible condemns homosexuality is passed down from generation to generation with very little personal study or research. The consequences of this misinformation are disastrous.

Most people simply find a text that seems to support their prejudice and then spend the rest of their lives quoting (or misquoting) that text.

But I am here to tell you that no matter what some people believe the Bible says about homosexuality, they must not use that belief to deny homosexuals their basic civil rights. To discriminate against sexual or gender minorities is unjust and un-American.

Please consider; the United States is not a nation governed by the Bible. Our nation is governed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Our laws were created to protect an individual's right to disagree. If the Bible (or someone's view of the Bible) replaces the Constitution as the law of the land, we undermine the great foundation upon which this country was built.

I’m asking you who disagree with my stand on homosexuality to support my stand on full civil rights for all people, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans.

MJ