...comes the bad right? With all the excitement and joy that followed last Tuesday's historical election I've been remiss in not using my teeny tiny little soapbox to speak up and decry the work done by a minority to outdo the wishes of the majority. I'm speaking, of course, of Prop 8 in California. I'm not going to waste time, or paragraphs, trying to change the minds of those set against the love of one person towards another. I do, however, want to speak to those who blindly followed any religion in opposition of the right of one person to enter into a commitment with another person, whatever the title attached to it.
In my knowledge of history each and every religion has in some way been persecuted against by members of their society or other religions. The Celtic Pagans were wiped out by the Catholics, the Native American's spirituality was wiped out by the Christianity of the American government and pioneers, the early adherents of Christianity were summarily executed for their beliefs by the ruling Roman government, the leaders of the American Mormon Church battled each other and were driven from their homes and murdered in cold blood, and the list could go on and on. The point? Simplistically stated, in my mind, members of any organized religion should be some of the most understanding and supportive members of our community. They have felt the point of the sword from those that don't understand, they have suffered by the hand of those that sought to oppress. How could anyone who adheres to any religion that I know, that teaches love and hope, possibly find enough animosity or (I don't want to use the word hate because I don't know if that strong a word is true) fear to take a stand against two people entering into a loving and committed relationship?
I know there are folks out there that are far more eloquent than I could ever be speaking on this topic. I don't have legions of production assistants or graduate students finding sources or writing copy for me. What I do have is the pleasure of picking up pieces produced by such organizations. I'd like to point to a piece done by Keith Olberman. Normally I watch Olberman because he makes me smile, laugh, and I have to admit that he and I lean in the same direction; although I fear he is a little more diagonal than I am. But in this instance, he is speaking not through a political lens, this is about people, about real human beings being denied basic human rights. And here I was thinking that we already fought for all of this back in the 60's.
Where I live, people are people. Love is love. Instead of spending your time finding fault with how other folks live why don't you volunteer at a local homeless shelter or at your local school? It might teach you some humility and increase your love for others less fortunate or just plain different than you. We could all use a little bit more of that.
| 
| 
2 comments:
Love you, man. Prop 8 passing made me so sad.
Yeah, I'm not interested in getting into a debate about it cause I'm not good at debating :) Plus, I know this isn't a personal attack. I do want to say, though, that maybe there are some people who blindly follow a religion on this issue, but I think there are other people who study it out very seriously and have views that are far less simplistic than the media is making them out to be :)
Post a Comment