Lies, Damn Lies

Onward with progress!

Thanks to Atrios for this ('cause, you know, he cares about my weblog). The new pope, more conservative (or so they say) than the former one, has condemed a law in Spain, whic would allow homosexuals to marry.

Great. I dunno, I suppose he is standing for what he believes in, no matter how hateful it is, but it is making the catholic church seem so out of touch.

[sorry, just to interrupt my ire, the article has a VERY amusing sentence in the article "Belgium and the Netherlands only allow same-sex marriages" which is very amusing. Those poor straight people living in sin...]

Honestly though, the prescription against homosexuality comes from Leviticus, which includes says that mixed fibres should not be worn. This is a list of things you can't eat according to it. Theres a bit about casting out lepers, theres also, just before the hatred of homosexuals, a short passage saying that adulterers are bad too.... hmm, should they not be able to marry? I dunno, I'm not an expert theologan, but aren't there other things to worry about? The world has moved on from the hatred implicit in the old testament, as it had moved on when Jesus denounced many of the proclamations of the old testament.

The catholic church had a chance to be relevant this century, and has blown it. Thin is, is that while some claim that scripture is unchanging, and it shouldn't change for society, it clearly does. Scripture can be used to defend prejudice. It was used to defend slavery, and then sexism, and now is being used to support homophobia. Its a brave person who reinterprets scripture to make it relevant for the people, but it is necessary. There is nothing wrong with being gay. Nothing. It harms no-one, and, indeed, with the population growing as fast as it is, one might suggest its necessary to stop us starving out our homes.

However, fear not, for progress is on our side. We have seen change, major change, and it is always in favour of more liberalism- perhaps not economically, but socially, with more and more knowledge being spread, old prejudices become unacceptable. We must fight prejudice in all its forms. Unfortunately the catholic church has chosen to take one of those forms.

posted by Mr K @ 2:30 pm