Where is the Love?

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” --John 13:34-35

The Black-Eyed Peas were right—something really is wrong with the world.

In particular I’m looking at Indiana and Virginia and their disgusting legislation that allows bigots to hide behind their alleged “religious beliefs” and refuse providing services to gay people.

Make no mistake, people, these atrocities are not laws; they’re hate crimes in drag. They give extremists a legal excuse to inflict their vile views on the rest of us.

It’s shocking that someone could actually invoke the name of Jesus Christ in defense of these horrible bills. They need to stop thumping the Bible and actually start reading it.

What would Jesus do? Not this bullshit, I can assure you.

I wonder what world these holy idiots live in where the biggest problem you face is making a cake for a gay wedding.

Must be great to live in a place where there’s no crime, no poverty, no homeless families, no sickness, and no pollution, a place where the only thing to fear are same sex coupkes.

I get so angry when I think of the good, loving people in my life who stood by me, who supported me in some of my darkest moments and who just happened to be gay. They all have more goodness in their little fingers that this bloviating hypocrites have in their entire bodies.

If that sounds like the old “some of my best friends are gay” line, well, you’re goddamn right. Some of my best friends are gay and if you don’t like that, you can go straight to Hell.

Send Us Guidance From Above

What is happening to this country? We used to look to the law for guidance and protection. We used to pass legislation that brought out our best qualities, instead of reinforcing our most base emotions.

And we looked to religion to make the world a better place, to open doors, not to build walls and breed hatred.

I feel like we’re entering into another dark age, where religion is being used as a cudgel to batter science, logic, and love. It is a very ugly time and I don’t see things turning around any time soon.

There are people whose religious beliefs call for crashing airplanes into buildings and chopping off the heads of nonbelievers. Shall we write laws catering to them as well?

For the record, I go to church and pray every morning, and my God loves everyone, no matter what their sexual orientation may be.

Governor Mike Pence, the Republican imbecile who signed the license to discriminate into law, claims he didn’t expect “the hostility that’s been directed at our state.”

The Indiana bill has rightfully sparked calls for a boycott of all things Hoosier and Pence is sputtering about how it is being misinterpreted, but he, of course, is full of shit.

He completely miscalculated the reaction to this law and got caught with his pence down. Now he’s doing a coward’s two-step and suggesting that he’s open to another bill that would “clarify” the original law’s intent.

It’s time for a return to sanity and we can start be dumping these laws and really listening to what Jesus had to say.

We only got one world, people. That’s all we got.

Comments

Ron said…
Rob, thank you for expressing your thoughts and feelings on this topic.

"I feel like we’re entering into another dark age, where religion is being used as a cudgel to batter science, logic, and love."

Yes, you're right. And that's why I don't believe in any organized religion or the bible because it's all been contorted and conformed to what many people want it to be. And they feel as though they have to right to speak in name of God; preaching to everyone else who doesn't believe as they do.

Organized religion has nothing to do with God, it has to do with a man-made insurance policy that people want you to buy into.

To be honest, most of my close friends are straight (both men and woman), and they don't give a shit that I'm gay. They love me for ALL that I am. Therefore, anyone who has a problem with homosexuality has issues within themselves because they FEAR it.

I have gotten to a point in my life where I don't care what people think about me being homosexual. If the government wants to pass laws about same sex couples getting married that's fine. But if they don't, I sincerely don't care because marriage to me is not a law, it's a commitment between two people to love and honor each other. And I certainly don't need the government to tell me it's okay to love someone of the same sex.

Again, thank you for sharing this post, buddy. And I'm proud to call you my friend!

Have a terrific week!
Rob K said…
Hey, Ron, that pride goes both ways, as I am very proud to say you are my friend!

It's a sad truth that many people use religion and the Bible to push their own twisted viewpoints.

People in the last century used the Bible to justify slavery. And now we're taking a giant step backward.

To Hell with these hate-mongering bastards. They are on the wrong side history, and while they may be having their moment now, their days are indeed numbered and they will lose.

Take care of yourself, buddy! You're the best!

Bijoux said…
I've been trying to get a handle on what the bill is actually saying. Is it discriminating against gay people (I won't cut your hair because you are gay) or is it allowing small businesses to deny certain services due to religious or moral beliefs (I won't make a wedding cake with two women brides on top)?

I don't support discrimination against anyone, but I do believe small business owners should be allowed to decide what products they make. I think we step into dangerous territory when people lose the freedom to NOT do something based on their religious beliefs.
Rob K said…
The problem with these laws, Bijoux, is that they leave the door open to all sorts of discrimination.

And I'm very uncomfortable with this whole "religious beliefs" routine. People used the Bible to justify slavery and have done all sorts of horrible things in the name of God throughout history.

Take care.
It's good to know what we're talking about. USA Today, of all places, has a decent run-down on what the law it and how it works:

http://tinyurl.com/oapfwwc

And it's worth reading Wikipedia on the RFRA, the federal law on which all these state laws are modeled:

http://tinyurl.com/24he2y

It's complicated. The law was indeed meant to protect religious freedoms, but can be used by bigots as a cudgel against those they don't approve.

My own take is that Pence is more weakling than villain: smart enough to know that he can defend the law on a technical level and disingenuous enough to deny the odious motives of the supporters of the bill.

Rob K said…
Thanks for the links and information, Walter.

I concur with your assessment of Pence, who wants to push this thing through without getting his hands dirty.
Doing a coward's two-step! I love that phrase. Yep, that is what he appears to be doing, if he's saying it was misinterpreted. Good heavens, if you're going to stick your neck out and go against all sense or decide not to follow the dance, then there's a price to pay. Did he not realise that?

On the other hand, Bijou has a very good point. What if someone went into that bakery and asked for a cake promoting torture and genocide? Would they be within their rights to decide that they wanted no part of it? How do you draw the line?

I suspect that bakeries like the one in the story will find for themselves that they can be boycotted without any help from any laws or statutes.
Rob K said…
Hi, Jay.

I appreciate the issue of business owners being forced to do something they find repulsive.

But the religious argument infuriates me. It is just a smokescreen for bigotry and it is a blatant act of cowardice.

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