This week, my special guest Jeff Jones will be on hand to give us a little perspective on Pastor Steven L. Anderson, and his insane homophobic rants. Also, we’ll be discussing the worsening condition in Pakistan, which has seen an increase in religious violence recently.
I had a vision the other night. I was reading an article about Christian ecumenism (which means interfaith dialog), and I realized the issue of homosexuality will, in the long run, destroy the progress that various branches of Christianity have made in “getting along”. In a nutshell, ecumenism is a way for different faiths to show respect towards one another, and to have progressive dialogs with one another. Since the common ground of all Christian faiths is belief in Jesus, a greater tolerance has been possible between faiths that used to be openly hostile towards one another.
Of course, the issue of homosexuality is still something the various branches of Christianity have had trouble reconciling with. Some faiths are beginning to show more tolerance, while others are taking a hard stance. Most churches try and take a “don’t ask don’t tell” policy, but as gays begin to make their sexual orientation a matter of public interest, and because of our growing understanding and compassion regarding gay and lesbian issues, parishioners will continue to pressure church authorities to take definitive stances.
In the long run, this can’t be good for Christianity. It will divide them, essentially destroying their interfaith dialog they have worked so hard to create. In other words, the cohesion of Christianity will fall apart and crumble in the face of the issue of homosexuality.
A significant portion of gays are also very religious, as this article points out. This means as gays gain more confidence and pride, and numbers, their churches will have no choice but begin to change their doctrine and beliefs to accommodate this new important demographic. This compromise will in turn make various faiths draw the battle line, and in the end, as the dialog disintegrates, the loser in all of this will be Christianity.
So, I want more gays going to church, and to challenge their fellow parishioners to force their priests to take some sort of stance on homosexuality. With you guys doing all the work, us atheists will be free to just sit back and watch as this storied institution crumbles under the weight of such controversy. It’s gonna be sweet!
With me this week is my good friend Jeff over at www.downandout.ca to talk about the Missing Link, Battletoads for the Nintendo, and about Amanda Donaldson and her struggle with Christian bigotry.
I’m always on the lookout for cool/hilarious fundie websites, and today I found this guy: Steve Noble sounds like a repressed homosexual who seems to have a big hard-on for God. His website is well designed and obviously has plenty of TLC behind it. Unfortunately, Steve is completely insane, which is immediately obvious from his splash page, where we are invited to see the world through his glasses. Let’s just say it makes Dante’s Inferno look like Disneyland.
Look, I get the whole “I love Jesus” thing most of these religious wackos have, but is it really necessary to paint everything in apocalyptic terms? I guess when you read the Bible, it’s the part of the book that leaves the biggest impression on you: in their eyes, the world is going to come to a fiery end, and they have to do what they can to save everybody. It’s a nice gesture, but these clowns have no idea it’s their religious fervor that threatens to make their vision come true. If they could all just chill the fuck out, then I think the world would be a better place.
I invite you to listen to his podcast just to enjoy the fundie goodness within. Plus, I have to congratulate his graphic designer. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing so many exclamation marks on one page. I never knew you could have so many.
It’s bad enough the situation is Iraq is a mess; now we have to deal with the knowledge the Iraqi military is engaging in some sick and twisted tactics to torture and kill homosexuals in the country:
“A prominent Iraqi human rights activist says that Iraqi militia have deployed a painful form of torture against homosexuals by closing their anuses using ‘Iranian gum.’ …Yina Mohammad told Alarabiya.net that, ‘Iraqi militias have deployed an unprecedented form of torture against homosexuals by using a very strong glue that will close their anus.’ According to her, the new substance ‘is known as the American hum, which is an Iranian-manufactured glue that if applied to the skin, sticks to it and can only be removed by surgery. After they glue the anuses of homosexuals, they give them a drink that causes diarrhea. Since the anus is closed, the diarrhea causes death. Videos of this form of torture are being distributed on mobile cellphones in Iraq.’”
Reports are sketchy, but over 60 gay men have been killed since December, and many fear for their lives. The video above is a disturbing report about the state of affairs in Iraq, and the news is not encouraging for their gay population.
This only amplifies the failure of the West to inculcate our values and moral ideals in the Middle East. Islamic countries will always be a deadly place for homosexuals, all because of a religion bent on their annihilation. Just another example of how Islam is a ‘religion of peace’, eh?
On this week’s show, my special guest Jeffrey Jones and I talk about agnosticism and his struggle of recognizing his own homosexuality. Also, we teach you how to hide your hot gay porn.
