Does God hate gays and lesbians?
It doesn't matter whether you gather with Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Baptists, the Assembly of God, or any of the Evangelical denominations. At some point you will hear a pastor or lay preacher spouting a message of hatred directed at gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals. The church, hiding behind the mantle of free speech and freedom of religion, is a place where intolerance is practiced openly, and there is little, for now, that can be done about it.
THE STORY: Let's be very clear about this. All Christians will tell you that their God is a God of love. He -- God is usually referred to as a he -- loves all people but he hates sin.
The majority of Christians will tell you, some enthusiastically, some reluctantly, some sadly, that homosexuality is a sin and the punishment for that is damnation, which is said to entail an eternity of separation from God's love, or, if you want a more graphic description, an eternity of burning in hell.
Christians of the type who believe in hell -- a sort of celestial gas chamber, or heavenly holocaust -- can be very pleasant in person. Most of the time, they do the right thing, work hard, take care of their families, try hard to be loyal and faithful to country, kith, and kin. They don't willingly and willfully lie. They will help you if you are in trouble. They will raise money for the less fortunate; they will travel to Africa to volunteer building churches, schools, and wells for drinking water.
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And yet they have little problem accepting that their God, who wants all people to find a place in heaven, has no qualms about burning, destroying, annihilating those who displease Him, choose not to worship him, or who worship other Gods, do not worship God at all, or -- through no fault of their own -- love and desire someone of the same sex.
If we take the Christian argument seriously that all people are created in God's image, why was God so cruel as to create 10 or more percent of the population as gay, lesbian, bi- or transsexual and then punish them for it?
The evangelical argument against gay people is not convincing. It poses so many awkward questions about God, forcing us to the conclusion that the evangelical God is as much about hatred as love.
According to evangelicals, God has more love for a man who neglects his wife, even abuses her, than He has for a gay or lesbian couple in a long-term and loving monogamous relationship.
It is also bizarre that God is as much concerned with the sexual habits of gay people as he is with starvation in Africa, global injustice, warfare and famine.
It is an odd God indeed who gets so upset at a man kissing a man or a woman caressing another woman that he is prepared for all time to banish them to a kingdom of fire ruled by the devil.
The gay or lesbian couple might be model citizens in all respects, productive, tax-paying, supportive of friends and family, unfailingly patriotic to the extent of being members of the armed forces or police, active in the democratic process, dedicated volunteers, etc, etc, but all of that does not matter in God's eyes because the person's love and sexual desire is directed at someone of the same sex.
We need to know what it is about a man loving another man, or a woman desiring another woman, that so enrages the evangelical God. How does the divine mind work which turns a blind eye to abuse and injustice in relationships between straight people, but which polices every sexual move of gay couples?
The answer is simple and clear. Prejudice against gay people is human prejudice. It uses God and scared texts as a cover to hide behind, as a barricade from which to spout hatred.
Yes, there are Biblical texts condemning homosexuality, or what appears to us to be homosexuality, but those texts were written a long time ago by people much less sophisticated and knowledgeable than we are.
It can be argued, and usually is by Christians, that their sacred texts were inspired by God, or inspired by a belief in God, but they were still written by human hands, shaped by human minds, with all of the failings and weaknesses that accompany being human.
A person can love God with their entire body and mind and still be hateful and spiteful. You do not have to be a member of a church for very long before you encounter people, good Christians, who you don't like, wouldn't wish in your home, wouldn't want your kids to associate with, and would rather not talk to.
These kinds of differences and conflicts existed in the past as much as today. Church history, including the writing of the Bible, is packed with in-fighting, dislike of others who share the same faith, intolerance of those whose opinions are just a tiny fraction different from one's own.
In short, it is extremely unlikely, verging on the impossible, to suggest that there is watertight case for God hating his gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual children.
Question: Did he suggest a way forward, a course of action?
It is people who hate, not God. It is people who have decided that a man's sexual love for another man is wrong, and somehow they have persuaded other people that God is involved in the equation.
It is a safe bet that when it's time to go to heaven -- if there is a heaven -- that it will be packed with gay people of all shapes, sizes, ages, colors, and traditions. God loves all his creation, and that creation includes our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters as full members, who deserve their rights, their say, and their need and desire to love.
Marcia Thompson
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Charles, Odessa, Texas Of course God hates gays, otherwise he wouldn't have invented hell to send them to.
Coleen, Panama City God hates the sin but loves the sinner. So long as gay people repent and reform their sick ways, they will be forgiven and heaven can be theirs.
Gordon, Rochester, New York The idea that God has got it in for gay people is just crazy. We are all God's children. There are a lot of things in the Bible that evangelicals and fundamentalists don't believe. Why have they singled out homosexuality as their one favorite campaign point?
Cephus, Kampala Gay is the worst sin, worse than anything you can imagine because it is against God's order of life.
Mercy, Nairobi The homosexuality campaign is a western phenomenon that has no place in civilized God-fearing countries.
Byron, Vancouver Wow, I see the gay bashers are out in force! The author of the article is right. Homophobia is a human prejudice. It has nothing to do with God.
Vic, Bolton Hatred of gays is based on fear and ignorance. Religion, once again, tries to keep us in the Dark Ages.