It has been so very long since I have felt the presence of God in organized religion. I know that there are those within the confines of religiosity who personify God in their actions; I know that those people do exist. But, just for a moment I want you all to take a moment and think what it feels like to be a member of a group named in an “inclusive” statement. What I mean by that is, do you know how it feels to be separated from your brothers and sisters of the earth in a way that makes those brothers and sisters express sentiments such as; I love you and it is ok with me that you are gay?
When Bill and I announced our civil union (after 17 years of sharing our lives together) we had people contact us and say, “I am not sure how I feel about you having a civil union, but I want you to know that I love you.” And to that, and to all statements of inclusivity I say bullshit! My dear friends, I do not need for you to share with me your hesitancy or quick acceptance of my life with my husband (yes now he is my husband because within a year of being allowed to have a civil union we were allowed to marry legally), I need for you to take that journey through your own heart without including me. It is not that I do not respect that our societal history may require you to work this out, but I am not the best person for you to work it out with.
I have said for many years that anti-discrimination statements will have an opposite effect at some point; in my “The Use of Language In Discrimination” video I stated that telling a bigot to stop using hate language does not change the bigot, but instead creates an angry bigot. I am pretty sure that the signing of the Anti LGBT Bill in Indiana this week is proof of my theory. One of Newton’s laws of physics says, “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction” and because there have been a plethora of positive actions for equality in the last couple of years; it makes sense, unfortunately, that there will be retribution of sorts, strictly from a physics point of view.
So, now my rant reaches its conclusion, and my conclusion is this; if you think that laws and actions which support hate and oppression are of God then you are wrong. Simply put, you are wrong. I believe strongly that Newton’s law is true in the spiritual realm as well as the physical realm; I do not believe in a hateful punishing God, and I feel very sorry for those of you who do. It is you who act in an evil way, it is you who creates hate where there should be love, and it is you who create wars so that you can be “more God fearing”; it is not Bill and I, and it is not the blacks, or the Mexicans, or any other group that you may wish to single out that is the brokenness of the world, it is you and your hateful ideology that is to blame; because you must understand, at the point that I become truly free in my understanding of God in relation to ME, you can no longer take away my freedoms, you can merely be exposed by your own hate.
Peace All
kenswhims 
So correct in all you say. I can never understand why you should be different than I other than you are you, I am I. I have never thought in terms of someone’s color makes him/her different, someone’s sexual orientation make him/her different and on and on…we are a mass of humanity trying to survive as well as we can. It just never occurs to me that any of this stuff should make a difference. It first hit me back in about first or second grade when in catechism class, Sister Marjory said that anyone who is not Catholic could not get into heaven. That stuck me as bizarre…”Why would not being Catholic make such a difference? Is God Catholic? Why would Phyllis, one of my best friends, not get into heaven. Her parents chose her religion so why should she suffer?”
My brother Rusty must have been thinking in the same way because he raised his hand, stood up and challenged dear Sister Marjory. Now neither Rusty nor I believe in either organized religion or heaven…so much for the early brainwashing of those dear old nuns!
Recently, I was having dinner with my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and nephew David, who is gay. He was talking about his companion Jeremy, and the day the two of them took Jeremy’s mom to Racine’s (we were there at the time,) in order to break the news that Jeremy was gay and the two of them were in a relationship. I am so out of it that his should be a big deal, I misunderstood and thought he was commenting on her first visit to Racine’s and whether she liked it or not. That brought a great laugh to the group, but seriously, I just don’t think in those terms…and personally, I don’t think the personage of Jesus Christ did either..
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