Astonishing To Me That Any Queer Person Could Call Themselves Christian

I wrote this in response to an essay by Dan who investigated how welcoming Christian churches actually are to queer people. I found his effort in this regard to be creative and seems to me to be fruitless. The link is below.

https://medium.com/backyard-theology/would-a-same-sex-couple-really-be-welcome-in-a-church-3f820ed2d092

Dan: Fascinating ideas. Still…….

Why would any queer person even want to associate themselves with the dead weight of mythico-narcissism and 2,000 years of god sanctified queer hatred? Why is this even a question? No. Seriously. I get that there are nuances. Fond memories. Associations. OK. But why? Why?

I get it that there are Christians who as individuals are not enemies to queer people or whoever. Of course I do. There are all kinds of nuance bouncing around that I’m not even going to mention. I want the people I’m writing to to mention that stuff. I want them to explain it to me. Because Christianity and Christians, collectively, have been the sworn enemies of queer people.

Well… I already know that many of my enemies are perfectly good tax paying citizens. Sometimes the enemy isn’t screaming for your blood or prodding you at bayonet point into the cattle cars. Sometimes the enemy sits smiling across from you at the table at Christmas. I know that.

I’m honestly astonished at this in that rare way that you just can’t habituate to. Why would any queer person want to shoulder the burden of all that sacred scapegoating? Because I’m unable to conceive of what the payoff would possibly be.

Why not investigate new philosophies that affirm you? I wound up as a secular humanist. But there are plenty of places to go.

Frankly I can’t see how any group of people who derive their sexual (or other) morality from divine fiat rather than consent and observation could possibly have values similar to mine that I’d want to be “accepted” by them.

Also I would not want to be part of any memeplex that mandates what to think while actively discouraging how to think. Nor would I be too concerned by “acceptance” if those were the terms.

Groups of people trained from birth to believe narcissistic myth to be objective fact on the basis of execrable evidence are almost as dangerous to themselves as they are to the rest of us. And individuals within that group just lose credibility with me to the extent that they believe in stuff like bigfoot, virgin births, flat earth, intercessory prayer, Tarot cards, saints, astrology, Biblical inerrancy, necromancy, transubstantiation, UFO abductions, original sin, crystal power etc.

Also people who have been conditioned from birth to be dependent on faith and God instead of their own internal resources and, who, because of this, have literally dis integrated their own personalities seem to me are very very unlikely to ever achieve anything like the examined life or an integrated personality. (I mean Catholics aren’t even capable of forgiving themselves. They have to go to a vending machine confessional booth and buy forgiveness from a priest. If that’s not dis integration I don’t know what is.)

Then there is the Christian sadistic hysteria towards human sexuality at all much less queerness. To me this amounts to mutilation. Christianity offered me, a polyamorous bisexual man, nothing but degradation, dehumanization isolation and death.

Jesus was fine. A fair to middling philosopher. Nobody special once you start investigating who and what else is out there. But there’s better evidence for UFO abductions than the resurrection.

Speaking of which I find scapegoating/sacrificing to be fundamentally morally repugnant and supportive in its very basis to scapegoating queers, women, outsiders, etc.

Finally, I experienced Christianity as a cultivated addiction. By means of the gateway drug faith; the inevitable addiction to being right can be inflamed to such egomaniacal excess that the addict will think that not only they but their entire tribe is right about everything all the time. Good heavens man. You telling me you’re just going to pretend to snort those lines of dogma off all those bright shiny mirrors? Well why not. I did. But when I left one of the benefits was I didn’t have to pretend any more.

If I were a betting man I’d bet you and I agreed on more than we disagree on. This isn’t about all that stuff I’m so sure I’m right about, not really. I’m astonished. If one of my Jewish or black or latino or humanist buddies were to tell me they’d just joined the KKK I’d be just as astonished. I don’t need to be satisfied with your answer but I’d like to be satisfied that you are really satisfied with it and then maybe I can begin to understand.

What about some links to other stuff you’ve written that’s specific to this?

Thanks.

Vincent

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