Religion's Oppression

It has been quite some time since I began contemplating the existence of God (some 3 years ago) and during that time, I've discovered a discussion like no other: debates on the source of morality, historical evidence of miracles, and gaps in science that can never be explained, to name just a few, yet there is something that hasn't been properly addressed; what I consider the 500 lb gorilla in the room : Homosexuality. 



I won't entertain debates on the natural-ity of homosexuality for other reasons than being distasteful: 

1. Homosexuality is a direct product of natural processes, of which can not be dictated by the parents, environment, or person.
2. Science is verifying such a belief with many discovering that it is a mix of neurological and genetic alternations from the "norm" of heterosexuality. See here.

By concentrating on the gay community (as I've done in the past), many atheists may be offended by my choice to address just one aspect of the divine; their impression of the Abrahamic God is best described in the opening paragraph of Chapter 2 of Richard Dawkin's bestseller The God Delusion:

"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, magalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."

I choose to address just one aspect of his intense description because I believe it is the most relevant today. No group (that I know of), in the history of the world, has faced as much religious hatred as gays have. Nearly every religion in the world denounces homosexuality as unnatural, deviant, unholy, blasphemous, and impure (Buddhism and Hinduism have thousands of denominations that vary in belief, so it's harder to pinpoint)

To name the Abrahamic religions:

Islam:  

Sura 7:80-84: "And Lot, when he said to his people, 'Do ye approach an abomination which no one in all the world ever anticipated you in? Verily, ye approach men with lust rather than women- nay, ye are a people who exceed.' But his people's answer only was to say, 'Turn them out of your village, verily, they are a people who pretend to purity.'  But we saved him and his people, except his wife, who was of those who lingered; and we rained down upon them a rain; -- see then how was the end of the sinners!" [Here, God massacres thousands of people] Christianity and Judaism: Leviticus 18:22: "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." There is much more in all the texts, but these help summarize the basis of belief; All center around the story of the Sodom and Gommorah. All translations, yet homophobia is prevalent in English speaking Muslim, Christian, and Jews as they are in Hebrew and Arabic speaking believers; the homophobia exists inter-linguistically. Of course, I recognize Islamic history's shaky acceptance of flamboyant men and masculine women, but this is no substitute for the hateful anti-gay speech found in many other places. I'm also well aware of the debates within the religious community that center around whether homosexuality is the sin, or homosexual intercourse is; either way, it's just as disgusting. If homosexuality is accepted but not the relationship, do we force all gays to marry people they don't want? Of course not, that's absurd. Despite the debate (some more lively than others), there is one thing that can't be denied: The belief in the divine is the the reason that children are raised believing gays are wrong; the reason gays grow up in hiding; the reason outed gays are hung in Iran; the reason the Catholic Church (as well as most others) denounce gays; the reason gay girls and boys are bullied; the reason they are beat. Two gay men hung in Iran Why such torment? Because of who they are. Their sin? No evil action, no far worse: Their sin is in their state of being. No other issue boils my blood as this does. The debate here in the United States about gay rights and gay marriage is quite a step forward from other countries where expressing one's homosexual tendencies will have them jailed, tortured, raped, and killed. This isn't abuse of man of the "loving" word of the divine, no, nor is it the changing of rules by the corruption of men; this is a God that hates the people he makes.  "Hate for being" quickly reminds me of human slavery where colored people were considered property to others because of who they were; regardless of their natural equality.  The hatred toward gays is as open today as the hatred toward colored people was all over the world (from Native Americans, to Africans, to the Chinese) at it's peak. Pink Triangles Labeled Holocaust prisoners as Gay; similar to the Star for Jews Could homophobia exist in a secular world? Sure, but it would never have the mandate and authority of an all-wise, all-powerful divine being; thus easier to overcome. In fact, the only reason homosexuality is as big of an issue anywhere in the world is because of religion, be it personal faith or religious institution. What should have been addressed long ago is being dragged out (far past the end of my lifetime) to deny gays safety, equality, and dignity in all countries.  The hatred toward homosexuals isn't limited to the boisterous protesters of the Westboro Baptist Church nor the loudest demagogues in the mosques of Saudi Arabia nor in the longest public decrees of radical rabbis. Overwhelming majorities throughout the world believe homosexuality is morally wrong.  There is nearly 0% tolerance of homosexuality in the UK Muslim community while 75% of French and German Muslims also believe homosexuality is, by nature, immoral.  (See here).   Even in the United States, 43% of Americans (regardless of faith) believe that homosexuality is wrong. That's around  129 million people that believe a state of being is wrong.  On this issue, more-so than any other, even the most (seemingly) intelligent and open-minded people I know, express (with pride) their denouncement of homosexuality. They don't base their decree on any evidence, because they don't need to: Whatever contradicts the word of God should be shunned. No other force on earth gets people to believe in such hateful things as the divine does.  No one can deny that the belief in the divine is the direct cause to the imprisonment, torture, rape, and murder of millions of gays throughout history. We can put aside the killing of children, the genocide, the rape that has been sanctioned by the divine throughout the Torah, Bible and Qur'an because even then, this divine being shows itself to be quite hateful, quite unforgiving by sentencing a girl who grows up to love women, to an eternity in hell.  Think about that. To burn forever, for loving someone she wasn't supposed to love.   If God does exist, I'm not sure I'd want to worship him.

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