Would the Real Oppressed Group Please Stand Up

Simmie Williams, a gay-identified 17 year old, was shot and killed in Fort Lauderdale last week. It’s entirely possible that the crime wasn’t motivated by anti-gay sentiment, although Simmie was dressed like a woman when he was shot and there has been a rising tide of anti-homosexual rhetoric in the Fort Lauderdale community from community pillars such as the mayor and local church ministers. Christians in the community recently took part in a vocal protest against a new library in the community that chronicled the history of the gay rights movement. Homosexuals in the community have found themselves getting beaten up for doing silly gay things like going out for dinner at a local restauraunt. In short, the ambiance in Fort Lauderdale isn’t all that great unless you only have sex with the opposite gender in the missionary position with no birth control like God intended.

Gay rights groups have understandably taken umbrage to this hate filled environment, staging vigils where Simmie was shot and lashing out at the local Christian churches that unapologetically spew hate because they think one sentence in Leviticus 18:22 is justification for discriminating against an entire subset of the population.

Pro-gay activist Matt Foreman summarized the situation quite nicely:

“People aren’t born hating gay people. They are taught to hate gay people. And who’s doing the teaching? It’s coming from pulpits right here in in Broward County every Sunday.”

Now for the kicker I know you’ve all been waiting for. Christians don’t like it when people call a spade a spade, and they’re demanding an apology from Matt Foreman for his intolerance!

Reverand Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission (does a majority religion really need an anti-defamation group to safeguard their good name) had this to say:

“Foreman is guilty of gross Christian bashing, the very kind of bashing he says he opposes against homosexuals.”

and

“Radical homosexuals like Foreman are quick to exploit this tragic situation for their own political purposes and in order to bash Christians. Matt Foreman owes the ministers of Broward County an apology.”

Let’s set aside the delicious irony of an avowed conservative Christian infamous for his political grandstanding leveling the accusation of grandstanding at someone else just so that he can get some press. If you look at the two quotes above it appears that the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission is angry because Matt Foreman, the big gay bully, is bashing the poor defenseless Christians of Broward County who had nothing to do with any of the anti-homosexual sentiment in the Fort Lauderdale area.

But what about this quote from the end of Mr. Cass’ press release?

“Faithful Christian churches must oppose homosexual behavior, just as they must oppose other behavior they consider to be sinful, but where is the proof that any minister has ever suggested or condoned violence.”

Let’s recap the story so far. Matt Foreman accuses local Christian ministers of preaching intolerance. The Christian groups get upset because Matt Foreman accuses them of preaching intolerance. Then in the same press release those same Christians admit that intolerance is one of the core tenets of their faith. So now Matt Foreman is getting raked over the coals for stating the plain and simple truth as admitted by the very group that he’s supposedly oppressing?

And let’s not forget that the oppressing of Christians has really just amounted to protests against a murder. The anti-gay oppression has come in the form of a beating and, oh yeah, that murder that gay rights activists were protesting in the first place. I think it’s safe to say that we’re comparing apples to oranges here when it comes to who is the oppressed and who is the oppressee in this situation.

I know that it’s a popular sentiment amongst Christians right now that they’re one of the most put-upon groups in the world because of their beliefs, but let’s be honest. If you’re the majority religion in the world you aren’t the one being oppressed. Sure you might run into trouble in some parts of the world, but the vast conspiracy of anti-Christianity that you’ve created for yourselves just doesn’t exist. Matt Foreman was just saying that we should live and let live, and shouldn’t live in a world where someone is murdered or beat up because of their sexuality. I’m sure that Jesus would probably agree were he here today, he seemed like a pretty cool guy as long as you ignore most of Daniel and Revelation.

And if a Christian group is preaching intolerance of homosexuals as a matter of faith then they are preaching intolerance, plain and simple. They’re no better than congregations of days gone by that found biblical justifications for slavery or any other number of atrocities.

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