organized hate

I don't think anyone reads this anymore, which is fine -- gives me more freedom to post what I really think anyway.

I watched a video tonight on the web about churches in California actively organizing to support a proposition (Proposition 8) that would outlaw gay marriage. And I have to wonder: When did Jesus's message of love turn into one of hate?

It makes me sad to think that with all the unloved children the world, the disease, famine, wars, pollution of the earth, that so-called religious people care so much about this issue that they are actually campaigning against people marrying each other. It's not even a religious issue to begin with, because in our country (not in all countries, btw) the state determines who is allowed to marry. Why does a church care so much about this issue?

There are lots of mean-spirited things I could say about the Catholic church in particular, and also about people who would be considered right wing or fundamentalist. But really what it comes down to is I just don't understand how Jesus's message got so lost in all of this. What I remember most from the bible is "LOVE one another." Secondarily I also remember turn the other cheek and Jesus saying that God is the one who judges us, but we should not judge each other or throw the first stone unless we are free from sin ourselves (which, of course, none of us are).

My love for others in particular is tested when I am trying to love those who espouse so much hate, greed and lack of compassion for others. So I will meditate on that and try to find love in my heart, because sometimes I feel very angry. Mostly, though, I feel sad, when I think of my gay friends who love each other so much, who are committed to each other, who are loving people in general, and who are subject to hate and discrimination by religious zealots and by society at large. This makes me really sad, and try as I may, I can't understand it, because the God I learned aboutgrowing up and the God I know is a God of love. I guess I was lucky that in my church we learned about love and acceptance and not about hating others and judging them.

I am going to spend some time reading "Affirmations of a Dissenter" by Bishop Joseph Sprague this week, as my sister has recommended, because I need some spiritual guidance. I am going to try to remember the stories told to me years ago by members of my church about the Methodists who protested at the national conference, protested the church's treatment of gay people, and cried aloud as the leaders of our institution denied the acceptance of gay people again and again. I am going to try to remember that I am not alone in my grief that Jesus's message has become so exploited, so damaged, so diluted and twisted that we persecute our brothers and sisters in the name of God.