Dr. Forbush Thinks

What should society be tolerant too? Where should the line be drawn?

The religious right likes to say “tolerance to a point, there are laws that should not be broken.” We shouldn't tolerate the breaking of laws. Should we have tolerance for a murderer? He chooses to kill people as a lifestyle choice. A rapist or a pedophile chooses their lifestyle as well. Should we have tolerance for these people?

The difference is that murderers effect the social structure of general population. Homosexuals don’t do that based on their lifestyle choice. On the other hand, rapists and pedophiles like murders do put society at risk.

Unfortunately the religious right can’t see the difference between rapists, pedophiles and homosexuals. I am guessing that that is a lifestyle choice. I believe that they can be taught to understand the difference, but they choose not to. Perhaps if they had some help from the leaders in the church this could change. But, it seems that the leaders of these churches are the most ignorant of all.

What can be done when people choose to be ignorant?

Instead of reading the story of Jesus, where he set an example by eating with the sinners, the ignorant choose to bend the teachings in the Bible to support their own ignorance. As we read and think about the life of Jesus we realize that the key confrontation is between Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus is the radical that stands up against the popular teaching of the time that sin causes our misfortune. And, this sin is defined by long lists of dietary restrictions, rituals that should be followed and peculiar ideas not based in fact. Jesus comes back against these ideas by saying that love is more important than these silly ideas, rituals and restrictions. So, if the law has a basis in love of humanity, then it is valid.

Of course the Pharisees put Jesus to death because of this heresy. But the legacy of Jesus lived on, teaching us that the value of love beyond the written law. We should remember that the laws that Jesus questioned were written in the Bible. He worked a miracle on the Sabbath, proving to the Pharisees that Jesus could not have come from God. Breaking the Sabbath was more important than an obscure writing in Leviticus saying that a man should not lie with a man like a woman. But, the present day Pharisees have presented themselves as the leaders of the fundamentalists and the hatred they show by their ignorance isn’t any different than the ignorance the Pharisees who put Jesus to death. And, that hatred fans out to society.

How many Christians truly believe that Jesus would approve of the intolerance for homosexuals that the religious right spread among its crowd? I can hear the echo, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him,” that originated from the mouths of our present day Pharisees.









Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit



Religion, Homosexuals, Ignorance, NeoPharisees, Fundamentalists, Christians