What’s Next?

In the midst of the Anglican confudal about how much they really feel like appeasing the bigots amongst them the Catholic church lept in to demonstrate that their position was very clear: “Homosexuality is a disordered behaviour. The activity must be condemned”.

On a selfish level, I’ll confess to a little satisfaction when a religion takes an unambiguously stupid and harmful stance because it makes the argument that they’re an anachronism far easier, but that is a profoundly selfish take because it ignores the fact that the flat out evil policies and doctrine of the church make real people’s lives worse (and often shorter). Ignoring for a second the whole “condoms will kill you” thing; the Catholic Church has an official position that Homosexuality is wrong and should be condemned - They also run schools with gay children in them. Why on earth is this tolerated?

There is a problem pretty much everywhere in the British school system with homophobic bullying (I’ve always felt that terms a little misleading, it’s not so much fear as it is hate) with 2/3 of gay students reporting problem but it can’t be coincidence that in faith schools this goes up to 3/4. Whilst a leap from one high figure to another may not be that impressive an indictment it’s more worryingly that significantly fewer pupils (23%) feel able to report abuse in faith schools and it’s hard to see how doctrine like this is in any way conductive to an environment where pupils feel comfortable trusting schools to react and deal appropriately. The issue isn’t that it’s the staff are doing the bullying (although this does happen) but that they won’t step in in the same way they would with other kinds of bullying and don’t address the issue with their students. Think: Is this kind of stance more or less likely when the heads of your religion say you should be condemning these young freaks?

The Stonewall report on the matter has some examples of how this plays out outside the magical world of percentages:

“It’s a Catholic school…and we are told ‘gay people will go to hell because the Bible condemns it’… It’s horrid, you just want to go and cry at some of the remarks made by the teachers. It’s just not fair.” - Matthew, 18, single sex Catholic school (South East)

“PSHE was about AIDS – the teacher didn’t contradict that it was a ‘gay disease’ and implied what gay men did in bed was disgusting.” - Rachel, 18,independent secondary school (Greater London)

“The response from friends was supportive, but the school teachers did absolutely nothing about it.” - Paul, 16, Catholic secondary school (North West)

“As I was in a Catholic school, part of my R.E. GCSE, we had a topic about homosexuality and the Catholic church. We were basically told that being gay or bisexual isn’t a sin, but the sexual act is. Thankfully our teacher was young and pretty much only saying what she was told to say. She allowed us some debate on the subject because it seemed that she didn’t agree with the Vatican’s view even though she was a devout Catholic herself.” - Ruth, 18, Catholic Secondary School (West Midlands)

There’s some hope in that last one (and there are other quotes that show good handling of the issue by schools in the report) but it’s a tad depressing the official party line seems to be a variation on ‘Love the sinner, hate the sin” - the idea that being gay is fine, but gay acts are bad seems to pass for enlightened and kind thinking in some circles - “Well, they’re not doomed from the get-go per se, they just have to resist their sinful urges because…um…they’re sinful and our loving god will punish them for it.” And they call us the immoral ones. A theme recurring in religion is to create imaginary crimes which it can then forgive and fix (I can’t help but feel because it’s answers to real problems tend to be so deeply unsatisfiying) and that’s all this is: An imaginary crime we let our ‘moral guardians’ punish children for.

Way back in 2001 after 9/11 the (now deceased) Jerry Farwell said:

“I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen.’”

Now while this repulses me, I could take some comfort in the fact that he lived a very long way away and could have no impact on my life whatsoever. However, Iain Dale just pointed out the Telegraph’s piece on the Bishop of Carlisle comments regarding the recent flooding:

While those who have been affected by the storms are innocent victims, the bishops argue controversially that the flooding is a result of Western civilisation’s decision to ignore biblical teaching.

The Rt Rev Graham Dow, Bishop of Carlisle, argued that the floods are not just a result of a lack of respect for the planet, but also a judgment on society’s moral decadence.

“This is a strong and definite judgment because the world has been arrogant in going its own way,” he said. “We are reaping the consequences of our moral degradation, as well as the environmental damage that we have caused.”

“We are in serious moral trouble because every type of lifestyle is now regarded as legitimate,” he said.

“In the Bible, institutional power is referred to as ‘the beast’, which sets itself up to control people and their morals. Our government has been playing the role of God in saying that people are free to act as they want,” he said, adding that the introduction of recent pro-gay laws highlighted its determination to undermine marriage.

“The sexual orientation regulations [which give greater rights to gays] are part of a general scene of permissiveness. We are in a situation where we are liable for God’s judgment, which is intended to call us to repentance.”

He expressed his sympathy for those who have been hit by the weather, but said that the problem with “environmental judgment is that it is indiscriminate”.

This isn’t the ravings of a fanatic on the far side of the world, he’s a leader in the established religion and as far as I can work out, he’s next in line to sit in the House of Lords on the seniority basis the Lords Spiritual work on. He’s really saying that people have lost their lives because we as a society don’t hate and discriminate enough. If we’re going to have people who sprout this sort of thing in Parliament, I’d really rather they were elected so we could have some constituents to blame for them.

Fortunately the Bishops of Liverpool and London redeem the Church later on in the article by reducing it from a god-sanctioned punishment for a gay-tolerant society to a wake-up call of the effect people can have on the environment. While I’m hesitant to connect every piece of dangerous weather to climate change, this is a far more intelligent and constructive line to take and helps me restore a little of my faith in humanity.

They are part of a vicious homosexual agenda.

The Telletubbies are set to be banned in Poland after a government media watchdog decided they encouraged homosexuality.

The children’s Tv programme has fallen foul of Poland’s government-appointed Children’s Rights spokesman, who believes the show is “gay propaganda”.

A special committee has been appointed to examine the claims including allegations that Tinky Winky’s handbag was breaking down gender barriers and encouraging homosexuality.

….?

I didn’t even know they had sexes…
I completely agree with this decision, if we put genderless creatures with tvs in their tummies and handbangs in front of children, the next thing you know they might start choosing to be gay!