Gay Minister Outs Gay Churchgoer

On my way to work today, I heard an interesting story on the radio station I listen to in the morning.  The radio station I listen to deals with political (and sometimes religious) issues in the news; naturally, I am a fan.  Well, apparently today a man wrote the radio station (we will call him Mr. X) an extensive email sharing a recent event that happened to him in his Church.

The Minister was giving an intense sermon on homosexuality and got caught up in the moment.  During the sermon, the Minister outed Mr. X. Until that point, no one knew that he was gay, but in front of the whole congregation, the Minister felt that it was “okay” to out Mr. X as he felt it went along with his message.

Here is the kicker:

Mr. X (who is gay) knows for a fact that the very Minister that outed him is having sexual relations with one of his male friends!  Wow…that is hypocrisy at its finest.

In his letter, Mr. X expressed that he is unsure what to do.  Personally, I think he should leave that congregation, and probably have a personal meeting with the Minister to let him know that he knows of his hypocrisy.

In this case, I see Mr. X as a better man.  He could have embarrassed and damaged the Minister much more severely that what was done to him.

In the end, it seems that some Church leaders really need to get right with God.

“God Hates Fags” … Really?

How often have you heard or seen that slogan.  Even though I don’t necessarily understand homosexuality, I feel that individuals (like the lady to the right holding the sign) with this (hateful) mentality have gone astray.  I guess someone out there believes that they are the spokesman for God, and unfortunately, they screwed up (I wouldn’t want that burden). 

We must understand that attributing human descriptors to God is a danger in itself since we are limited to use words of human origin – how in the world could our words describe a God who is not a part of this time and space (instead, He is the creator).  In our efforts though, many religious philosophers conclude that God is the perfection of attributs such as:

• Power
• Goodness
• Love
• Mercy
• Grace
• and so on…(click here for detailed explanations of these attributes)

You will notice that “perfect hate” is not on any of the lists.  However, the Bible does describe things that Lord hates – the most notable example being Proverbs 6:16-19.  Here it says:

“There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.”

I’m sorry, but I don’t see “God hates fags (people)” on that list – Let’s stop attributing “hate” as an ideal of Christianity. 

16-year Old Girl Denied Bail for “God Hates Fags” Flyer

A story I came by today; what do you think?  Violation of free speech?  Proper dealing with messages of hate?  Pesonally, I think it’s pretty horrible that the girls did this.  Let everyone know how you feel.
 
Two girls were arrested in McHenry County, Illinois last week for distributing flyers at their school that depicted a male classmate kissing another classmate and had the words “God Hates Fags” on the flyers. The two were charged with disorderly conduct and felony hate crimes. As can be expected, debate has been generated on the wisdom of hate crimes laws, debate that’s not confined solely to the right. Even gay sites are not entirely behind the arrest and charging of these girls for a minor stunt.

The ACLU, predictably, said it indicates the struggle between protecting targeted groups and free speech, which apparently means hate speech directed at whites, Christians, or men is a-ok in the ACLU’s book.

However, while the media focuses on the hate crime debate, an obvious injustice is missed that is far more concerning. One of the girls at her arraignment was denied bail for her actions, and the other was effectively placed on house arrest. It should be noted that they have not yet been tried, only charged. If the McHenry juvenile detention facility is anything like most county jails in the state, the girl will be allowed two 20 minute visits a week through a plexi-glass window with her friends and family.

In almost every single criminal case, bail is set to something. Most murders get bail. There are only two situations were bail is inappropriate: where the accused is a flight risk in a serious case and where the accused would pose eminent danger to society if released. As an illustration, in Champaign County a man was arrested for brutally raping his girlfriend with a weapon and threatening to kill her. His bail was set at $250,000.

In a Sangamon County case in Illinois, a murder suspect, Mark Winger, was given $1,000,000 bail, and, while he was out, he tried to have a key witness murdered. Muaz Haffar in Chicago was arrested for allegedly beating a victim to death with a bike lock and promptly fled to Syria while on bail.

The cases go on and on. However, in this case a 16-year old girl, who certainly is no innocent victim, has been denied bail because she’s had run ins with the police before. Those include curfew violations, having cigarettes, having booze, and once for possession of marijuana. In short, she is a mischievous teenager no different than most other mischievous teenagers. If this girl brutally raped her neighbor and then killed him, she would have bail right now as long as she didn’t say the word “fag” while doing it.

The judge, in commenting on denying bail, said that the girl’s home situation was unacceptable. It’s unclear how a judge can legally take a child out of their home simply because the child shows up in the courtroom for an obnoxious high school prank. We have the Department of Children and Family Services for that. In fact, the judge likely only spent a few moments looking at court documents (that had no home investigation) in making his sweeping judgment about the fitness of the parents. At least DCFS would conduct an investigation before taking custody of kids.

The situation of the other girl, getting house arrest, is also problematic because no adult criminal would be placed under house arrest simply by the virtue of being arrested… even in cases where such a sanction would be warranted. This is made laughable absurd by the fact that the maximum sentence the girls could get is 30 days in juvenile detention. The girl sitting in detention without bail will spend likely an order of magnitude more than that waiting for trial.

What these girls did was obnoxious, but it is certainly no catastrophic threat to society to have them out of jail. It is unclear whether the judge is using the hate crimes law or something else to enforce these ridiculous bail decisions. It is obvious to every child who is watching that society will treat them like thugs to be looked up than actual human beings. They are guilty until proven innocent. And we wonder why society is raising such dysfunctional adults.

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