I was of two minds today. I could rail against the injustice that the brutal killing of Sean Kennedy was worth a mere eight months in prison or I could make a dark joke about the irony of animal rights activist Nathan Runkle being beaten like a dog this weekend.
But then I see the Christian Newswire’s “Top Ten Instances of Christian Bashing in America 2008” and I am simply left speechless. Christian bashing? Really?
My, but they have a different definition of “bashing” than I do: the number two crime on their list is that “Sarah Palin came under sharp attack by some in the mainstream media because she self-identifies as a Christian.” That’s right, MSNBC was mean to a US vice-presidential candidate and I’m sure Sean Kennedy feels just terrible about it. Oh no, wait…he’s dead.
And why? Because we’re number one. Nevermind the overzealous lawmakers or caustic comedians, it’s the gay people protesting against being denied their basic human rights that are the biggest threat to Christianity, or at least according to the people claiming to speak for it.
Meanwhile, Bill Maher — who spent his own money producing a hilariously snide 90-minute documentary on religion — must’ve yelled, “I’m only number six??? What more do I have to do to these people?” Like Maher, I was raised Catholic so like it or not, religion always looks like this to me:
But like it says up top, this is a gay pop culture blog so I’d be happy to leave the topic of religion alone. You wouldn’t, for instance, catch me opining on the nightmare in Gaza this week (even if Annie Lennox does!) but a youth activist group and this lovely clip from the acclaimed documentary “Jerusalem is Proud to Present” also reminded me again that whenever we explore the lives of gay people, the effects of religion are never far behind:
This is why I’m all about the science. The Bible may be “the unchanging word of God” but I’m delighted that we’re still discovering new wrinkles in Darwin’s findings. Up till now, I thought a pink iguana was a cocktail!
And if all of this is too heavy, take heart: we can still ogle Chris Evans!
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