{"id":98,"date":"2008-12-23T08:14:34","date_gmt":"2008-12-23T08:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/tonyjones\/2008\/12\/comment-of-the-day-12.html"},"modified":"2008-12-23T08:14:34","modified_gmt":"2008-12-23T08:14:34","slug":"comment-of-the-day-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2008\/12\/comment-of-the-day-12.html","title":{"rendered":"Comment of the Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Comment of the Weekend<\/a>, continuing the conversation on homosexuality, has drawn a bit of response.  Larry and Panthera exchanged comments that hovered just on the border of civility and then, I’m afraid, crossed that border.  We join the conversation already in progress.<\/p>\n

Larry:<\/p>\n

\n

The world was round, even though most ‘good Christians’ insisted it was flat,<\/i><\/p>\n

Another lie, the church has never thought the earth flat, a round earth is a feature of Greek cosmogony, which predates Christ. <\/p>\n

The heliocentric view of our solar system was and is correct,
\neven tho’ the fundamentalists of that day tortured those who dared to
\nspeak the truth.<\/i><\/p>\n

If you’re referring to Galileo, he was never tortured, just placed
\nunder house arrest in his villa, I’m not justifying his treatment,
\nthough it had more to do with Galileo being a jackass than with his
\nheliocentric views, but it fell far short of torture. <\/p>\n

Blacks are the same humans as whites, equally loved of God…but
\nthe fundamentalists used the same Bible to ‘prove’ otherwise as they
\nnow do against homosexuals.<\/i><\/p>\n

And no fundamentalist ever declared that blacks were less beloved of
\nGod. Just as nobody, except possibly the Phelpsians, is saying that
\ngays are not loved by God. <\/p>\n

Had Regan listened to doctors and not to the screaming, hateful
\nfundamentalists, we would have had a chance to stop it in its tracks.<\/i><\/p>\n

How do you propose that Reagan<\/i> (I assume that’s who your
\ntalking about) could have done that? He, in fact, funded some major
\nresearch initiatives concerning the disease. <\/p>\n

Today, of course, we know that heterosexuals are the major suffers and carriers of the disease.<\/i><\/p>\n

Oh, please, you just can’t stop can you? Over half of the new
\ninfections reported in the US are of gay men, given that gay men make
\nup maybe 1% of the population that is rather significant. The AIDS
\nretransmission rate among the straight, non-drug using, population is
\nless than 1. This means that the disease would die out among straight
\npopulation if it were not for reinfections from bisexuals and drug
\nusers. <\/p>\n

But it was first discovered amongst us homosexuals, so the
\nfundamentalists capitalized upon it, proclaiming it God’s justice upon
\nus.<\/i><\/p>\n

Actually it was medical professionals who first christened it “WOGS”
\n(Wrath of God Syndrome), due to the populations that it strongly tended
\nto affect. <\/p>\n

That is the same hatred we see here.<\/i><\/p>\n

Rick Warren does not hate you, nor do the vast majority of
\nChristians, including fundamentalists. Maybe if you were to display the
\nsame tolerance that you demand of others, quit labeling mere
\ndisagreement as “hate” would be a start, there could be a genuine
\ndialogue and understanding. It would also help if you would stop
\nspreading inaccuracies about the church and what Christians believe. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Panthera:<\/p>\n

\n

Larry, I do so enjoy your outpourings of charity. You really let that Christian love burn right on through.\n<\/p>\n

Since there is no possible basis for discussion with you, I’ll just
\nbriefly correct a few of your assumptions regarding my posting to and
\nlet it go at that.\n<\/p>\n

Let’s see now. Well, if you were to actually read the Bible and not
\nmerely cheery-pick for texts which justified your desires, you might
\nnotice this passage in Isaiah 40:22, …God dwelling above the circle
\nof earth….\n<\/p>\n

Circle, as in flat, not globe, as in round. Well, never mind. I do
\nacknowledge that there is considerable discussion on this topic and,
\nthrough rigorous research it may well be shown that most people didn’t
\nthink the earth flat in the early Christian era. Still, it does rather
\nleave a bit of a problem with Isaiah, but no doubt you will find a way
\nto interpret that literally to fit your needs.<\/p>\n

As for being tortured for disbelieving the geocentric view, well,
\nno, I wasn’t thinking of Galileo, actually, but of Giordano Bruno,
\nburned at the stake in 1600 after some six years in the tender mercies
\nof the Inquisition. Oh, right, revisionists now maintain that the Roman
\nInquisition didn’t really torture, they merely applied methods of
\n“enhanced interrogation”. As you were reasoning deductively, it
\nsuffices to show one case of disproof. Sadly, I could show many, many
\nmore.<\/p>\n

AS far as the conservative Christian perspective on blacks, I would
\nrefer you to the Constitutional debates of 1787 regarding the 3\/5
\nsolution and how it arose. You are on very very shaky ground there,
\nthough I suppose one might argue that your version of fundamentalist
\nhatred is rather more modern, the roots go very deep. Of course, the
\nBible never says word one about homosexuality, either, so I suppose we
\nshouldn’t be too precise with our labeling…<\/p>\n

I do apologize for misspelling Reagan’s name.<\/p>\n

I am sure it is a great relief to all those non-American
\nheterosexuals dying of Aids in Africa to know that, in your country, it
\nis still quite a problem in the gay community. Your hatred really
\nshines through in your response, goodness.<\/p>\n

I’m done with you. Your hatred has such deep roots, I wonder whether you might not be my brother in more than Christ. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Comment of the Weekend, continuing the conversation on homosexuality, has drawn a bit of response.  Larry and Panthera exchanged comments that hovered just on the border of civility and then, I’m afraid, crossed that border.  We join the conversation already in progress. Larry: The world was round, even though most ‘good Christians’ insisted it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment-of-the-day","category-same-sex-marriage"],"yoast_head":"\nComment of the Day - The New Christians<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2008\/12\/comment-of-the-day-12.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comment of the Day - The New Christians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Comment of the Weekend, continuing the conversation on homosexuality, has drawn a bit of response.  Larry and Panthera exchanged comments that hovered just on the border of civility and then, I’m afraid, crossed that border.  We join the conversation already in progress. 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