This Week in the Mercury
Shaking Behind the Scenes
City Quake Tour Dances Around Fears Over Portland's Harbor Wall—and Bridges
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Religion Homophobic Pageant Contestants: Here We Go Again
Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 10:11 AM
Miss Beverly Hills—who will be competing in the upcoming Miss California pageant—seems to think that the gays should be put to death.
"The Bible says that marriage is between a man and a woman. In Leviticus it says, 'If man lies with mankind as he would lie with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death and their blood shall be upon them.' The Bible is pretty black and white," Ashley told Pop Tarts. "I feel like God himself created mankind and he loves everyone, and he has the best for everyone. If he says that having sex with someone of your same gender is going to bring death upon you, that's a pretty stern warning, and he knows more than we do about life."
The same God that allegedly scribbled out that stern warning for the gays—a God who wishes us only the best!—also condemned to death all young women who aren't virgins on their wedding nights. So a follow-up question for Miss Beverly Hills: Are you a virgin? If not, should you be put to death? And a former Miss California—Carrie Prejean—isn't a virgin. Should she be put to death? Would you like to cast the first stone?
1
I find it hilarious and sad when people try to use the Leviticus angle. Surely none of them have actually read Leviticus, because if they had they would realize that it forbids all sorts of ridiculous things for the purpose of preventing the spread of disease in an ancient time far removed from modern society. I would like to see these people follow the rest of what Leviticus commands if they are going to single this one aspect out of context, then let's see what that leads to. Not that it's hard to shoot Christian thinking full of holes but this one is a no-brainer.
3
Sure, the bible is "black and white", but like most black and white things, the further you stand back from it the more gray it appears.
If even half the Christians in this world took the time to research the actual contextual and historical meanings for all these convenient little excerpts they like to toss out then they probably wouldn't be so quick to believe that a sentence from a book written for a different culture thousands of years ago, translated again and again in multiple languages, could stand as an absolute truth in modern society. I'm not holding my breath, though.
If even half the Christians in this world took the time to research the actual contextual and historical meanings for all these convenient little excerpts they like to toss out then they probably wouldn't be so quick to believe that a sentence from a book written for a different culture thousands of years ago, translated again and again in multiple languages, could stand as an absolute truth in modern society. I'm not holding my breath, though.
5
@ Puffmagic, completely and utterly agree. People who quote the King James as the precise words of God are simply shockingly ignorant of their own religious tradition, and it's place in the larger scheme of organized religion and it's history.
@ Dan Savage: can we please stop taking down the fucking beauty queens? Were actual straw men too hard to find?
@ Dan Savage: can we please stop taking down the fucking beauty queens? Were actual straw men too hard to find?
6
My very favorite reference for Bible quotes:
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/
The category "Contradictions" has 454 entries.
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/
The category "Contradictions" has 454 entries.
8
These are the instances in which I praise the existence of sites like TMZ because there's no doubt they're scouring the WWW and SoCal for the inevitable porn tape/nude photo shoot/ex-boyfriend cell phone pics, et. al.
They're doing the Lord's work, I say!
They're doing the Lord's work, I say!
Most Commented on Blogtown, PDX
-
City's "Overnight Sleeping" Program Finds First Host—and Neighbors React in Ugly Fashion by Denis C. Theriault
-
Oh, Did You Think The Great Gatsby Movie Was Going to Be Good? by Alison Hallett
-
Feds Dish Out $745.2 Million to the Light Rail by Alex Zielinski
-
Happy World Goth Day! by Marjorie Skinner
-
Game of Thrones Recap: Calm Before the Storm Edition by Joe Streckert
-
Good Morning, News! by Wm.™ Steven Humphrey
-
Portland Button Works Opens on Killingsworth by Alison Hallett
-
We're Number One! by Alex Zielinski
-
Weekend Eatings: Corazón and The Slide Inn by Marjorie Skinner
-
Mapping Destruction: City Releases Locations of Portland Hazards by Nathan Gilles
Our Friends
- UrbanHonking
- Culture Shock
- Portland Roundball Society
- Steph Cassano
- Cort and Fatboy
- Street Roots
- Powell's Books Blog
- Portland Transport
- Portland Afoot
- Bike Portland
- Eater: PDX
- Portland Food and Drink
- Mr. Movie
- Sunday Softball
- BlueOregon
- Sightline Institute
- Ultra: Arts Portland
- Bitch Magazine
- Blazer's Edge
- Reading Local: Portland
- Portland Food Carts
- Stumptown Vegans
Our Enemies
The Handyman Pro - Your Honey-Do Specialist
Don’t let our name fool you. The Handyman Pro, LLC is a repair and remodel service provider with over 25-years experience. We cover all aspects of construction and repairs for residential and commercial clients.
Bands Page
Housing
Jobs
Musicians
For Sale
Wheels
Services
Health
The Arts
Friends 'N' Neighbors
Bulletin Board
Personals
Adult
RSSGoing to Seattle?
Comments (8) RSS