I never intended for this blog to get political in any way. It was supposed to be a place for me to talk about my writing, with occasional forays into randomness, because – let’s face it – I am a bit random, sometimes. Then I posted about my religion, and I think I started to realize that this just might end up being about more than writing.

And you know what? I’m okay with that. I’m through shying away from big issues because of worrying about offending someone, or whatever my problem has been. And there have been some things going on, lately, that I can’t just stay quiet about. And maybe nobody really cares about my opinion, and maybe some people will say that since this doesn’t affect me, I should just shut up. But, in a way, the fact that it doesn’t affect me is precisely why I want to talk about. Because the people that ARE affected by it need to know that there are some of us that aren’t, that still care about it, and are still willing to take a stand. So, here goes.

My twitter feed has been blowing up the past few days with this Religious Freedom Restoration Act crap. And I have been wanting to throw something. I am all for freedom of religion. After all, as I mentioned in the other post where I talked about my religion, my biggest religious tenet is that nobody has a right to tell anybody else what to believe. And since I also adhere to the Wiccan Rede, I am all for letting people practice their faith in whatever way they want – as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone.

But, that’s the thing. These laws are specifically designed to hurt people. Whatever the lawmakers involved try to say about it, the fact that businesses are to be allowed to refuse service to people on the grounds of religious belief is giving them the right to hurt people. Of course, it seems that most of the businesses that want to take advantage of this are owned by so-called Christians. And the people they want to exclude are LGBQT. And I have so many problems with this.

First of all, before we get to anything else, why THIS particular “sin”? (And I’ll come back to whether it’s really a sin, in a bit.) Of all the “rules” in your bible, why is THIS the one that has you so much in arms? I mean, there are so many things your bible speaks out against, and forbids that are so much worse than simply falling in love with someone who happens to be the same gender as you. So, will you also refuse service to those who break any of your other religious rules? I’m genuinely curious, here.

And really, the funniest (I mean most ironic) part of this is that your very acts of discrimination – the very act of taking advantage of this new law – is in itself a sin. I’m not a Christian, but I pretended to be for the first 18 years of my life. I’ve been to Sunday School, heard the sermons, and while I haven’t read the entire Bible, I’ve read parts of it. So, let’s take a look at some of the things Jesus – the man whose teachings you supposedly follow as the very definition of being a Christian – has said about this. “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” “Love your neighbour as you love yourself.” “Judge not, lest ye be judged yourself.” And my personal favourite: “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

I admit I’ve paraphrased the quotes. But the meaning has been preserved. But see, I find this interesting. So many things He has said were about NOT discriminating. So, by exercising your “religious freedom” to refuse service to people you consider to be “sinners”, you are in fact sinning yourself. Wouldn’t it be funny if TRUE Christians used this same law to refuse service to those who are using it as an excuse to discriminate? Except they wouldn’t – because they would be doing unto others as they would have done to them, and loving their neighbour, and not judging others, and not casting stones. Too bad. It would be a fun little ironic twist to have it come back to bite people on the ass. (Though perhaps there’s nothing stopping certain Pagans from refusing to serve bigots, depending on how their own moral code interprets things.)

But, there’s also another point to this. Another question I have. And that is whether even declaring being LGBQT to be a sin, might in itself be a sin. One of the people I follow on Twitter, who happens to be both LGBQT and Christian pretty much summed it up “Why must I concede my sexuality is “sinful” when I find it to be a gift from God?” – Eliel Cruz. Take a good look at that quote, and think about it for a minute. And I’m going to use another Bible quote for you. “Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” I have the actual chapter and verse, this time, because I had to look up if something like this was really in there. The Bible pretty much says that God is infallible. That He doesn’t make mistakes. He is perfect, His work is perfect.

Think about that. Think about what Eliel said. Your God made them this way. And your God is supposed to be infallible and perfect. If God doesn’t make mistakes, and God made them this way, what does that tell you? It seems to me that saying that their sexuality makes them sinners is saying that God fucked up. But that isn’t supposed to be possible. So, who is the “sinner”, here? The people who accept the way God made them, or the ones who are insisting that their very existence is proof that God isn’t as infallible as the Bible claims? Because that is what they’re really saying. That God made a mistake. Ironic that sins made by choice seem to be so much easier to forgive for these people than the “sin” of honouring God by accepting the way He made you. Food for thought.

Anyway. There was probably more that I wanted to say, but I’m afraid that if I try to remember what it was, this will turn into even more of a rant than it already is. So, I’m going to shut up now, but I’ll leave you with another quote from Jesus himself: Matthew 5:11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” It seems rather fitting, tonight.