Calling all Christians: Is this right?
All right, I know that at least a good percentage of my readers are Christian. I am not. I’m not even agnostic. I’m an atheist, have been since adolescence despite my mother’s best efforts. So that is why I’m calling on my Christian readers, as more expert authorities in this subject, to tell me: is this right?
Fort Collins Homeless Shelter Accused Of Gay Discrimination - TheDenverChannel.com
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A Fort Collins shelter is being accused of discrimination, after allegedly kicking out a man because he’s gay.
John Garon, 34, said he stayed at the Open Door Mission for about three weeks until shelter director Reverend Richard Thebo told him he was no longer welcome.
The reason, according to Garon, is that Thebo said, “I don’t allow homosexuals to use these facilities.”
See this? This is what twerks my nerves about the more hypocritical arm of Christianity. This is what gets me pulling my hair out about the fallacious logic involved in worshiping a god who supposedly loves everyone…except people his followers happen to just not like for one reason or another. This is what has me slamming my head against the desk trying to comprehend how anyone can preach tolerance from one side of their mouth and discrimination from the other.
This isn’t something like the eHarmony case. In the eHarmony lawsuit, gays and lesbians are being denied a service that is not crucial to everyday life. It’s a side frill. A fringe entertainment. It is not a necessity. And while eHarmony most likely has the right to exercise legal discrimination in that case no matter how right or wrong it might be outside of legal terms, their discrimination honestly isn’t harming anyone.
Thebo’s discrimination is harmful. Yes, according to the article, he is within his legal rights to deny shelter to anyone for any reason. But I’m not asking if it’s legally right. I’m asking if it’s right, period, as one human being to another, as a Christian advocating outreach, to deny shelter to a person who has no other place to go. A person who has not done anything wrong save for being different in a way that does not harm anyone else.
You aren’t a humanitarian if you pick and choose who you extend your kindnesses to. You aren’t a humanitarian if you judge those in need simply because they aren’t like you.
And I have trouble believing that anyone can be considered a good Christian when they would put a homeless man back out on the street just for being gay.
So tell me, my Christian friends: is this what your faith teaches you? Is this justifiable by the book which guides that faith? Is it justifiable by your own standards as a human being, by your own sense of compassion? Is this how you truly think that your god wishes you to treat others?
Is this right?
homeless shelter, denver, colorado, john garon, reverend richard thebo, open door mission, discrimination, homophobia, christianity
June 15th, 2007 at 7:33 am
I am no a Christian either - gave up on the “Biblical Christianity” decades ago. However - I do know a lot about the teachings of it and most non-fundamentalists would NOT agree with this. My favorite Christians are Episcopalians b/c they seem to very much hold onto the “love thy neighbor as thyself” and “let those among you without sin cast the first stone” parts of the bible. It is news like this that gives non-judgemental Christianity a bad name.
I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said, “Liberal. Like Jesus.” And I LOVED it.
June 15th, 2007 at 8:22 am
Even fundamentalists shouldn’t be doing this. The only thing a fundamentalist would be allowed to bitch about according to the book would be if he had absolute proof of a gay couple having sex. (because sex is supposedly only not a sin if it is done for the purpose of reproduction. You are even supposed to go confess every time you tried but didn’t get pregnant. Yeah, don’t ask -_-)
Anyway. This is wrong.
According to the bible, according to morals, according to common sense, according to humanity, according to the Geneva Convention, according to me, and according to a dozen other things.
People who claim to be Christians and still do things like this? Wrong, too.
June 15th, 2007 at 9:04 am
Well, I’m weighing in here as someone who grew up very Christian but is now agnostic. I have to say that these types of incidents are part of the reason I would no longer call myself a Christian. The bible says to love thy neighbor as thyself but when it comes to something like this, the good book goes out the window. But I can see where the confusion comes in because on one hand you have the latter scripture but on another hand some denominations are taught to hate those unlike themselves or who practice “sin”. Well everyone sins sometimes so get over it. Should we hate ourselves when we mess up? And who are we to judge anyway? I believe the bible also says only god has the right to judge us. Seems very contradictory if you ask me.
June 15th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Mm, from reading the article, it seems that this is proof that Christians aren’t immune to ignorance. Obviously, homosexuals can’t sleep next to normal men without molesting them *eyeroll*
It’s not the Christianity that’s the problem it seems; it’s people believing nonsense. As usual. Sigh.
June 19th, 2007 at 5:04 am
[...] trying to be good Christians. There aren’t many of those left, it seems, or so I’m gathering from reading the news every day. And this one busybody thinks it’s her business to expose them, publicly defame them, and [...]
July 17th, 2007 at 11:02 am
[...] trying to be good Christians. There aren’t many of those left, it seems, or so I’m gathering from reading the news every day. And this one busybody thinks it’s her business to expose them, publicly defame them, and [...]