Home » Forums » The Off-Topic Forum » Religion

24 replies [Last post]
John
Offline
Joined: 2006-10-02

[url]http://www.alternet.org/rights/49160/[/url]

Here's the main part:

[quote]These attacks mask a sinister agenda that has nothing to do with sexuality. It has to do with power. The radical Christian right -- the most dangerous mass movement in American history -- has built a binary worldview of command and submission wherein male leaders, who cannot be questioned and claim to speak for God, are in control and all others must follow. Any lifestyle outside the traditional model of male and female is a threat to this hierarchical male power structure. Women who do not depend on men for their identity and their sexuality, who live outside a male power relationship, challenge this pervasive cult of masculinity, as do men who find tenderness and love with other men as equals. The lifestyle of gays and lesbians is intolerable to the Christian right because its existence is a threat to the movement's chain of command, one they insist was ordained by God.

This hypermasculinity, which crushes the independence and self-expression of women, is a way for men in the movement to compensate for the curtailing of their own independence, their blind obedience to church authorities and the calls for sexual restraint. The images of Jesus often show him with thick muscles, clutching a sword. Christian men are portrayed as powerful warriors. Jesus' stoic endurance of the brutal whippings in Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ" presages the brutal, masculine world of this ideology, a world that knows little of tenderness, personal freedom, nurturing and even pleasure. Jerry Falwell, in a New Yorker interview, said Christ was not a gentle-looking, willowy man: "Christ was a man with muscles," he insisted. Falwell and Gibson see real men, godly men, as powerful, able to endure physical pain and suffering without complaint. Jesus, like God, has to be a real man, a man who dominates through force. The language of the movement is filled with metaphors about the use of excessive force and violence against God's enemies.

The unspoken truth is that Christian men are required to have a personal, loving relationship with a male deity and surrender their will to a male-dominated authoritarian church. The submission to church authority is a potent form of emasculation. It entails a surrendering of conscience and personal control and deadens emotions and feelings. Glorified acts of force and violence against outsiders, against nonbelievers, compensate for this unquestioning submission. The domination that men are encouraged to practice in the home over women and children becomes a reflection of the domination they are taught to endure outside the home.

...

Should another catastrophic attack such as 9/11 occur, should we enter into a period of prolonged instability and fear, what will prevent these preachers from calling for the punishment, detention and quarantining of gays and lesbians, as well as abortionists and Muslims and other nonbelievers to safeguard the nation? What will staunch hate crimes and physical attacks against those deemed immoral by fearful and angry Christians, against those whom these preachers have condemned as responsible for the nation's abandonment by God? How will the nation function rationally if homeland security depends on an elusive piety as it is interpreted by the Christian right? And most ominously, the fringe groups of the Christian right believe "Bible-believing Christians" have been mandated by God to carry out Christian terrorism, to murder doctors who perform abortions and godless Muslims. In a time of anxiety and chaos, of overwhelming fear and uncertainty, how many more will be prodded by this talk of terror and divine vengeance to join the ranks of these Christian extremists? [/quote]

Gays aren't the only ones in the crosshairs of the Christian Right...

Forgot your password?
Username :
Password :

GameJobs Latest Openings

 

ECA Forums Shoutbox

You're not permitted to post shouts.
drclintcornellpacgtopsuv.com/2020-ram-2500/2018-12-11 15:42
Bonnibellehttps://www.bybit.com2018-11-30 04:28
amivaloasitumiv...https://txcatholic.org/forums/topic/nbcliveamerican-cup-2018-2018-live-stream-gymnastics/2018-03-03 14:39
amivaloasitumiv...https://txcatholic.org/forums/topic/fialivemexico-city-e-prix-2018-live-stream-race/2018-03-03 14:33
amivaloasitumiv...https://txcatholic.org/forums/topic/fialivemexico-city-e-prix-2018-live-stream-race/2018-03-03 14:32
MiaroseThese help to appreciate explosive climax. Males, Alpha force testo who are looking for how to enhance men power and stamina, are suggested to take these natural pills continually. http://supplementexamine.com/alpha-force-testo/2018-02-27 14:08
ginopropst55635...Link exchange is nothing else but it is simply placing the other person's webpage link on your page at appropriate place and other person will also do similar in support of you.2018-01-28 22:45
moriom505https://panthersvssaintslive.com https://billsvsjaguarslive.com2018-01-07 09:04
moriom505https://www.superrugbylivestream.com/2018-01-06 13:08
stator500https://canada-vssweden.com/ https://canadavs-swedenlive.com/ https://world-juniorsfinal.com/2018-01-05 10:44