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11/30/2006
Talking Points on World AIDS Day for TRUE Christian Parents.
One of the most downright mean-spirited members of our opposition, Mission America's Linda Harvey (pic), has written an unhinged little manifesto that she calls "Talking Points on World AIDS Day for Christian Parents." It is a handy little guide where the oh-so-loving, moral, and compassionate Evangelical parents of America can learn to deal with the AIDS. We will now break it down:
1. The major cause of HIV and AIDS in the U.S. has been and remains male homosexual behavior. The next largest transmission category is intravenous drug use, followed by high-risk heterosexual contact. This last group consists of people who have had sex with anyone who falls into the first two groups. If we eliminated homosexual male sex and intravenous drug use, HIV would be reduced by at least three fourths in this country. Both are unnecessary, chosen behaviors. Schools need to make sure this point is absolutely clear in the minds of every student in health education.
Okay, let's stop here. First off, virtually nobody is denying that gay man sex is still the largest transmission category for HIV. But the outrage comes when folks like Linda Harvey paint it as if gay men are to BLAME for this statistic! Gay men did not cause HIV/AIDS -- HIV/AID caused HIV/AIDS! That's not PC mumbo jumbo, but rather the truth! Nobody knows for certain how it got here, but we do know that it seeped into the bloodstream of the gay male communities in NYC and San Francisco first. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before it spread like wildfire within this particular community. Nobody KNEW to protect themselves in the first few years of the disease's existence because nobody knew the disease existed!
If the so-called "Patient Zero" of the crisis had been a heterosexual man, the whole conversation today would be entirely different! Or even more likely, a disease affecting heterosexuals wouldn't have gone unaddressed for so long by the likes of Ed Koch and Ronald Reagan, which might have in turn stamped it out altogether! But, of course, since the disease was affecting those evil, evil homosexuals, it WAS immediately painted by those "non-stone-casting Christians" as a punishment from God. Which brings us to Ms. Harvey's second suggestion:
2. Homosexual sex is absolutely forbidden in the strongest terms in the Bible. The only type of marriage endorsed is the union of one man and one woman. Here are the relevant passages:
Genesis, chapters 18 and 19 (chapter 18 is helpful for a broader context); Leviticus 18: 22 and 20: 13; Deuteronomy 23: 17; 1 Kings 15:12; Matthew 19:3-9; Romans 1: 18-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 4: 3-8; 2 Peter 2 (whole chapter); Jude 7-8; Revelation 22:15.
Pastors and churches who say accepting "gays and lesbians" is part of "loving your neighbor" or that one can be a proud open homosexual and still be Christian, have seriously distorted the teachings of Christianity. This is deliberate rebellion against God's word and His created order of male/female genders and marriage. It cannot be emphasized enough that this is an affront to God, and that anyone- I don't care how famous- who is teaching this, is broadcasting his/her rebellion. Can such a person be a genuine believer, while spreading false teachings and encouraging rebellion in others?
And then, to lead people into a behavior that may infect them for life with an often fatal disease---- it's heartless, not compassionate.
No, Ms. Harvey, it's "heartless not compassionate" to refuse to look at the Bible for the whole Bible, or to even analyze the passages you constantly throw in gay's faces just a little more objectively! There are many, many reasons to believe that the Bible never addresses homosexuality as we know it today. Moreover, even if the passages you mention were directly talking about Dan and Steve's bedroom behavior in the year 2006, you kids just gloss over the numerous other condemnations that don't fit into your narrow world views! We on the side of non-extremism have viewed this hypocrisy with a casual, "par for the course" outlook for far too long. However, it's past time those of you who claim to know the Bible so well start justifying your oversights!
Disease is a fact of life with which we deal in the way we best know how! Pandora's Box was opened, and nasty shit was put out into the ether. What if the threat of bird flu, which has the potential of claiming far more lives than AIDS, hits our shores tomorrow? Who will you blame, Ms. Harvey, when folks are dropping dead and you have no TamiFlu in sight? If it's going to be implied that God punishes via disease, then just like it's unfair to pick and choose the Bible verses you chooses to adopt, it's also unfair to cherry pick which diseases you consider moral judgements and which you view as just plain cancer.
3....One pillar of international AIDS efforts is that non-married sexual practices, including homosexuality, must be accepted, and made somehow "safer" using condoms. Not only has this method failed to reduce AIDS, it's totally an affront to Christians, and no Christian, especially no pastor, should sign on to such programs.
Attacking AIDS through wide distribution of condoms is a complete failure. Do we want to keep promoting sex, or do we want to save lives? Or- do some influential people have financial ties to the condom and contraceptive manufacturers? Is this an example of corruption and big business at work in exploiting poor Third World people?
These are great questions to ask in a classroom setting. Do a report on Uganda, and make sure you get all the facts by consulting sources other than the U.N. and its agencies.
Okay seriously -- the idea that condom use should not be encouraged and that abstinence should be the only acceptable course of action is simply beyond enraging. In fact, it is not even worth dignifying again, as anyone with a rational mind can easily see the flaws in such a proposal. Condoms save lives, plain and simple. Sex is not going anywhere anytime soon, plain and simple!
Reality, meet Ms. Harvey; Ms.Harvey -- reality.
We're not in the business of legislating a narrow view of morality; we are in the business of making the realities of life as safe as humanly possible. Safe sex efforts should be ramped up to the highest frequency, as we are frankly frightened by the reports of high-risk sexual behavior in both the straight and gay worlds. But it is galling to suggest that we try and curb dangerous practices by cutting out the noun, not the adjective!
4. If homosexual sex is a leading cause of HIV in the U.S., doesn't it make sense to teach people to not engage in these acts? Perhaps "gay" social establishments should close until the HIV rates are severely reduced. And no students should be encouraged to enter homosexuality through "gay" clubs or tolerance lessons.
If we are serious about reducing AIDS-if we really care about people more than certain special viewpoints-- we will do the right thing. And as Christians, if we really want to be faithful to our Lord, we must reject these corrupt ideas and try where we can to do something that will really save lives and bring people to know Him.
Oh Linda, you silly goose -- Nobody is teaching anyone what sex acts in which they should engage! No matter how hard some people may try to curb their true desires, the human body has a pretty good way of telling us where our desires are focused! Your team's constant assertion that we lure kids into our "filthy lifestyle" via our clubs and cries for tolerance just gives further insight into how unapologetically short-sighted your world views truly are. This writer grew up in rural Tennessee amidst a family and friends who made their antipathy for homosexuality nothing but clear. Didn't stop my gayness from taking hold, no matter how many girls I dated!
Ms. Harvey, you say "If we are serious about reducing AIDS-if we really care about people more than certain special viewpoints-- we will do the right thing." But the thing is -- we don't believe by your words that you truly do care about people, and instead think you care only about your own "certain special viewpoints!" You are working to keep demonization of a sizable portion of the population alive and well by asserting they are to blame for the saddest plague to hit this world in recent memory. You are denying the realities of life so that you can fit your ideas for society into a narrowly-defined scope. You let a handful of debatable interpretations from a HUGE book trump its bigger message of peace, love, and acceptance. Then you deny gay folks of their own faiths by acting as if God has already turned his hand off of them.
YOUR "corrupt ideas "are what need rejecting, Ms. H!
Ms. Harvey, we truly find your rhetoric to be the most disturbing of just about anyone in your "pro-family" movement. But this little diatribe in honor of a day when we should be working together to truly conquer a terrible disease might just take the falsely moral cake!
Talking Points on World AIDS Day for Christian Parents [Mission America]
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