Opinion
Religious stereotypes bring down society
By Shala Marks October 26, 2010 at 9:45 pm 
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Four men accused a very prominent Atlanta-based pastor of sexual coercion last month.
The accusations around Bishop Eddie Long caused tumult between religious and non-religious people. But with many people’s “well this is what I think” and “personally, I feel like” perspectives, new accusations have arisen.
Allow me to introduce the newly accused “Black church” and the allegations: homophobia and operating on homosexuality bashing and negative attitudes.
Many people have declared that this incident should force “Black churches” to deal with their homophobia and negative attitude toward homosexuals.
Long, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, has openly spoken out against homosexuality. In the eyes of those who believe the accusations, this is a major contradiction. So now that a pastor, clearly against homosexuality, may in fact be a homosexual, his church and all others like his needs to reverse their thinking.
This should be a wake-up call to “Black churches” right? Wrong.
The claims of homophobia and negative perceptions of the gay and lesbian community pertaining to the “Black church” could not be further from the truth. Even the term “Black church”, which, according to The Christian Science Monitor, is used inaccurately by Long’s critics.
There is no such thing as a “Black church” just as there are not Caucasian, Mexican, or Asian churches. It is true that in most cases the ethnicity of the pastor is largely represented in his or her members, but no congregation is 100 percent one race.
According to the Pew Research Center, 85 percent of African-Americans feel that religion is very important to their daily lives. A large majority of African-Americans are Christians, especially of the Baptist denomination as is Long’s church in Georgia. Christianity, though at times this varies between denominations, is largely grounded in the Bible, which opposes, in many scriptures, homosexuality as well as numerous other acts such as bestiality, drunkenness and covetousness.
According to the Pew Research Center, 62 percent of African-Americans oppose same-sex marriage. The Bible that Christians follow states that marriage is between a man and a woman only.
Now, Merriam Webster defines homophobia as irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals. African-American Christians do not run and hide when they see a gay couple or get goose bumps and become frightened at the thought of interacting with someone who is a homosexual. Nor do all Black clergy teach hatred or dislike of those who choose alternative lifestyles; they teach to love everyone even if you do not agree with his or her sexual orientation. These people are merely practicing their faith and what they believe, as do all other religions. It has nothing to do with fear or a negative mindset; it is simply obedience.
Concluding that certain religions are homophobic or express negative attitudes about homosexuality is nothing short of a stereotype.
Haven’t we all seen the pain and destruction stereotypes cause? Pointing the finger at religious practices and beliefs is the same way people point the finger at homosexuals, women, minorities and every other group working so hard for equality. Telling a person, group, or organization “you are this” and “you are that” and making generalizations that are not true weakens us as a society.
Unfortunately, we will all experience the unpleasant effects of stereotyping at some point. Let’s make an effort to be one less cause.
Pledge your effort to Shala at smmarks3@asu.edu
Tags: Opinion
Just when we’ve begun to have hope that the next generation has a newer, clearer vision of what equality should be, just when the Eddie Long scandal has become a dialogue about homo-hatred from the pulpit and the trickle down effect on LGBT youth, this opinion piece titled joins the ranks of bigot crying bigotry.
Claiming to be the victim is nothing new, neither is using scripture to justify it. But sadly, it is still just as cold-hearted. Take the following verse used in a Life magazine article calling for Christian justice after a brutal murder:
Matthew 18:6 – But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
This was the rebuttal, also published:
“In the Scriptural passage quoted by Life’s editoral writer there is a significant qualification: ‘…those little ones which believe in Me.’ Believers are taught to be respectful toward their elders, and to leave others persons’ wives alone.” That is an excerpt from the biblical, snippy, and cold justification for the murder of 14 year old Emmett Till printed in the official paper of The Citizens Council, Jackson Mississippi dated Oct, 1955.
“Had Emmett Till followed these precepts he would be alive today.”
http://www.citizenscouncils.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=newspaper
Everyone should take the time to read the article and peruse this full archive of the Citizens Council’s publications of the day. It’s an amazing trip back into our Black history in America. Because after pointing out that Emmett Till’s murder was clearly his own fault, the writer adopts a posture which always follows the demonization of the victim, claiming the good citizens of Mississippi were the real victims, and alluding to the fact that, like Shala Marks stated above, “these people are just practicing their faith” – the article goes on to say:
“Life’s crocodile tears flow on: ‘He went, and was slain. In the dark night of this deed his childish cries for mercy fell on deaf ears.’ And so forth. All this is superb tear-jerking emotionalism which compels a sort of grudging admiration, even if one despises the bias and prejudice which inspired it.”
Notice the racist jujitsu. Bias? Prejudice?
You see, the “liberal” north and its publications like Life Magazine were the actual bigots, and Mississippians were its victims. And in the case of what’s commonly described as the Black Church (with its admitted history of condemning homosexuals to the level of “bestiality, drunkenness and covetousness”), Mormon, Catholic and all churches that preach the millions who happen to be LGBT are disordered and against God should take a peek back at their scripture quoting predecessors before they cry foul, or callously claim to be the injured party.
Emmett Till did nothing wrong. The blame lay squarely with the rhetoric of those 50′s era Citizens Councils — which later morphed into the Council of Conservative Citizens in 1985, and are still openly racist, and not surprisingly, proudly homophobic.
In 1955 Mississippi just being black could suddenly rile good Christians to shoot you in the head. And they, too, were just being “obedient” to their own odious interpretation of the bible.
So yes, claiming to be the victim is nothing new, neither is using scripture to justify it.
John F. Kennedy said, “you’re judged by the company you keep”.
Therefore today’s college students should bone up on their history before they align themselves with the oppressors like 2010′s conservative “Family” oriented groups — like Maggie Gallagher’s National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and Tony Perkin’s Family Research Council (FRC)) — all virulently anti-gay, and all rooted in the same intolerant Citizens Councils of Black America’s past.
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/16535/credibility-fail-frcs-tony-perkins-to-testify-during-kagan-confirmation-hearing