Christianity slows progress

By Frank Moraes 

Booman Tribune provides some useful information in its post "Religion and Gay Marriage in the Senate." What it shows is that the only ten Democratic senators who have not come out for gay marriage are all Christians. The article also presents a rundown of the religious affiliations of all the Senators. Other than Jewish and Buddhist, they all have a pretty bad record. I find this really telling.

Christianity is supposedly a forgiving religion, and yet, in the hands of most followers, it is just about bigotry and exclusion. So far from being edifying, Christianity warps its followers into being even worse than they normally would be. Think about it. Under normal circumstances, no one would really care about the sex lives of other people. But Christians are dragged back socially thousands of years by teachings of their religion that are not even primary.

Modern American Christianity seems focused on two issues that only have the vaguest of relation to spiritual matters: abortion and homosexuality. This is, sadly, what you get when you think that God wrote a book with a bunch of rules for you to follow. Or when you think that all you have to do is "believe in" Jesus and you are assured a seat next to God in the afterlife.

There are a lot of really smart and interesting people thinking about spiritual matters. Some of them of even Christians, but I think they are insightful despite their religion, not because of it. The main thing is that on the whole, Christianity limits the way people think. And it stops them from being inclusive, until they just can't avoid it any more.

Of course, that is exactly what is happening now on the gay rights issue, as Greg Sargent wrote yesterday morning in "Profiles in Courage: Dems Rush to Endorse Gay Marriage Before It's Too Late." The truth is that in a hundred years, Christians will think no more about homosexuality than they do shellfish. But until then, they will have to be dragged kicking and screaming toward modern tolerance. It is worse than sad; it is evil.

(Cross-posted at Frankly Curious.)