How the religious right tell former addicts to hate gays

There are many people in the religious right who had lived, before they supposedly found their deity, a screwed up life. They were alcoholics. They were on drugs. Cocaine, heroin etc. They were depressed and suicidal. Well, once they find religion they judge gays as wicked. See, a gay family where there isn't drug or alcohol addiction is judged by the former addict, as wicked.

The saddest thing is that many families are broken apart because one member has become a part of the religious right and so he/she rejects their gay sister or brother or uncle. This psychotherapist lists the details of one such person and his view of his gay sister, as a "sodomite." All names of course were changed for the purpose of this article. He writes:

"At a recent event, Rob brought his religion into the family. He rejected his sister Mary.

It was about 10 years ago that Rob had joined a right-wing, back-to-the-Bible Christian group. Before that, he had led a life of excessive drinking, occasional recreational drugs, and general despair. But today, after all these years, Rob has found himself. With one catch. Now he shuns his sister, for she has chosen to live with another woman in a sexual relationship.

In a letter to his family, Rob referred to Mary as a "Sodomite." "That's the correct term for homosexual," he wrote, "and according to the Bible this is a sin." He further revealed, as if by way of proof, "that AIDS is God's way of punishing homosexuals." So he refused to associate with Mary. And for some reason, he especially didn't want his children to be touched by Mary's lover.

What the Bible Really Says

For many years, the Christian Right has been protesting homosexuality and demonstrating against rights for homosexuals. Can the Christian Right be wrong?

It appears, from a decision such as Rob's, that it's more important to hate homosexuality than to love a family member. Presumably too, this decision is based on the Bible. Yet the entire third and fourth chapters of John's First Letter advise against such an attitude. As summarized in the passage at 1 John 4:20-21 (New Revised Standard Version): "Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers and sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also."

This article also points out the hypocrisy of how anti-gay passages of the bible are mentioned by the religious rightwing but other Old Testament prohibitions are ignored by the same people who use the bible to justify their own bigotries.