Levels of Gay - The Ol' Catholic Guilt

[Tulloni]

Those incidents of religious hypocrisy drive me mad. I saw this picture where some guy got a tattoo on his arm of the quote from Leviticus which supposedly condemns homosexuality as a sin yet according to some religious scholars the Bible also condemns tattoos and body modification. Same as those who quote Leviticus whilst wearing different kinds of fabric - also considered a sin. Or those devout folk who describe gays using colurful, abusive language (with lots of good old fashioned cursing) whilst seemingly forgetting its a sin (as well as being damned impolite) to swear and use terms of abuse.

I went to school with a lot of Muslims and I don't mean any disrespect to them either but plenty of them were more than happy to sleep around, swear, go around in gangs causing all kinds of trouble, and just generally act like total dickheads. In the UK recently there have been gangs of Muslims (devout Muslims I might add) who go around grooming young (very young) girls and then gang-raping and prostituting them. It is absolutely disgusting and the pathetic response from the government agencies, who seem more concerned about protecting the interests of religious minorities rather than the girls who are abused, is even worse.

Sorry if this sounds discriminatory but it is absolutely absurd.

I respect moderate Catholics, Protestants, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, Shintoists, Muslims, etc but have no time for this extremist nonsense.

I think some people may identify themselves as Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Muslim etc. when they don't necessarily practice that faith. It could be they just come from families who do believe or follow that faith or they just grew up in that culture without necessarily following or practicing all the beliefs themselves.

I identify myself as a Protestant because I come from a Protestant family and that culture. I refer to my spritual beliefs by my ancestry if that makes sense. Sorry if it doesn't.

[Tulloni]

Also I've felt that guilt from time to time. But for me it doesn't really have religious connotations. Just a sense of shame and embarrassment that I've done something I shouldn't. I think its to do not just with the churches but with all institutions of society trying to drum conformity into all of us. You get schoolkids as young as 7 using the term 'gay' as a term of abuse. Thanks in part to the school, media, parents, etc instilling them with a sense that being gay is somehow 'wrong' or 'immoral'. Its utter nonsense but it still continues even in places like London, Paris and New York in the 21st century.

[Vigilias]

The problem I have with this whole "If-You're-Gay-You're-Going-To-Hell" business is as follows:-

If God created us and created us in his own image then he must also have created our human nature and sexuality so how can it be evil, that which is created by God cannot be evil - can it?

Perhaps it's the Devil making us do these things. But God crated the Devil or Lucifer as he was orginally known. Lucifer - the bringer of light. What does "Light" mean in this context. Physical light - photons or the enlightenment of knowledge? Hm, whatever, God created Lucifer but cast him out of heaven following a so-called rebellion in which Lucifer sought equality with God. God gave Lucifer/Satan/The Devil his abilities or certainly allowed him to retain them after his banishment. So if God is all powerful why didn't he remove Satan's ability to cause evil? Or was Satan more equal then we are given to understand, permitted to know?

As a Wiccan I don't believe in a Devil, a Satan or Lucifer etc. These are very much creations of the the very early monotheistic Judaism whose founders had trouble reconciling the duality of nature and the nature of human-kind. Once the Misogynistic and homophobic Medieval Christian church got around to thinking about these things, the situation became very much worse. How easy it must have been to scare the bejesus out of ordinary folk with scary stories about a big fierce demon who lives in the fiery bowls of the Earth.

With fear comes control, the ability to control people's lives from the cradle to the grave... and beyond.

[tavi]

I think if there is a devil hes not a bad guy, hes more human and "down to earth" in both meanings than some god, and i agree with vigilias that if god created us the way we are then its his fucking fault, ok not in those words but.... hes the creator of all

You can call yourself a catholic, protestant whatever, i dont believe you. Your just a person, controlled by a primitive book written 1000s of years ago by some men.

[ardus]

I don't go to church for this very reason, because most of the people who run organized religions are hypocrites. I would describe myself as spiritual, I believe in God, and I don't believe that God hates me for being true to who I am.

Richard

[Matty71]

I was raised Catholic. I went to Catholic schools for all 12 years (High school was an all boys school).

I rejected religion entirely for many years, and especially Catholicism. Now that I'm older, I do go to Catholic Mass occasionally-- Like once a year or so. I don't know why I go, exactly, but I do like something about it.

I do not have the Catholic guilt though, never have. And, believe me, if I did, there are a slew of things in my life I might feel guilty over but I don't.

[Miles]

Most Catholics I was around never suggested gay people were going to hell, just that actually doing gay things is a sin, and like all sins it can be forgiven. In fact many of them made a point of it to stress that no one can judge what's in someone's heart at the moment God judges you when you die, so you can't say if someone's in hell or not blah blah blah. Maybe I was lucky to be around less crazy Catholics, but many of them had their own unique breed of crazy.

People are very very strange.